Undoing Oppression from Slavery,
Racism, Sexism and Privilege:
Educating Our Way to Literacy
Sylvia Bailey
July 2005
Staff Development Workshop
Primary Audience
– Southfield High School Staff, Southfield, Michigan
– Student population
• 1,650
• 98% African American
– Teacher population
• 120
• 60% White
• 40% Black
Secondary Audience
 More than 400 Oakland (MI) Writing Project
Teachers (County ISD)
– County
• 28 school districts (pop.1.2M)
• range is from urban to suburban to rural
• approximately 210,000 students (about onetenth of our state’s school age population)
• Extremely diverse in terms of race, culture,
language, and socio-economic status (50
different home languages spoken
• Minority student population in the county is 22%
(minority populations tend to be concentrated in
only 3 of the 28 districts—Southfield, Oak Park
and Pontiac
– Pontiac
• nearly 13,000 students
– 64% African American
– 11% Latino
– 5% Asian
Objective
Integrating African American Literature
and Culture across the Curriculum to
Increase Literacy
Rationale -Teachers
 Increase the understanding of AA history/culture
the more effective our teaching
 Unaware of the impact slavery and oppression has
on our students
 Learn from prior knowledge and experiences of
others
 Achieve greater insight into text
 Construct relevant connections to the past and
students’ lives today
Impact on Students
 Enhance engagement in learning by
showing the relevance of AA history and
culture on their lives
 Increased literacy in order to successfully
compete in the global marketplace
Workshop Structure
 Frequency
– Six collaborative Mondays
 Time
– 2:30-4:00 pm
 Location
– MC 2
 Workshop Size
– Maximum 30
 Assignments
– Required Reading
– Lesson Plans
Pre-Reading
 Session 1 –Introduction: Woodson, Carter, The Mis-Education of the
Negro
 Session 2- History: Slavery and Oppression: Bennett, Lerone, Before
The Mayflower
 Session 3- Language: Delpit, Lisa, Other People’s Children
 Session 4 -Cultural Stereotypes:
Color Complex, by Kathy Russell (Book excerpt)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0385471610/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex/10
3-9060415-3977415?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00I#reader-link
Colbert, Jessie, African American Women in Film (article)
http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto01/173/colbert.
html
 Session 5- Lesson Plans: Kunjufu, Jawanza, Black Students-Middle
Class Teachers
 Session 6- Activism/Radicalism: Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the
Oppressed
Workshop Agenda-Month 1 (90 minutes)
 Introduction
– Rationale: Why the need to talk
– Overview of Workshops
– Deconstruct Workshop Title
– Activity-Jump Street Odyssey
– Assignment: Read The Mis-Education of the
Negro
Deconstructing The Title

Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism
and Privilege: Educating Our Way to Literacy
Discussion:

–
What do these terms mean to us?
•
•
•
•
•
Oppression
Slavery
Racism
Sexism
Privilege
Activity: Essence of Your Being
I.
Who am I?
How do you identify yourself? (Racially/culturally/
linguistically/ socio-economically/religiously/
sexually/etc.)
II.
III.
IV.
IV.
Where did you grow up?
Describe the neighborhood, relationships your
parent or family had in the community.
Where did you attend school?
Describe the environment, the teachers, support
staff, the building and neighboring environment.
How did you feel about school?
Describe a place or time when you felt comfortable
with those around you.
Describe a place or time when you felt different
from those around you. Focus on the feelings you
experienced at that time.
As a teacher who are you today?
Who are your students? (Racially/culturally/
linguistically/ socio-economically/religiously/
sexually/etc.) What issues do you face currently in
your classroom/school/community?
Workshop Agenda-Month 2
(90 minutes)
History: Slavery/Oppression/Privilege
 Activity
– view first 20-30 minutes of Crash
 Discussion of Readings and Film
– Why do students need an in-depth appreciation and understanding
of African American History
– Why is it necessary to discuss oppression?
– Can power and privilege be used responsibly?
– Having looked at examples of white privilege, how can I help my
students deal with it?
– How is oppression related to student behavior, achievement and
expectations ?
 Assignment
– Read:
• Delpit, Lisa, The Skin We Speak
• Baldwin, James, “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What
Is?”
Workshop Agenda-Month 3 (90 minutes)
 Discussion –Language
–
–
–
–
Prose
Poetry
Song
Signifying
 Assignment- Read:
– McIntosh, Peggy “Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack:White
Privilege” (Handout)
– Color Complex by Kathy Russell (Book)
Workshop Agenda-Month 4
(90 minutes)
 Racism/Stereotypes
– Activity-View Video The Color of Fear
– Discussion of video and readings
– Harmful Effects of Racism
 Assignment
– Design a lesson plan that integrates African American
Culture/History/Literature into a unit of study
– Use resource lists
– Bring enough copies for the group
Workshop Agenda-Month 5
(90 minutes)
 Response groups: Lesson plans
 Activity- Identifying Famous African
Americans (Contest)
 Assignment:
Read: Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Workshop Agenda-Month 6
(90 minutes
 Radicalism/Activism
– What can we as teachers do?
– How can we help our students to think …
• about their identity?
• about their own values?
 Activity- View PBS video- Dr. King’s, I Have a
Dream
 Discussion
– “It is your responsibility to change
society if you think of yourself as an
educated person.”
Resources-Bibliographies (Handouts)
 Teaching Africa and African American Roots
 An Annotated Bibliography Teaching Slavery
Differently:The Black Radical Tradition
 A Brief Bibliography on Black Vernacular English
 Delaney Group Reading List
Books
Delpit, Lisa, The Skin We Speak and Other People’s
Children
Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Kunjufu, Jawanza, Black Students-Middle Class Teachers
Morrison, Toni, The Black Book
Articles/Essays-Handouts
 Baldwin, James, “A Talk to Teachers”
 Baldwin, James, “If Black English Isn’t a
Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”
 Bell, Lee Anne, “Theoretical Foundations for
Social Justice Education”
 Cutter, Martha J., “Dismantling ‘The Master’s
House’”
 Edelman, Marian Wright, “A Closer Look: the
Costs of Child Poverty in America”
More Articles/Essays-Handouts
 Hughes, Langston, “The Future of Black
America”
 Jefferson, Thomas, “Notes on the State of
Virginia, 1987)
 McIntosh, Peggy, “White Privilege: Unpacking
the Invisible Knapsack”
 Moses, Robert P. and Charles Cobb Chapter 1:
Algebra and Civil Rights and Chapter 3:
Standin’ at the Crossroads
Wideman, John, The Black Writer and the
Magic of the Word
Resources-Websites
 http://search.msn.com/results.asp?FORM=sCPN&RS=CHECKE





D&un=doc&v=1&q=%22African%20American%22%20Mathem
atician (African American Mathemeticians)
http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/search.html (Slave Trade
and Slave Lives)
http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/bltclive/index.html (Black
Thought and Culture)
http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto01/173/col
bert.html (African American Women in Film-Stereotypes)
http://racerelations.about.com/od/stereotypesmentalmodels/a/blac
kimage.htm (Race Relations-Stereotypes)
http://jab.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/40/2/146 (Myths,
Stereotypes, and Realities of Black Women)