Mariana Souto-Manning calls for educational researchers to move beyond traditional/oppressive forms of research toward frameworks and methods that center the concerns of participants. Such critical research represents attempts to honor and support participants' cultures, knowledge, and emerging identities in diverse urban educational contexts, building upon a legacy of culturally responsive research that incites scholars, researchers, and educators to develop and support culturally sustaining pedagogies. The authors in this special issue respond to Souto-Manning's and Paris' calls for empirical studies that analyze humanizing and transformative pedagogies to sustain the cultures, languages, and literacies of diverse peoples.