Greg Wiggan

Urban School Success: Lessons From a High-Achieving Urban School, and Students’ Reactions to Ferguson, Missouri:

Due to the recent racially motivated killings in Ferguson, Missouri (2014); Staten Island, New York (2014); Cleveland, Ohio (2014); Charleston, South Carolina (2015); Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2016); and Dallas, Texas (2016), racial and ethnic tensions have heightened across the United States. Whereas schools would seem like optimal spaces for racial inquiry and promoting understanding, most classroom lessons have been standardized to avoid critical race discussions. Thus, the transformative power of education is restricted when conversations about real issues in society are avoided. This qualitative case study examines Fannie Lou Hamer Academy (FLHA)—pseudonym, a high-performing urban school that utilizes critical antiracism education. The findings suggest that multicultural curriculum helps students develop “self-knowledge,” meaning a personal awareness of their race and identity. Participants describe how self-knowledge provides corrective history, a response to negative media portrayals of minorities, and helps students understand current events such as the racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. The implications of these findings reveal the central role of the curriculum in shaping positive student identities and helping to mediate social conflicts.

Pedagogy of empowerment: student perspectives on critical multicultural education at a high-performing African American school

Abstract Despite decades of education reform, the US school curricula remain virtually unchanged. Multi-billion dollar initiatives such as No Child Left Behind, Common Core State Standards, Race to the Top, and Every Student Succeeds Act have not resulted in significant academic gains or curricula change. The exclusion of diversity and multiculturalism in US classrooms and textbooks underserves all students and inaccurately perpetuates a hegemonic narrative. This omission particularly disserves minority students, whose only exposure to Black history is slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. Thus, this qualitative case study examines a high-performing school, Harriet Tubman Academy (pseudonym) – HTA, that utilizes critical multiculturalism and anti-racism education. The findings reveal greater academic achievement, and the students explain that they had a greater understanding and appreciation for multicultural education because of their experiences at HTA. The findings of the study have great implications for urban school reform.

Historical and Social Context of Education for African Americans

To understand how HBCUs contribute to African American education, the historical and social context of Black education must be explored. As noted in the previous chapter, the involuntary entry of African Americans into North America dates back to 1619, the year that slaves (indentured servants) from Barbados were transported to Jamestown, Virginia.

The Ancient World

The proceeding section begins the treaties on the background and outline of the ancient world. In particular, the discussion and presentation focuses on Africa, Asia and Europe as they relate to the development of a canon. It begins with the common African origins of all human beings, and the development of cultural expressions and sacred bodies of literature, referred to as the canon, which have impacted social, religious and educational thinking throughout ancient and contemporary times.

Where are the Black Titans and what can they Learn from Prospective Students

The interviewees in our study expressed an understanding regarding the role that HBCUs play in the education of African Americans. In fact, when asked about their viewpoints regarding attending an HBCU, some of the students explained that these institutions were “a good choice” for Black students.

Contemporary Era of History

The final section covers the 20th and 21st centuries. Marked as one of the bloodiest centuries in history, the presentation and discussion on the 20th century uncovers the major wars and their justifications, as well as their connections to the development of the canon. This section concludes with a preview into the 21st century and the rise of globalization, inequalities, and cultural conflicts surrounding power, economics, social status, politics, and religious fundamentalism.

Last of the Black Titans

The entry of Africans into the Americas dates back to 800 B.C.E., before the arrival of Europeans. During this time, Africans who were later called Olmecs sailed to the Americas. Artifacts from their civilization have been discovered by modern researchers.

In Their Voice

The African American high school students’ narratives that are presented in this chapter are from a case study that explored students’ perceptions about attending an HBCU. A case study is an investigation on a single unit, group, or entity in search of relationship meaning between a given context with aims to describe, explore, and explain real-life situations (Yin, 2009).

The World Under Siege and the Railroad to Freedom

The African Diaspora began in 1441 and extended into the mid-1800s (Thompson, 1991). Prior to this, the Arabs had made their entry into Africa and established a slave trading post at Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania in East Africa (UNESCO, 2006). Back in Europe, Prince Henry of Portugal, also called Prince Henry the Navigator, began to sponsor a number of expeditions to Africa (Prince Henry the Navigator, 1894).

To Be Unshackled

In the previous chapter, we explained how true emancipation and decolonization involves a mental realignment with facts instead of repressive ideology. While in Know Thy Self Na’im Akbar recommends that this journey to freedom begins from within, the subsequent stages as he suggests, comes from obtaining and realigning “right knowledge” against miseducation.