#LiveFree Blog

“But why did he keep the wounds?” That is the question I asked myself as I sat in the American Cathedral in Paris having heard…

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson helped found Negro History Week, which eventually became Black History Month. His was a pioneer in addressing how education was intentionally withheld from enslaved people and Black Americans to keep them subjugated and living in fear – the effects of which we continue to experience to this day.

Gloria Ladson-Billings is an educator who transformed K-12 education by asking, “What’s right with Black students?” instead of “What’s wrong with Black students?” Her research focused on identifying and advancing culturally relevant pedagogy in classrooms across America.

Inequities that were intentionally created must be intentionally repaired, and to this day, Black people in America’s education system continue to fight against segregation in public schools, despite segregation being legally outlawed decades ago.

HBCUs have significantly less public and private resources than other higher education institutions and comprise less than 3% of the nation’s institutions yet produce significantly higher educational results for Black Americans than other institutions.

African American writer and educator Bell Hooks was a pioneer for education by encouraging the creation of learning communities where everyone is valued, students are active participants, curriculum does not reflect biases, and learners can critique knowledge that does not connect with their experience.

Yasantua, the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire (part of modern-day Ghana), personified resistance when the men of the Ashanti government did not stand up to the British government, and led a force of 5,000 to fight the British, retaining the sanctity of the golden stool with the Ashanti nation.

Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence from European colonization in 1957, and the leaders of that movement leveraged their influence and success to advocate for the liberation of all people in Africa – and how cooperation is necessary for the liberation of all.

Slavery in America and European colonies was particularly pernicious because of the generational effects it has had on Black families and slavery’s intentional disregard for the familial relationships of enslaved people.

The tradition of activism among Black athletes is as old as sports in America, and Black athletes used the integration of sports as a way to challenge the hypocrisy of segregation in the political, educational, and other aspects of American life.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The crazy thing is that it has been since Halloween, if not before.

Enslaved women in the Americas in the 1800’s used traditional African American quilting techniques to create generational art, tell stories, and encode messages of pathways to freedom.