My dissertation explores African American girls' relationship with the black girl mediascape by exposing a small group of middle school girls to the educational resources of black feminist visual media and image production technology. Through implementation of a black feminist curriculum in Digital Storytelling in a school setting, this study explores the ways that African American girls use visual language and strategy to resist dominant ideologies of race, gender, and age oppression within visual media. It also explores how systematic exposure to girl-focused, adult-authored black feminist media influences girls' creative visions. By giving African American girls access to the educational resources necessary to re-imagine black girlhood and extend their imaginations into social space, this study hopes to demonstrate the importance of non-traditional educational resources in empowering young people to resist dominant ideologies within visual culture.

Born on Chicago's South Side, Stewart began her activism on gender-specific issues faced by African American girls while still in elementary school. She recalls her own experience as an African American girl: "I'll never forget arriving at first grade, and learning that the boys liked to play a game called 'Catch a Girl, Kiss a Girl.' It was outrageous to me that these boys thought they had the right to kiss us without our permission. I staged a one-woman protest to the game, beating up all the boys who chased us with my Mickey Mouse lunch box. Of course I got in big trouble...but I still think I was right!"

As a feminist youth worker, Stewart has worked extensively with local non-profits in Washington, DC including, serving as Director of Community Education for DC Rape Crisis Center, DC Community Coordinator for Girls Incorporated, and youth leadership consultant to DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.