Zaila Avant-garde – 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee champ – stands where Black children were once kept out
- Written by Shalini Shankar, Professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies, Northwestern University
Zaila Avant-garde is the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Jim Watson/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesWhen Zaila Avant-garde, 14, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on July 8, 2021, she became the first Black American to win in the competition’s history. Shalini Shankar, a scholar of spelling bees, breaks down...