The purpose of this study is to examine how members of the community, educators, legislators, and members of the academy organized and mobilized to bring Florida Statute 1003.42(h) into being. This Afrocentric case study policy analysis centers African people, educators, and policymakers as agents, actors, and subjects with agency who determined that such legislation was needed and necessary for the education of African American students and all students. Data, in the form of document analysis, websites in the states of New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and South Carolina with similar laws, and Florida’s Commissioner’s Task Force on African American History, newspaper accounts, and interviews with key people involved in the creation of the Florida legislation, were analyzed using an Africological methodology. Findings include several major themes that emerged about educational curriculum content, intent, needs, and analysis relative to why this legislation was sponsored and passed including: (a) inaccuracy and omission, (b) correction and inclusion, (c) consciousness and competence, (d) policy and priority, (e) power and precedence. The final product includes a theory of Selective Memory Manipulation and a Paradigm for Afrocentric Educational Policy Production and Analysis.

As a culturally relevant alternative to traditional public school environments, Independent African Centered schools feature a particular type of culturally relevant pedagogy. This study explored the teachers’ and administrator’s perceptions and applications of African Centered pedagogy in an African Centered school. Interviews, observations and a document review served as the source of data for this study. This basic interpretive study utilized a qualitative research design to explore the perceptions and application of African Centeredness among the participants. An analysis of the data revealed categories and themes related to the school’s mission and the participants’ perceptions and performance of African-centered pedagogy. Three general conclusions were drawn from the findings. Implications for theory, study limitations and recommendations for future research are provided.

In educational research, a prevalent topic of discussion is African-centered pedagogy. This phenomenological study records the unique perspectives of adults who specifically grew up in African-centered learning environments from a young age. The sample includes 10 African American adults, aged 18-45, from various cities in the United States. Mixed methods are applied in this study: group concept mapping strategies are implemented to yield both qualitative and quantitative results for analysis. Data is further supplemented with one-on-one interviews, and a review of themes from interview transcripts using multiple coding processes. Findings from this particular demographic can add another dimension to the current literature on the relevancy and need for culturally relevant pedagogical practice for African-American children. The ultimate goal of this generative study is to serve as a resource for educators, parents and students – which includes documented practices and methods for further consideration and application.

The purpose of this research was to explore the work of Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard, III (Nana Baffour Amankwatia, II) in three areas: (1) traditional African education and socialization, (2) responsibilities of African teachers, and (3) the need for inter/multicultural teacher education programs. It was also the purpose of this research to explore my African identity development and transformation as I interacted with, studied, and read works by Dr. Hilliard. Data used in the study include a selection of works by Dr. Hilliard, fieldnotes, fieldletters, original poetry and essays, and memory data (St. Pierre, 1997). Qualitative content analysis and autoethnography were combined to present an autoethnographic content analysis (ACA) of Dr. Hilliard’s work. The ACA method is unique to this study and provided a reflexive analysis of documents (Altheide, 1987) complimented by recognition of the events that contributed to my African identification. Findings from the study revealed several major themes in Dr. Hilliard’s work: (a) African socialization to challenge the MAAFA, (b) traditional African education for all children, (c) African teachers as responsible teachers, and (d) teacher education for inter/multicultural perspectives. The final product is an amalgamation of academic and literary writing, and includes poems, vignettes, and autobiographical narratives.

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African American rites of passage (ROP) have historically contributed to adolescent gender socialization enabling Black youth to overcome the effects of racism and oppression. ROP in the schools provide lessons in Black history, traditions, and culture as they guide youth through the turbulent terrain of adolescence via the communal "coming of age" process. This study examined adolescent girls' experiences in weekly ROP classes at Ella Baker Freedom Academy (EBFA) Charter School over the course of one academic year and five months. EBFA is an African-centered Freedom School in a northeastern city in the United States. This study employed ethnographic methods within a Black Feminist/Womanist framework to investigate how rites of passage support adolescent girls' gendered ethnic identity, self-concept, and peer relations. This study fills in gaps in the literature on ROP, focusing on the participants' ROP experiences within the intersections of adolescent identity formation, womanhood and sisterhood empowerment, and culturally relevant gender socialization practices in school. Three major questions guided the study: 1) How ROP classes supported adolescent girls' intersecting and developing gender and ethnic identities; 2) How ROP classes supported students' female peer relations; and 3) How African values were utilized in ROP classes. The study revealed the interconnected ways in which ROP supported participants' developing gender/ethnic identities, and improved peer relationships, conflict resolution strategies, and personal definitions of womanhood. The ROP classes supported students by: a) developing a critical awareness of sexism, internalized oppression; i.e., colorism, negative racial/gendered stereotypes about Black women and girls in U.S. society, particularly those propagated through the media; b) building appreciation, esteem, and respect in themselves and each other; c) cultivating positive academic identities through healthy female peer relationships via critical dialogue, trust building, conflict resolution, and empowering communications; d) developing personal standards for womanhood using African-centered values; and e) revealing gendered passageways to womanhood and sisterhood in intergenerational and emotionally safe spaces, and across school contexts. / Urban Education