Black Liberatory Education: Philosophies, Practices and Purposes of All-Black Education Initiatives

EDU A404M Subject & Catalog Number

Description

Throughout U.S. history, Black educators and families have engaged in organized efforts to live in their inherent beauty and educate their own. Yet, the Eurocentric hegemony of knowledge in many educator preparation programs often means that educators, including Black educators, have little or no opportunities to study Black educational thought and praxis. This 2-credit module centers on the pedagogies and practices of the Black liberatory education tradition, focusing learning on and from intentionally All-Black K-12 education school spaces with liberatory aims. In this module, we will explore Black-led schooling movements (spaces organized by Black educators/communites as intentional sites of Black education, centering and serving Black youth) in the U.S. historically post-1954 (e.g., Black Panther Liberation Schools) and in the present day (e.g Independent Black Institutions, Afrocentric charter schools, and Homeschooling) as well as out-of-school Black education spaces. We will also explore the philosophies and teaching approaches of liberation-focused Black teachers in all-black schools. Collectively, we will ask: What have been the goals, priorities, and purposes of intentionally all-Black education initiatives for Black children in the United States post-Brown? How have Black educators conceptualized, articulated, and actualized liberatory Black educational praxis in the face of endemic Anti-Blackness, systemic marginalization, and resistance in the U.S.? How have intentionally all-Black schools sought to leverage education spaces as a pathway for healthy identity-building, healing, resistance, and social change for Black children? What can we [and should we] learn from the historical and contemporary teaching pedagogies and philosophies of intentionally all-black education initiatives that we can apply and incorporate into how we be, love, and do in our own education practice? 
The course is limited to 15. Permission of the instructor and application are required. Enrollment procedure will be posted on Canvas site. This course fulfills the Equity & Opportunity (E&O) Foundations for those students who have chosen E&O as one of their Foundations experiences in 2026-2027.