This National Endowment for the Humanities supported program partners the Museum of African American History (MAAH) with the Boston Writing Project (BWP) at the University of Massachusetts Boston to help decolonize education for African American youth in secondary schools. Selected student and educator fellows resuscitated the spirit of Boston’s Black Abolitionists to help transform:
- the curriculum,
- teaching and learning, and
- to support writing growth focused on racial equity.
During our Summer Institute students became educators. Students in grades 7-12 formed a community, learned local African American history about life in the 18th and 19th centuries, and individually planned content to deliver to local teachers who were fellows in the program. Teachers gained valuable information from students which set forth curriculum changes. Based on their new knowledge and epiphanies, they projected real change in instruction for the following school year. Over the course of the school year, students and teachers met monthly and continued to use writing to frame an artifact that will remain in the MAAH archives to concretize the experience of being Black in Boston. Drawing on and standing on the shoulders of powerful historical figures, students will continue the march toward social justice using MAAH as the centerpiece of these efforts.
Explore their artifacts, listen to their voices, and consider the legacy of abolition that our students and teachers are taking up today. What resonates with you?
We created student fellowships for teens for them to recapture and learn the past, to use multiple modalities to serve as curators of the now (e.g. create films, visual arts, design music and dance, etc.), and to project their multitude of diverse Black voices to curate the future - especially as it relates to them as civic leaders in the city of Boston.
Summer Institutes (July 2022)
Week 1 – Student Facing Institute – students gained information, formed community and individually planned a content – filled presentation to deliver to teachers from an inquiry-based stance.
Week 2 – Teacher Facing Institute – teachers gained information from students and Museum educators; teachers then presented impact and curriculum changes they projected for the following school year.
School Year Follow-Up (Fall 2022 – March 2023)
Monthly meetings where students and teachers continued to use writing to frame their individual artifact that will remain in the MAAH archives to concretize the experience of being Black in Boston during contemporary times, drawing on and standing on the shoulders of powerful historical figures to continue the march toward social justice using MAAH as the center piece.