Understanding the Emotional Labor of English Language Teaching while Black in the United States

There is a robust literature examining emotional labor as it is experienced by English language teachers and how it is prompted by the emotional rules of their employers. However, it has not been sufficiently inclusive of native English-speaking Black English language teachers (BELTs). Using the method of autoethnography I examine my experiences with emotional labor as I struggle to manage feelings stemming from race-related stress to present feelings that are aligned with the emotional rules of an intensive English program (IEP) in the United States. Ultimately, this study highlights some of the unique challenges and emotional labor experienced by BELTs, including the endured triggering of race-related stress in response to workplace racial microaggression and how and why, through the process of emotional labor, outward responses are constructed. I argue that enduring emotional labor brings about implicit oppressive messages for BELTs to either detach from their racial identity to some extent or to leave their field. Additionally, I provide suggestions for how TESOL programs housed in U.S. higher education contexts can address anti-Black racism.