African American students in K-12 classrooms have struggled to achieve at the same level as their Caucasian peers in the mathematics classroom. The achievement gap between African American students and their Caucasian, Hispanic and Asian peers is a concern for administrators, teachers, and parents. Educators are being tasked to examine their pedagogy to determine how tCritical Race Theory; his achievement gap can be narrowed in mathematics. Middle school mathematics teachers who make academic gains with African American students have a specific skill set. The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to understand middle school teachers’ perceptions of the role of culturally responsive teaching strategies in teaching mathematics to African American middle school students. A qualitative study was conducted using an interpretive research design. Semi structured interviews were conducted with five middle school mathematics teachers. Key findings in the study revealed that middle school teachers demonstrating success with African American students have key pedagogical and personal characteristics in common. The data from the interviews were analyzed and yielded the following major themes: building on students’ prior experiences, relationships and trust, empathetic and caring teachers, encouraging students to leverage their social capital, and reflection. Results from the qualitative analysis of interview responses showed that math teachers are engaging in a continuous cycle as they attempt to build on students’ prior experiences, create relationships and trust, become empathetic and caring teachers and encourage students to leverage their social capital. Teachers of African American students do all these things while reflecting on each practice and adjusting as they work through the cycle. Keywords: culturally responsive teaching, African American, middle school