Linking Black Education and Social Justice Struggles Going Forward

By Honey Walrond

Abstract

In January 2020, in response to the criticism that New York City schools don’t reflect the experiences of students of color, the New York State Education Department (2020) released the Culturally responsive and sustaining Education Framework. While the culturally responsive and sustaining education (CR-SE) initiative in New York City schools aims to bring a well-rounded curriculum that centers on many cultures into the classroom, there is still a lack of diverse curriculum and reading material (Gooden, 2019). Discussion of how CR-SE can serve as an emancipatory approach in Black education has been lacking since its creation. To get a better understanding of the liberating and emancipatory practices CR-SE offers, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Sonya Douglass. 

Keywords: culturally responsive and sustaining education, Black education, the scale framework for emancipatory education and leadership