This book critically reinterprets several key educational frameworks and recommends integrating the historical, cultural, political, and developmental considerations of the African American experience into a unified system of instruction, highlighting practices that already exist and linking them to contemporary ideas and innovations concerning…

Examined centricity combined with Africentricity in mentoring experiences among African American students. Discusses Africentric and Eurocentric philosophies; utilizes the Mentoring Model and African principles of Nguzo Saba to develop an Africentric mentoring paradigm; examines the paradigm's role in supporting African American college students;…

Investigated African-descent college students' perspectives toward their African identity and how students with different perspectives reacted to immersion into an African-centered literacy curriculum. Five prevailing perspectives emerged: indifferent, resentful, hostile, accepting, and African centered (only one student was African centered).…

Discusses whether or not to introduce philosophy in K-12 Afrocentric schools, recommending that Afrocentric educators take into account public education's aversion to philosophy, challenging Plato's and Aristotle's arguments against philosophizing before age 30. Encourages Afrocentric educators to formulate an explicit Afrocentric philosophy,…

Proposes the consideration of the Nguzo Saba as a foundation for African American college student development theory, focusing on: racial/ethnic identity theories; the history of Kwanzaa; the origins of Kwanzaa (African and African American origins); and practical applications of the Nguzo Saba's seven principles (unity, self-determination,…

Examines how sociopolitical context influenced two school districts to pursue reform models that centered on persistent segregation, highlighting research on black mobilization around community control of New York City schools and black support of African American immersion schools in Milwaukee. Results reveal that using all-Black settings as a…

Examined the interaction of social class and racial identity in urban school reform. Presents a case study of reform at one urban California high school which used an Afrocentric curriculum to help improve academic performance, arguing that the effort was ineffective because it failed to consider ways in which poverty influenced the identities of…

Discusses background issues and defines relevant terminology related to Africentrism. Curriculum issues surrounding innovative approaches to infusing African and African-American content into the public school system are discussed. The diverse multicultural society in the United States must represent the histories and contributions of minority…

Examines aspects of an African-centered pedagogy that should let children understand their identities as people of African heritage. Data are from an ethnographic study of "liberatory" pedagogy that was used by four black women teachers. Three vignettes illustrate liberatory practice as it explicitly addresses issues that are often…

Defines African-centered education, and reviews the history and philosophy of independent African-American institutions, discussing the academic, social, and cultural development aspects emphasized in these schools. Includes recommendations for educators working with African-American children and African-centered curricula. (SLD)

Compares 20 African-American rites of passage programs for adolescents, and considers the place of such rites for African Americans and their communities in current and future society. The adolescent rite of passage is a supervised developmental and educational process to assist young people in becoming adults. (SLD)

To improve urban schools, we must create a culture of success for African-American students. A multicultural education that infuses African and African-American history and culture throughout the curriculum is appropriate at this time because problems have reached such critical proportions. (SLD)