Roots, Realities, Refusals, Reinventions: Critical Reflections on the Histories and Futures of Liberation Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This Town Hall will utilize critical, research-based reflections on the histories of liberation education to prompt wider discussion and debate on the future(s) of public education. Forward-thinking scholars of race, history, and urban education will present a series of commentaries, based on their historical research, that focus on past freedom struggles and the quest for education by racially marginalized groups. These commentaries will explore the roots of liberation education and creatively link those histories to present-day educational realities confronted by students of color, their families, and communities. Too often, current educational reforms are advocated without adequate understanding of past traditions and movements. Town Hall attendees are invited to consider how such legacies can inform the reinvention of public education now.

Sub Unit

• Division B - Curriculum Studies / Division B - Section 2: Histories and Futurities (The Frames of Curriculum)

Chair

• Kristen L. Buras, Georgia State University

Papers

• How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Communities of Color, Self-Determination, and Historical Educational Struggle - Wayne Au, University of Washington - Bothell; Anthony L. Brown, The University of Texas - Austin; Dolores Calderon, Western Washington University

• Minds Stayed on Freedom - Joyce E. King, Georgia State University

• Teachers in the Movement: Pedagogy, Activism, and Freedom - Derrick Alridge, University of Virginia

• George Washington Carver Senior High School: A Legacy That Can't Be Chartered - Kristen L. Buras, Georgia State University

Discussant

• Joyce E. King, Georgia State University