Started From the Bottom: Empowering and Liberating Urban African American Students Through Cultural and Historical Resiliency

• In Event: Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: The African American Learner

Abstract

In recognition that negative teacher perceptions, racial identity, and self-concept impact how education is prescribed for African Americans, it is argued that urban youth should see their academic potential and success through the realization that Blacks have continued to defy the odds. Embedded in Critical Race Theory, the presentation will highlight education as an act of emancipation by reviewing educated societies in early African civilizations and then lead into a discussion on Black education institutions as a source of education for freedom. Imperatives for empowering Black students about their education will be provided: (1) re-teaching Black history; (2) utilizing relevant Black curriculum as a tenet to learning; and (3) increasing the academic expectations of students through positive self-concept.

Authors

• Lakia M Scott, Baylor University

• Marcia J. Watson-Vandiver, Towson University

• Cherese Diane Childers-McKee, Northeastern University