We who believe in freedom: Freedom Schools as a critical context for the positive, sociopolitical development of Black youth

ABSTRACT

Due to the shortcomings of traditional schools, innovative supplementary (e.g. out-of-school, summer) programs have been identified as important sites for the positive development and learning of Black youth. This study foregrounds Black youth perspectives to offer additional insight into the role of supplementary programming. Drawing from 15 semi-structured, pre-post interviews with Black youth participating in a six-week summer CDF Freedom Schools program, we analyzed core distinctions drawn between youths’ experiences in the program and in their traditional schools. Black youth attested to how the program expanded opportunities for them to express themselves, build community, engage in critical structural analyses, and imagine sociopolitical possibilities beyond the constraints of the present. We conclude with a discussion of implications, with an eye toward further specifying the types of educational contexts required to counteract detrimental aspects of traditional schooling and cultivate dispositions toward more just futures.

KEYWORDS:

• Black youth
• critical consciousness
• anti-black racism
• schools
• summer programs
• culturally relevant pedagogy

Acknowledgments

This work would not have been possible without the leadership, commitment and support of Dr. Robert Jagers. We are also incredibly grateful to Emmy Kirksey and the staff, SLIs and young scholars participating in the FPFS.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Hale, J. N. (26 June 2014). The Forgotten Legacy of the Freedom Schools. The Atlantic.

2. Edelman, M.W. (posted online June 2014, reposted with note July 2020) John Lewis to young leaders:‘Get in “necessary trouble”’. Child Watch Column. Children’s Defense Fund https://www.childrensdefense.org/child-watch-columns/health/2014/john-lewis-to-young-leaders-get-in-necessary-trouble

3. Black and African American are used interchangeably in this article to refer to racialized peoples in the U.S. with ancestral ties to Africa. This choice reflects participants’ interchangeable use of the two terms.

4. Ideally, we would have achieved equal and equal representation of boys and girls. Black boys were underrepresented in FPFS, and therefore difficult to recruit.