Free-dumb Fighting: Liberating the Mis-Education of American Youth Through Black Studies

• In Event: "With Conscious Purposes and Plans": Possibilities and Promises of Ethnic Studies and Education

Abstract

Objectives and Research Questions:
The lack of knowledge that separates American youth from one another stems from ignorance and mis-education, which are perpetuated through the exclusion of Black voices as a prevalent source of national and global historical, cultural and social understanding. The exclusion of Black histories and perspectives in schools perpetuates ‘white supremacist’ constructions of race, power, and identity. Such constructions cycle through generations of youth and teach them, however subconsciously or not, to ignore Black Excellence and to disregard social injustices directed toward Blackness (e.g., identities, histories, cultural practices). This disregard often leads young people to conform to societal practices rooted in racism, classism, and sexism. Simultaneously, it perpetuates the belief that young people should accept racialized injustices instead of questioning, resisting, and changing them.

This paper examines how curricular practices, rooted in the Black experience and culturally relevant pedagogies, can challenge understandings of achievement, identity and critical consciousness for racially diverse students in a suburban high school English Language Arts classroom. The guiding research question for this paper is: What lessons are learned from co-creating with high school students a learning space of introspection that centers Black cultural practices?

Theory:
This paper and presentation focuses on how this work seeks to develop a model for infusing Black cultural studies into English Language Arts curricula while drawing from culturally relevant/sustaining pedagogy (Kinloch, 2012; Ladson-Billings, 1994, 1995; Paris, 2012) and critical literacy praxis (Freire, 1970, 2000; Woodson,1933). Throughout my study, I refer to this model as Cultural and Critical Teaching (CCT).



Methods/ Data Sources:
To address my research question, I begin with an exploration of Black Studies and its historical, political, and social connection to U.S. education and activism. This exploration allows me to showcase how the study of Black America and the concept of ‘Blackness’ reveals important questions relevant to contemporary life, social justice, freedom and identity. As I outline how the exclusion of Black histories and perspectives in school curricula promotes mis-education, I turn attention to how it also perpetuates ‘white supremacist’ notions of race, power, and identity. This study highlights six student participants purposively selected from my nine-month teacher-research study (Duncan Andrade & Morrell, 2008) who were engaged with Cultural and Critical Teaching (CCT) practices in a Black Studies high school curriculum that I created and taught. Data sources include student literacy artifacts, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation over the course of the 2013-2014 academic year.

Results and Significance:
In this study, I provide a description of how parallels among curriculum development (how I created my course “African American Voice”), instruction, and research lend themselves to developing student understandings of achievement, identity, and critical consciousness. Across each student case, I explore the connections between student exposure to Black Studies and how this exposure lends itself to empowering students to critique race, class, and popular understandings of identity through examination of Black cultural and literary practices. I conclude with implications for pedagogy and praxis in schools.

Author

• Donja Bridges, The Ohio State University