Lessons from Building a Living Archive: Teacher Learning Through Practitioner Inquiry into Black Philadelphian Histories

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  In Roundtable Session: Historicizing Equity Since the Era of Desegregation

Abstract

Amid ongoing political attacks on public education and efforts to erase Black histories from curricula, this paper examines how teacher researchers engage in practitioner inquiry to explore Black Philadelphian histories and archives. We explore what teacher researchers are learning about themselves, their students, and their pedagogies through practitioner inquiry into Black Philadelphian histories and archives. Drawing on early findings from Building a Living Archive—a Spencer-funded research-practice partnership among the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP), The Colored Girls Museum, and the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), we examine how curriculum co-design and archival inquiry surface new insights into teacher learning, historical consciousness, and civic purpose. Though locally grounded, the project offers emerging implications for justice-oriented curriculum and teacher education nationally.

Authors

• Barrett Rosser, Morgan State University

• Kyra Williams, University of Pennsylvania

• Bonnee Breese Bentum, School District of Philadelphia

• Njemele Anderson, The School District of Philadelphia

• Antoine Stroman, School District of Philadelphia

• Angela Crawford, The School District of Philadelphia