(Re)Membering Liberation

• In Event: Before We Were Whole: (Re)Membering Our Lives in Ghana, West Africa

Abstract

In this autoethnography, I critically analyze how my beliefs about liberation, as a state of mind, are aligned with Black educators in the past and present who have sought to help Black students reach their highest potential (Foster, 1997). I illuminate the difference between freedom and liberation as having two different focuses, energies, and intentions, which leads to different outcomes. I argue that freedom is taken for granted and often associated with what we have to do versus liberation being associated with what we get to do. Black educators, and others, who practice abolitionist teaching for more than survival (Love, 2019), must remember liberation to raise the energy and consciousness of ourselves and our students for inspired living. In this paper, I push educators to consider how our beliefs influence our teaching.

Author

• April Michelle Warren-Grice, University of Pittsburgh