Kanye West once made a very poignant statement about identity in a song – yes, Kanye -said something poignant. He said, “everything I’m not made me everything I am.” There is plenty of evidence that explains why Black...
Tag - Black male educators
At the beginning of the month, we at the Center for Black Educator Development wrapped up our third Freedom Schools Literacy Academy (“FSLA”). The five week program again focused on building literacy skills and instilling a...
Just the other day I saw a tweet that cautioned Black folks to divest from the “Black Male Educator as the Messiah” myth in education and it got me thinking; is there a messiah myth about Black male educators in education...
I am from a place where being home before the streetlights came on meant just that. I am from a neighborhood in Detroit where drugs and guns were more common than schoolbooks. I am from a place where milkcrate basketball hoops...
Across the entire United States, there aren’t nearly enough Black teachers inside classrooms. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, less than 7% of teachers nationwide are Black; only 1.5% of...
E’ry day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Phillys7thWard.org, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer. But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History...
This Black History Month, we’ll highlight 28 Black Educators in our Hall of Fame. Octavius V. Catto was an educator and an activist; an eduactivist, born on February 22, 1839 in South Carolina. He was born in South...
Education was a second career for me—but it wasn’t for lack of trying to make it the first. In college, I pursued a major in education for one semester, but became discouraged by the striking absence of Black men and women in...
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” —Angela Davis Last year today, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took a noteworthy step to change the unacceptable: a...
Teachers who establish meaningful relationships with their students should be celebrated and modeled after. However, social media has a way of turning any narrative on its head; making teachers overnight sensations for sharing...