Vicarious Black Joy and Fugitive Spaces: The Benefits of Freedom Schools to Black Parents

• In Event: Social Justice and Liberation for Marginalized Communities

Abstract

Through a qualitative analysis of parent and scholar experiences at Karibu Freedom School, we highlight how fugitive spaces foster Black Joy and support the creation of what bell hooks (1990) referred to as the homeplace. We describe how five types of joy – educational, cultural, social, humanizing, and restorative – are cultivated through the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools curriculum at Karibu Freedom School and how Black parents and caregivers vicariously become (un)intentional beneficiaries of the curriculum and the Black Joy their children experience. We argue for more opportunities to center joy in educational spaces as an institutional and student success metric.

Authors

• Valerie N. Adams-Bass, Rutgers University - Camden

• Michael A. Scofield, University of Florida

• Chonika Coleman-King, University of Florida