Centering blackness as freedom scholarship: case studies from freedom scholars

Abstract

We center and unpack the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Commission on Research in Black Education’s (CORIBE) research validity principle, which emphasizes that the highest priority must be placed on studies of: (A) African tradition (history, culture and language); (B) Hegemony (e.g. uses of schooling/socialization and incarceration); (C) Equity (funding, teacher quality, content and access to technology); and (D) Beneficial practice (at all levels of education, from childhood to elderhood). We present four interrelated and overlapping critical case studies/stories which demonstrate the application, elasticity, and validity of Black emancipatory scholarship frameworks.

Keywords:

• African American
• Black
• equity
• African American culture
• Black education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In 1999, the American Education Research Association (AERA) commissioned and assembled an impressive group of top scholars from around the world to contemplate on what transformative research and practice in Black Education should entail. The Commission on Research in Black Education (CORIBE) published a book, Black education: A transformative research and action agenda for the new century, (King, 2005), which presented 10 vital principles for Black education and socialization (see Table 1). These principles guide the present work.

2 Pseudonym for blind review.

3 Initially, the center was funded by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education for a four-year period (2002-2006) and was located at Benedict College (an HBCU). The center was re-launched in 2017 at the University of South Carolina (USC), a PWI since I had returned to USC in 2007. Initially, the center was named: Center of Excellence for the Education and Equity of African American Students (CEEEAAS) since it was funded under a centers of excellence program. The current name of the center is: Center for the Education and Equity of African American Students (CADTL) since the home of the funded center of excellence had to remain at Benedict College even though it has been inactive since I left. It remains my intellectual property.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gloria Swindler Boutte

Gloria Swindler Boutte is a Carolina Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina. She is the author/editor of five books and 90+ publications. She is a Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Specialist Alum; Recipient of the 2020 National Council of Teachers of English Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts—Elementary Section; and the 2021 American Educational Research Association 2021 Division K Legacy award.

Tambra O. Jackson

Tambra O. Jackson is the Interim Dean in the School of Education at IUPUI and Professor of Urban Teacher Education. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Africana Studies program. Dr. Jackson’s scholarly agenda coheres around equity methodologies aimed at improving schooling outcomes for racially, culturally and linguistically diverse students through teacher development and learning from the teacher identities and praxis of Black women educators. Her recent edited book is titled, Black Mother Educators: Advancing Praxis for Access, Equity and Achievement. She is also the Principal Investigator for a state-wide grant project on professional learning for teachers and school leaders about Education for Liberation funded by the Indiana Department of Education focused.

George Johnson

George Johnson is a Professor and Academic Coordinator of the Special Education Program at South Carolina State University. For more than two decades, Dr. Johnson’s scholarship, teaching and service has focused on equity pedagogies, teaching for social justice and critical race theory in education with an emphasis on culturally and linguistically diverse students. He has presented nationally and internationally on special education, diversity, and disproportionality, community, and equity issues. Dr. Johnson has numerous publications and grants.

Leslie K. Etienne

Leslie K. Etienne is the Founding Executive Director of the Center for Africana Studies and Culture as well as the Director of the Africana Studies program and Clinical Associate Professor and at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI). He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Philander Smith College, a Masters degree in International Affairs and Development from Clark Atlanta University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership and Change from Antioch University and a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from IUPUI. His research interests are frameworks for Black emancipatory education, Black internationalism, Black cultural production and arts administration, museum education, and historical and contemporary manifestations of Black radical and intellectual traditions. He is particularly versed in the narrative history of the 1964 SNCC Freedom Schools that operated in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer. He currently serves as the Project Director of the IUPUI/Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School, and in 2018 co-curated Remember 1968, an exhibit that highlights a timeline of the year 1968, focusing on six overlapping areas that parallel present day issues on college campuses: Gun Violence, Freedom of Speech, Student Activism, Global/Local Resistance, Patriotism, and Organizing. Dr. Etienne is also the founding Managing Director of the Africana Repertory Theater of IUPUI.