Afrocentric

Preserving the Afrocentric Way of Educating Our Youth

By

Shall we kick off this article with a fact that affects us all? The U.S educational system is one of the most unequal in the industrialized world. The Afrocentric way of educating our young ones has always been under Western attack. The Village Method is here to lend a helping hand to all teachers, parents, and young scholars who are seeking their African roots. 

The unabridged African American history has yet to become a part of the school curriculum. That is because our lawmakers insist on censoring our centuries-long fight for education. Let us not forget that the segregated schools of the 60s continue to haunt our modern attitudes.

In today’s article, let’s join forces and seek the light at the end of the tunnel together. All African-Americans deserve to become accustomed to their collective, African past. Read on to find out more about the preservation of the African way of educating our children!

An Afrocentric View on the History of Black Americans

Afrocentrism is often mistaken for a radical idea. Similarly to the Critical Race Theory, its critics are often enthusiasts of the European way of educating our people. A shift of perspective must take place. Educational inequity needs to be addressed but only by learning from the past.

Its counterpart, Eurocentrism, has managed to diminish the educational importance of African culture and tradition. In 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was not only a response to the Civil War  ━ it also marked a remarkable time during the Reconstruction period

4 million newly freed people needed help to get their lives back on track. With over one thousand schools built to instruct and educate our people, things were looking better than ever, until the Bureau’s termination in 1872. This short-lived emancipation speaks volumes about the systemic racism and educational inequity during that time in history.

Our children must know the real history of their people. Regardless of all hardships, academic excellence was a consistent goal for the African-American community. An Afrocentric perspective on history will replace the miseducation of all people of African descent and reconnect them with the real African history. Teach them how oppression did not stop African deep thought and that our ancestors were the original curators of spiritual, physical, scientific, mental, mathematical, astronimic and philosphic knowledge. The first universities were built in Africa (originally named Alkebulan) and the African Moors ruled Spain for over 700 years; teaching them how to cure diseases and use soap. When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, it was soon discovered that Africans held in captivity had successfully created an underground literacy railroad throughout the South. This same education and school program became the foundation of the Georgia Public Education system. Read more about this here.

An Afrocentric Take On the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

The Civil Rights Movement brought forth ideas that are still being propagated today. This influential political movement initiated a national conversation regarding the end of racial segregation. Afrocentrism itself was a part of this debate. 

Overcoming a very overt and unapologetic systemic racism was a more difficult task back then than it is today. Specifically in terms of being enforced by the federal and state laws, the Brown case revealed the educational inequity and its roots in White supremacy. Western civilization tried its best to undermine the influence and richness of all African-derived cultures. 

Joint efforts of civil rights lawyers who had fought for desegregation were met with disdain by most White parents and teachers. The Brown case influenced communities throughout the nation and brought forth issues that had long been swiped under the rug of White supremacy.

Although our children were not legally constrained from attending White schools, they continued to face systemic racism and stereotyping. Contemporary African-American culture benefited from the Brown case, although its legacy remains quite an unfinished, Afrocentric symphony. In fact, similar to the passing of the Civil Rights laws, all people of color benefited from the beautiful struggle of Black people. The marching and resistance collectively made it possible for everyone to engage in the educational system as it is today. Yet, data still shows that Black children are still disproportionately represented in low academic performance and discipline. It would seem to us that the public education system accepted the bodies of Black children, but failed to embrace the culture and soul that has sustained us as a people BEFORE being kidnapped and forced to build this country. 

An Afrocentric Perspective on African Formal Education

Image credit: Freepik

Colonialism and Westernization paved the way for the educational inequity and systemic racism we are facing today. Critical Race Theory (aka CRT) is merely a thorough and unadulterated view of American History without centering Whiteness as the hero(ine) or savior. Although CRT continues to highlight the racial injustice directed at our people, there are still some things worth discovering in regards to the African way of educating our youth.

Did you know that in Botswana, the necessary knowledge and skills were passed on orally, through Afrocentric fables, folktales, legends, myths, and proverbs? This not only dismantles the oppression of our people through a sense of self-awareness, but also sheds new light on the concept of Afrocentrism.

Should culturally responsive after-school programs take the example of African education? This kind of Afrocentric knowledge could very well be implemented via culturally respectful family engagement activities. That way, the families, educators, and children could gain a newfound perspective on the African civilization as a whole.

Colonizers’ main efforts were directed at suppressing and, ideally, obliterating the African spirit. What schools and after-school programs should be aiming for is Afrocentric awareness and academic excellence, as the two go hand in hand. 

Family engagement activities have the power to reconnect our youth to their roots. Only an Afrocentric educational approach can dismantle the systemic racism that has been plaguing our nation for centuries. It is time that we aim to build strong communities of like-minded individuals.

Can We Preserve the Afrocentric Way of Educating Our Youth?

Yes, we most certainly can. Civil rights lawyers and countless scholars made sure of that. Professor Derrick Bell or Asa G. Hilliard III, to name only a few, both fought for an authentically Afrocentric way of living and educating our youth and “Reawakening the African Mind“. 

We can now bring awareness to the founding fathers of Afrocentrism, as well as to the history of our people with the help of culturally responsive after-school programs. Furthermore, family engagement activities can come in handy as a way to educate both the children and their families. This is what we like to call building a village.

The Village Method is here to build proudly Afrocentric villages. Unlike other after-school programs, we bring forth the richness and complexity of our ancestral culture through Youth Development, Family Engagement Activities, and Community Outreach programming.

Join us as we start building more and more villages. You can get involved today! 

 

The Village Method Launches Afrocentric College-Access App That Provides Culturally Affirming Educational Resource for 8-12th Graders

By

Wednesday, July 1, 2020 – Bay area nonprofit, The Village Method, known for its cultural and educational youth enrichment programs has launched ScholarPrep Nation (SPN), a national college-access network to serve a primary audience of 8-12th graders.

SPN provides students with a virtual “village” of peers, parents, educational consultants, counselors, school administrators, and college recruiters. The platform grants students access to courses, monthly presentations from educational consultants, and access to regularly programmed interactive summits. The platform allows all subscribers to create profiles, participate in forum discussions, and interact with other members through private messaging. The content and engagement opportunities within the platform provide the relationships and information that students need for a successful college experience.

SPN stands apart from other college-access resources by providing a relational and Afrocentric environment that affirms students. Additionally, it confronts the problems of children getting lost during their academic journey, parents who are ill-equipped to help their children, overworked counselors, and Black youth suffering because of inadequacies of the public educational system. With SPN, these very preventable and solvable issues are met, to the success of students’ futures.

Hear from Mahea and Mark Gaskins, the founders of The Village Method and ScholarPrep Nation about the platform and how it will support the needs of the young people needing this unique learning environment!

To subscribe to the platform and access it’s educational content and community, visit scholarprepnation.org.

It Takes a Village to Rebuild A Community & Sustain a People

By

While working for the Peace Corps, a young African-American woman traveled her usual route from her homestead in Tanzania. She waved as she like she did every day to the women sitting or working outside their homes. But this particular day they called her over and inquired about her family origin, when they finally understood she was from the U.S. they nodded in harmony and responded, “Oh, you are one of the lost ones.” As perceived by this woman in a small village in Tanzania, the African-American community has strayed from the village.

The virtue in being lost is that there is always a way back. Still, the intellectual will question, “Where have we gone and what was the starting point?” The truth is African-Americans all throughout the world are breaking ground each and every day in one area or another. However, the lack of unity and collaborative movement has hindered macro progress. The Village Method’s approach breaks the cycle of hopelessness and mis-education by creating a community to sustain the vision, a community that lives the culture, and grooms the next generation to set the tone of the conversation.

While villages vary in traditions and customs, there are a few reoccurring themes. The ‘kauye,’ as it’s referred in Nigeria, is the core of one’s community, culture, and personal values. Furthermore, it links each into a shared vision and in turn, action. When one is a part of a village they have a role and are held accountable, and they hold their fellow-man accountable. The community is typically comprised of a small number of families and contributes local support through a rotation of officers who unites the village to longevity. Not only in the development of the community but also in the people. Village rulers built the physical, social, and spiritual structures of their communities to sustain against natural disaster and war; ultimately securing survival. Today, African-American communities are developing without a core. And without a solid sense of identity and community, many young African-Americans are vulnerable to peer pressure and environmental circumstance. As a proactive intervention, The Village Method (TVM) stands in the gap and becomes the center of interdependence, direction, and identity.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Black Psychology, researchers found that using “cultural orientation, Afrocentric values, and racial socialization predicted positive youth development variables, with these effects varying by gender.”

During a time when African-Americans represent just 13 percent of the U.S. population, with 12 states having an African-American population of less 3 percent, it’s essential that growing Black youth have access to a network that strengthens them to go the distance. Many African-American adults can recall the first time they discovered the idea of race. Most likely brought to their attention by someone else, it’s then that they began to see themselves through the eyes of others. Growing up feeling masked and examined influences how one accesses the world. While precautions are justified in the wake of police brutality and the surge of digital racism, the negative behavior of others cannot become the African-American community’s burden to bear.

African-American youth are living in a state of double consciousness, often impacting the way that they approach their school, work, society, finances, and health. In the 1903 publication of “The Souls of Black Folk,” Du Bois introduced the concept of double consciousness, describing the awareness of feeling as though your identity is divided into various parts, making it challenging or difficult to have a unified identity. TVM programming places youth in an environment that not only acknowledges their academic or financial needs but their cultural ones as well. And within the system of parents, teachers, and community leaders, the youth’s sense of self is continuously validated.

Ubuntu, a South African philosophy says that “I am because we are.” As a village, everyone is equally invested, and thus intrinsically driven to reach a holistic objective. People genuinely want to see the best for one another, as one is a part of the whole. With a model that balances leadership and the versatile influx of information, TVM encourages oversight, social responsibility, and support, for when a community member or youth become weak and require help to achieve their next goal.

The African-American community is facing a variety of obstacles; most are complex and fragile from years of agitation and partial resolutions. With a variety of moving pieces and stakeholders, it’s imperative that everyone is on the same side and lifting up the youth to reach the next level of excellence. In the words of Thurgood Marshall, “None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because of somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.”

Imagine when mass numbers of African-American students failed in schools, there was a network of educators and administrators who advocated for policy and curriculum improvements. Now visualize the world where African-American parents have access to mental and physical health physicians who understand their narrative and cultural lens. That’s the vision of the Village Method’s framework. TVM invites individuals with the information and experiences to participate in the proactive developments of today’s youth. Instead of coming together following a tragedy to remedy a solution, the TVM approach implements strategies in four core areas of community development: academic excellence, financial literacy, healthy living, and cultural development. From the parents, school administrators, law enforcement, and community mentors, everyone works in pursuit of a unified goal, ensuring that in each area the youth never loses their way. No one can do it all, and burnout and bias are a reality.

Community collaborations with leaders from each sector guarantee that youth remain surrounded in compassion and possibility.