Sociocultural Foundations of American Education: Counternarratives of African American Teaching and Learning

• In Event: Interdisciplinary Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Centering African American Archives, Educators, Students, and Technology

Abstract

Understanding America’s complex history of education requires purposeful, interdisciplinary, and historical approaches grounded in critical inquiry and reflection. As such, this essay offers a historical overview of American educational foundations, with particular emphasis on African American legacies reflected in present day realities. More specifically, it 1) examines socio-cultural foundations of American education from the colonial era to the 1960s, 2) contextualizes the interpretation of Brown v. Board of Education through African American archives, and 3) advances a culturally responsive pedagogy eluded in Brown’s unfilled promise of equity. Validating the immense contributions of African American educators and students, this essay concludes by contextualizing frameworks of American education within present day realities of curriculum development, cross-cultural communication, and teacher preparation.

Author

• Lori M. West, Connecticut College