"This Is How We Raise Free People": Conceptualizing Black Unschooling as Modern-Day Marronage

• In Event: Visions of Freedom: Schooling and the Experiences of Black Youth

Abstract

This study investigates unschooling as an instrument of Black liberation. This form of self-directed learning is increasing among Black families who unschool to decolonize their education and parenting practices. Applying the concept of marronage, I contend that Black unschooling is individual and collective acts of flight, refusal, and escape from schools as sites of slavery. Using qualitative research methods, I analyze episodes from the Fare of the Free Child audio podcast on Black unschooling. I discover themes connecting historical marronage with today’s Black unschooling movement. As more Black families opt out of traditional schooling amidst anti-Black racism and a global pandemic, I enhance our understanding of alternative education options largely unexamined in academic literature.

Author

• Courtney A Douglass, University of Maryland - College Park