From Freedom Schools to Freedom University: Liberatory Education, Interracial and Intergenerational Dialogue, and the Undocumented Student Movement in the U.S. South

Abstract

Freedom University is a modern freedom school that provides liberatory education and leadership development to undocumented students banned from Georgia’s top public universities following the passage of Policy 4.1.6 in 2010. The author discusses how Freedom University draws from both the Southern Freedom School tradition and Latin American popular education methods to provide education for social action. The article also presents a first-hand account of interracial and intergenerational dialogues between undocumented youth and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) veterans, and features photographs that illuminate how undocumented youth recombine SNCC’s tactics of non-violent civil disobedience with new symbols and meanings. In doing so, the article demonstrates how the legacy of freedom schools and student activism in the Black Freedom Movement are shaping the new freedom dreams of undocumented youth today.