We center and unpack the American Educational Research Association's (AERA) Commission on Research in Black Education's (CORIBE) research validity principle, which emphasizes that the highest priority must be placed on studies of: (A) African tradition (history, culture and language); (B) Hegemony (e.g. uses of schooling/socialization and incarceration); (C) Equity (funding, teacher quality, content and access to technology); and (D) Beneficial practice (at all levels of education, from childhood to elderhood). We present four interrelated and overlapping critical case studies/stories which demonstrate the application, elasticity, and validity of Black emancipatory scholarship frameworks.