Afterword: Scientific and Social: An Interdisciplinary Response to the Crisis in Black Education

Abstract

BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 79, NO. 2 | 33 79 No.2 AFTERWORD SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS IN BLACK EDUCATION By Alfred W. Tatum If one accepts the premise that there is a crisis in Black education, it is equally important to accept that a more powerful response is needed to move beyond a crisis VWDWH%ODFNHGXFDWLRQLVGH¿QHGKHUHDVHGXFDWLRQIRUWKH advancement of Black people. Central to any effort to craft DQG H[HFXWH D UHVSRQVH LV ¿JXULQJ RXW ZKDW WR EHFRPH smarter about en masse, whom to include, which coalitions DQGLQVWLWXWLRQVWREXLOGDQGKRZWRGH¿QHDQGPRELOL]HDQ agenda that catapults Black education to yield the desired outcomes for Black people in schools and the global society. The response has to be interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from the social sciences and natural sciences, with a tripartite focus on historical understandings, analysis of contemporary factors, and attention to future projections. A response to the crisis in Black education should EHJLQZLWKWKHIXQGDPHQWDOTXHVWLRQV:KDWGRZHNQRZ DERXWWKHFULVLV"+RZGRZHNQRZLW"8QIRUWXQDWHO\LWZDV GLI¿FXOWIRUPHWRLGHQWLI\WKHPRVWLPSRUWDQWVLQJOHZRUN published on the crisis in Black education that captures both historical perspectives and contemporary perspectives from a wide range of disciplines. However, a review of the +DQGERRN RI$IULFDQ$PHULFDQ (GXFDWLRQ suggests there are several dimensions to Black education that include the ongoing struggle for an excellent education for Black people that begs for emulation. They include the landscape of teaching and learning for Black children and adults in 86 VFKRROLQJ WKH GHDUWK RI %ODFN OHDGHUVKLS DFURVV 3N VFKRROLQJWKHSUHVHQFHRI%ODFNSHRSOHLQLQVWLWXWLRQV of higher education, the presence and marginalization of scholarship and research produced by Black scholars, and the impact of the Black voice shaping educational policy.1 This limited educational frame does not include the presence or absence of Black people or attention to factors impacting %ODFNSHRSOHDFURVVRWKHU¿HOGVRIVWXG\DQGLQVWLWXWLRQDO and cultural structures that impact educational outcomes. Scientists who study the universe have indicated that the universe goes through periods of expansion and contraction, and does not remain in an unchanging state. Similarly, I argue, Black education has undergone periods of expansion and contraction and does not remain static. In The Education of Black People, the American sociologist :(%'X%RLVRIIHUHGWKHIROORZLQJLQ We must carefully understand the age in which we OLYHDERYHDOOZHPXVWUHDOL]HWKDWWKLVLVDQDJHRI WUHPHQGRXVDFWLYLW\WKDWWRGD\QRUDFHZKLFKLVQRW prepared to put forth the full might of its carefully developed powers can hope to maintain itself as a world power. On one point, therefore, there can be QRTXHVWLRQ²QRKHVLWDWLRQXQOHVVZHGHYHORSRXU full capabilities, we cannot survive. Du Bois’s words sit at the intersection of expansion or contraction of Black education. Any hesitation to develop full capabilities will lead to contraction and the ultimate destruction of the race. A race putting forth the full might of itscarefullydevelopedpowerswillexpandthroughincreased world power. In my analysis, any discussion of the crisis in Black education has to recognize the ongoing progress and resistance put forth by Blacks, within and outside of the US, to secure and protect their right to an education. There also has to be some recognition of surrender by Black youth and adults to the most egregious political, economic, and cultural assaults on their humanity, and the failure of some Black adults to protect Black children either due to a nonresponse , a lukewarm response, or an ill-timed late response to the crisis. Drawing from the novelist Charles Dickens’s 7DOHRI7ZR&LWLHV, this is certainly not the best of times in Black education, but it is far from the worst of times. The historical archives are replete with the struggles that ordinary Black people in the American South faced to provide education for themselves under federal- and statesanctioned denial and repression of educating African Americans. Still, Black people secured literacy to attain power that was withheld from them. Historical narratives VLPLODUWRWKHRQHEHORZFDSWXUHWKH...