Liberation and Education

Ronald E. Chennault is an associate professor in the College of Education at DePaul University. He is a coeditor of White Reign: Deploying Whiteness in America (1998) and is the author of Hollywood Films About Schools: Where Race, Politics, and Education Intersect (2006) and of Anti-Public: How Elite Discourse Harms Public Education (Rutgers University Press, 2026).Derrick P. Alridge is the Philip J. Gibson Professor of Education in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. He is the author of The Educational Thought of W. E. B. Du Bois: An Intellectual History (2008) and a coeditor of The Black Intellectual Tradition: African American Thought in the Twentieth Century (2021) and Message in the Music: Hip-Hop History and Pedagogy (2010). He has also served as president of the History of Education Society.

"Liberation and Education embodies the Sankofa spirit, illuminating the past, present, and future of Black intellectual thought. From African ancestors to contemporary voices across the diaspora, this volume affirms that Black communities have always engaged—and will continue to engage—in transformative educational strategies that nurture our collective well-being." - Gloria Swindler Boutte, coeditor of We Be Lovin' Black Children: Learning to Be Literate About the African Diaspora"Chennault and Alridge have taken it upon themselves to gather a group of truth tellers to shed light in troubling times. I hope readers understand the immediacy of their message. If we don't, then we must accept that we are complicit with the goals of white supremacy, capitalism, imperialism, and fascism." - David Stovall, professor of Black Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago"Amen to the editors and authors for this book! In a moment when the erasure of contributions and memory of people of African descent living in the U.S. seems more real and tragic, books like this one inspire future generations to realize and accept the possibilities for liberation and freedom. Building on foundational ideas from W. E. B. DuBois and Marcus and Amy Garvey to Asa Hilliard, from Anna Julia Cooper and Carter G. Woodson to Mwalimu Shujaa and William Watkins, the book is most promising for its intent to do more than just record the fight to maintain educational institutions that sustain Black educational thought, but ultimately to determine their own educational histories and futures. We too sing America!" - Rodney Hopson, author of Power, Voice, and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies

• Introduction: Liberation and Education: Toward a History of Black Educational ThoughtRonald E. Chennault and Derrick P. AlridgeChapter 1: African American Living Memory, Pedagogy, and the Slave Past: A Phenomenological Exploration of Remembrance Stephen HaymesChapter 2: “At the Table”: Nannie Helen Burroughs and the Early Rise of Womanism Traki Taylor Chapter 3: The Sacred Mission: Mapping the Intellectual Genealogy of Carter Godwin Woodson Lasana D. Kazembe Chapter 4: Anna Julia Cooper and Septima Poinsette Clark: Adult Education for Freedom, Racial Advancement, and Political Activism Karen A. Johnson Chapter 5: Black Women and White Philanthropy: The Impact of White Funding in the Development of the First Generation of Black Women Scholars and ArtistsLinda Perkins Chapter 6: Black Higher Educational Thought, 1932-1944 Alexis Johnson Chapter 7: “Mind Stayed on Freedom”: The History and Legacy of the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools Program Kristal Moore Clemons and Lauren Lefty Chapter 8: Education for Self-Determination: New Concept Development Center and Black Power Education in Chicago Worth Kamili Hayes Chapter 9: Critical Race Theory and Black Educational Thought: A Conversation Adrienne Dixson and Gloria Ladson-BillingsChapter 10: Slow Moving Tides: Black Women Leaders and the Politics of Representation Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, Talia R. Esnard, and Maria Migueliz ValcarlosChapter 11: Theories about Blackness in Education: Amplifying the Black Radical Tradition as a Path Toward Black Educational FuturesWintre Foxworth Johnson and Samiha RahmanChapter 12: “I Got a Lot to Be Mad About”: The Anti-Blackness of Social Emotional Learning and Paths to LiberationJohari Harris and Leoandra Onnie RogersChapter 13: Fulfilling Education’s Promise of Freedom: Advancing Black Identity and Subjectivity for Commensurate Citizenship Sheron Fraser-Burgess Chapter 14: Beyond Ressentiment: Notes Toward a Critical Moral Theory of African American Education Corey D. B. Walker Chapter 15: Reclaiming Communally Bonded Educators (CBE): A New, but Old Vision for the Field and Function of Black EducatorsJerome E. Morris and Luimil M. NegrÓn-PÉrezChapter 16: Education for Liberation in Black/Africana Studies and African-centered EducationJames B. Stewart NotesNotes on ContributorsIndex