Freedom Schools Research Articles

The role of cultural capital in claims to educational sovereignty

ABSTRACT Continuing racial inequities and marginalization have led some communities to reject reliance on public schooling by forming their own programmes and/or schools, claiming sovereignty over the education of their children. We highlight Freedom Schools as one such ongoing but under-studied movement that precedes and contributes to recent, increasingly consequential demands for justice. Our mixed-methods case study explores the social networks through which cultural capital is developed and its roles in claims to educational sovereignty. Community cultural wealth theory guided our identification of three forms of cultural capital—aspirational, familial, and resistant—while social network theory guided our examination of their development.

Shards from the glass ceiling: Deconstructing marginalizing systems in relation to critical consciousness development.

In this qualitative case study, the authors identify, name, and critique multi-level contextual factors in relation to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color college student leaders' and the authors' own critical consciousness development applying Harrel's Difference Framework, and Critical Race Theory. Located in a Northern California Sundown Town, the authors utilize focus groups, Photovoice data, and critical ethnography to document organizational and institutional responses towards student leaders' and the authors' involvement in multicultural programming and a Black Lives Matter Freedom School. Across data sources, the authors chronicle instances of the following: (1) devaluing through unpaid student labor, (2) distancing and siloing of multicultural student organizations on campus, (3) denial of the use of harmful and misinformed programmatic practices, and (4) defensiveness on the part of the administration regarding student narratives. Findings highlight implications within higher education surrounding addressing historic racial inequity, and illustrate the trauma invoked by ameliorative and premature institutional responses.

Assessing Pre-Service Teachers View On Improving Discipline in Colleges of Education in Ghana: A Study at Wesley College of Education

Education at every level is expected to affect behaviour of those who experience it. This makes discipline very essential component in delivery of education. The study was a case study designed to examine students’ views on improving discipline in Colleges of Education. Data was collected from 244 respondents at Wesley College of Education in Ashanti Region, Ghana using a 4-point Likert and 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. The data were analysed using frequency and percentage. The study revealed that students viewed the concept of discipline as punishment which was generally perceived as severe. Punishment in the College included withdrawing students’ privileges, in-school suspension and out-of-school suspension among others. They regarded the causes of indiscipline to be the result of lack of students’ participation in the decision making process of the school, unclear rules. Students’ indiscipline was also attributed to bad training at home, students falling into bad company in school and lack of freedom for students. However disciplinary measures such as the use of guidance and counselling services, religious training, and parental involvement, had more positive responses. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made to improve discipline in Colleges of Education. For instance, there should be clarity of rules, this will enable students to understand the rules and abide by them. In addition, Students of colleges should be taught the value of self-discipline. These will help the student teacher to learn more appropriate ways to ensure discipline when they go out to practice.

“Say What you Really Believe”1: Freedom Schools, Youth Empowerment, and Black Power in 1960s Milwaukee

Background The historical literature on the civil rights movement has tended to underemphasize the movement's educational activities, while literature on the civil rights and Black Power movements has overemphasized ideological and tactical differences between these chapters in the struggle for Black liberation. A few studies have examined Freedom Schools—educational projects established as part of larger civil rights campaigns—but these studies have focused almost exclusively on Freedom Schools in the Southern context. Purpose Focusing on Freedom Schools organized as part of a school desegregation campaign in Milwaukee during the mid-1960s, this article explores the pedagogical purpose and philosophy of the Freedom Schools, as distinct from other protest activities undertaken as part of the campaign, as well as the legacy of the Freedom Schools after the campaign's conclusion. Research Design This historical analysis examines materials such as lesson plans, flyers, and correspondence from the archives of the Milwaukee United School Integration Committee (MUSIC), the organization responsible for the school desegregation campaign. Findings This article shows that core components of the Freedom School curriculum, which sought to challenge deficit-oriented policies and empower youth to create social change, foreshadowed key tenets of Black Power ideology. Conclusions These findings suggest that the Freedom Schools, as important sites of ideological development, highlight continuity between the civil rights and Black Power movements and situate the Freedom Schools as part of a longer tradition of education for liberation and self-determination.

Особенности понимания психологической свободы личности в подростковом, старшем школьном и студенческом возрасте

A significant number of domestic and foreign studies are devoted to the study of freedom as a mental phenomenon. Modern authors consider psychological freedom of personality mainly as effective self-determination, paying insufficient attention to its spiritual foundations and ontogenetic features of development. The following assumption was made: age peculiarities of understanding of psychological freedom of a person consist in the fact that in adolescence, high school and student age different components of psychological freedom reflect the content and manifestation of freedom, and spirituality is the basic structural component of psychological freedom, determining its content and manifestations at different age stages. The study involved 329 subjects: 105 adolescents aged 14 years, 102 high school students aged 17 years, 122 students aged 19-21 years. The results of the study allowed to describe the differences in the views of adolescents, high school students and students about freedom, age differences in the content of individual components of psychological freedom of the individual and their manifestation, the role of spirituality in the development of psychological freedom, demonstrated its decisive importance in understanding the true inner freedom.

Until the Revolution: Analyzing the Politics, Pedagogy, and Curriculum of the Oakland Community School

In United States conversations about progressive pedagogy and alternative forms of education, the longstanding models that scholars used were predominantly white. African-American historians of education have problematized this narrative. More recently, the interdisciplinary field of Black Power studies has increased investigation into Afrocentric pedagogy and Black politically-engaged education after World War II (Rickford, 2016). While much attention has been paid to the freedom schools, educational sites run by Black revolutionary nationalists have received less attention. One particular site is the Oakland Community School (OCS), the Black Panther Party’s full-time day school. Initially a combined day-care and home school known as the Children’s House in 1970, the school changed to become the Intercommunal Youth Institute in 1971. It then operated as the Oakland Community School from 1974 until 1982, earning acclaim from the California Department of Education and the governor of California (Gore, Theoharis & Woodard, 2009). While multiple historical studies detail the pedagogical contours of the school and its community engagement, very few elicit the voices of former students. This work incorporates such voices, in conjunction with traditional archives and digital archival material, as a means of contextualizing the OCS within the Black Panther Party’s politics of the period and the school’s implications for contemporary education.

“The link between a rotting shack and a rotting America”: Literacy Education in the Mississippi Freedom Schools of 1964

Preview this article: “The link between a rotting shack and a rotting America”: Literacy Education in the Mississippi Freedom Schools of 1964, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/82/3/collegeenglish30478-1.gif

Community-based standards and community cultural wealth in freedom schools

ABSTRACT This project contributes to the understanding and support of the social and academic development of racialised, minoritized students using criteria grounded in community goals and standards for their children. Results are from a 2-year case study of a Children’s Defence Fund-sponsored Freedom School (FS) in the US that engaged in critical multicultural education and culturally relevant pedagogy. Collaborative research worked to identify 1) FS staffs’ criteria for themselves, each other, and their students, 2) forms of cultural capital in this FS summer programme, and 3) to understand the relationship between staffs’ standards and the identified forms of cultural capital. The importance of such efforts for oppressed communities’ claims to educational sovereignty is highlighted.

Exploring the Implications of Culturally Relevant Teaching: Toward a Pedagogy of Liberation

Schools in America may provide opportunities for upward mobility while also perpetuating social inequality. The inequities found in the US public school system probably result in such a highly stratified society. Conditions found in many schools and classrooms are often a microcosm of the same conditions and factors present in the broader American society. Scholars and education reform activists often use the term school-to-prison pipeline to describe what they view as a widespread pattern in the United States of pushing students, especially those who are already at a disadvantage, out of school, and into the criminal justice system. This research explored whether mentorship in the lives of these very students can affect the trajectory that these students take in life by moving toward a pedagogy of liberation that challenges the inequities and contradictions in the institution of education. Building from a model similar to CDF Freedom Schools, but targeting academic enrichment, Farrah and her colleague Hope developed the Sankofa Project at Yin Elementary School (YES). Embracing both the social-emotional and pedagogical aspects of CDF Freedom Schools, the Sankofa Project moved from a mission that sought to instill a love for reading to actually teaching children to read. This aspect was pivotally important to Farrah and Hope as they sought to dismantle the “cradle to prison pipeline,” the concept of funneling masses of people into marginalized lives, imprisonment, and often premature death. Farrah believed that all her predecessors had done “was spot on, but academic enrichment was a key to steering children away from the pipeline.” With the rebirth of a caste-like system in America, black and brown bodies are disproportionately locked behind bars, relegated permanent second-class status if declared a felon and an increasingly common trend toward annihilation at the hands of those of who are designated to serve and protect them.

Summer Reading Program with Benefits for At-Risk Children: Results from a Freedom School Program

Low-income and racial/ethnic minority children are at increased risk of experiencing summer reading loss or declined reading levels due to time away from school. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 6-week summer reading program would help children maintain or improve reading levels. Four-hundred-fourteen African American and Hispanic children ranging from Kindergarten to 8th grade were assessed before (Time 1) and one-week prior to the end of the program (Time 2) to evaluate changes in Independent and Frustration reading levels. Outcome scores (Independent and Frustration) significantly improved from Time 1 to Time 2, t (415) = 11.62, p < .001 and t (415) = 14.99, p < .001, respectively. Time had a significant effect on both Independent and Frustration score differences (F (1, 415) = 135.09, p < .001 and F (1, 415) = 224.60, p < .001, respectively). A significant time by child level interaction in Independent difference scores was also observed F (1, 410) = 8.21, p < .01, with children in higher levels showing more improvement. There was also a significant time by grade repeat interaction in Frustration difference scores, F (1, 390) = 7.60, p <.01; children with a history of grade repetition showed significant improvement compared to those who had not. Results suggest that this brief summer reading program helped children improve over time, with improvement most notable in children in higher grade levels and those most vulnerable (i.e., grade repetition).

Navigating Black Identity Development: The Power of Interactive Multicultural Read Alouds with Elementary-Aged Children

Racial identity development in young children is influenced by interactions with teachers and curriculum in schools. This article, using the framework of critical race theory, critical literacy, and critical pedagogy, explores how three elementary-aged Black children view their own identity development. Specifically, observing how children interact with Movement-Oriented Civil Rights-Themed Children’s Literature (MO-CRiTLit) in the context of a non-traditional summer literacy program, Freedom Schools, to influence their Black identity. Professional development and preservice teacher preparation are needed to support teachers as they navigate through learning about pedagogical practices that increase student engagement.

John N. Hale, The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. Pp. 320. $60.00 (cloth); $27.00 (paper).

John N. Hale, <i>The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement</i>. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. Pp. 320. $60.00 (cloth); $27.00 (paper).

School leaders’ perspectives on government-initiated changes in Flemish secondary schools

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the perspectives of Flemish secondary school principals and coordinating principals on the government-proposed changes and uncovers their experiences with these changes in an in-depth manner. In a school system characterised by school freedom and free school choice, semi-structured interviews with 21 school leaders revealed the significance of school autonomy to create bottom-up solutions to the change-related problems. However, infrastructure, monetary resources, teacher, and parent reactions sometimes proved to be obstacles, jeopardised effective implementation, and affected the leaders’ workload extensively. The results showed the critical roles played by the school principals to satisfy the change-related needs of the staff and motivate them for change. The findings collectively suggest the need for more attention devoted to 1) the human side of the change, 2) greater support provided throughout the process, and 3) a loose connection between politics and change-related decisions.

“FU”: One Response to the Liminal State Immigrant Youth Must Navigate

Undocumented youth experience partial integration in some institutional spaces but remain barred from others. Although they are permitted to attend and graduate from K–12 public schools, the geographic unevenness of immigration policy leads to inequitable access to higher education for undocumented youth. In this article, we examine undocumented higher education access and how an underground freedom school is providing an alternative. We apply the theoretical lens of spaces of care within the framework of geographies of care to understand the uneven legal geographies that exist and the structures that emerge to equip and empower youth to leverage their experiences with illegality.

‘Do our lives matter?’ Music, poetry, and Freedom School

This article presents synergies between arts education, political consciousness raising, and leadership development for youth, and suggests roles for the arts in community organizing for personal and social change. Arts education is seen as a strategy to unleash creativity, affirm cultural assets, cultivate multiple literacies, critique oppressive social practices, and ignite freedoms. Rooted in the US civil rights movement of the 1960s, Freedom Schools became a national network committed to youth development. The case study, set in the Freedom School of South Los Angeles, introduces readers to geographical, cultural, and institutional contexts for the work; outlines a critical methodology for participatory action research; and shares transformational autoethnographies of teaching and learning in arts education classrooms. It is grounded in intersectional feminist methodologies, and is aimed at educators, artists, urbanists, and cultural studies practitioners. The work invested in youth voice and professional development of novice teachers by activating creativity and intergenerational mentorship to reimagine alternative futures. Short term project outcomes are conveyed, alongside longer-term implications for systemic change that values the lives of black and brown youth, families, and communities.

Jon N. Hale, The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

Jon N. Hale, The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

«An idea unleashed in history»: Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the campaign to end poverty in America

As well as being a civil rights advocate, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr consistently called for human rights for all. He opposed poverty, racism, imperialism and political disfranchisement as part of an analysis, which viewed inequality not only in American but also in global terms. In order to address poverty and related human rights issues, King proposed a Poor People’s Campaign (PPC). In May 1968, only weeks after King’s assassination, the PPC saw thousands of poor people travel to Washington DC to protest against poverty. The demonstrators occupied sacred space in the nation’s capital by building a temporary community, known as Resurrection City. During preparations for the PPC and in Washington, the activists drew on a rich legacy of adult education from previous civil rights campaigns. The approaches adopted by PPC participants were innovative and represented alternatives to conventional educational practices. These included Freedom Schools, a Poor People’s University, workshops, marches and demonstrations, which assisted the protesters to come together in coalition to challenge dominant hegemonic narratives concerning the causes, nature and scope of poverty. Although ultimately unsuccessful in its aspiration to end economic injustice in America, the PPC undoubtedly laid the seeds for future anti-poverty activism. The article draws on primary source documents and oral testimonies from five archives.

Jon N. Hale. The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.

Jon N. Hale. The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.

The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

In the historiography of the civil rights movement, no other state has received as much attention as Mississippi. In particular, the 1964 Freedom Summer project of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which brought hundreds of white volunteers to the Magnolia State to register African American voters and to teach black children in so-called Freedom Schools, has been the subject of numerous studies. Yet, a few historiographical gaps remain, and the Freedom Schools is one of them. Jon N. Hale is to be applauded for authoring the first scholarly monograph on this important aspect of the Mississippi movement, since his study reveals that the Freedom Schools were just as important as voter registration drives in SNCC efforts to foster local black activism and develop black leadership. Hale argues that this educational initiative not only helped motivate thousands of black children and teenagers to join the movement but also influenced their activist careers well beyond Freedom Summer. Thus, he rightfully highlights the significant role that youth and education played in the Mississippi freedom struggle.

Jon N.Hale. The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.

Peace & ChangeVolume 42, Issue 4 p. 586-589 Book Review Jon N. Hale. The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. Staughton Lynd, Staughton LyndSearch for more papers by this author Staughton Lynd, Staughton LyndSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 September 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/pech.12261Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume42, Issue4October 2017Pages 586-589 RelatedInformation