Posts tagged Unapologetically Black
“I, too, am a teacher:” Unapologetically Black Educator Story Lounge 2024

By Vanessa Williams
DCAESJ and EmpowerEd DC’s third annual Unapologetically Black Educator Story Lounge was just as powerful, moving, and joyous as the previously held events.

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D.C. Area and Beyond Participate in BLM at School Week of Action 2023

Gearing up for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action is no small feat. While educators in the D.C. area likely have already been uplifting BLM at School work with participation in the Year of Purpose, the Week of Action is often taken as an opportunity to engage in more and perhaps larger scale efforts to uplift the guiding principles and national demands…

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Unapologetically Black Educator Story Lounge

D.C. Area educators for Social Justice co-hosted our second annual story lounge with EmpowerEd DC. Educators shared their stories as teachers and how their experiences as students drove them to education, and DCAESJ program manager Vanessa Williams shared a composite poem with golden lines and messages from storytellers that night.

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Teach Truth Day of Action at AACWM 2022

“The Color Line…Teach it! Reconstructing the South…Teach it! Teaching SNCC…Teach it! What we don’t learn about the Prison Industrial Complex…Teach it! The Black Panther Party…Teach it! Who Gets to Vote? Teach it! Those were the chants heard at the African American Civil War Memorial in DC on Saturday, June 11 for the #TeachTruth event hosted nationally by the Zinn Education Project, African American Policy Forum, and Black Lives Matter at School.

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Exposure: Black@Hayfield Photojournalism Project Captures Uniqueness and Universality of Black Experience at Hayfield Secondary School

By Vanessa Williams

Walking into the front office of Hayfield Secondary School (ACPS), you’re greeted warmly by the office assistant and with cold-looking portraits of the past administrative staff at the school. Nestled in a classroom inconspicuously on the second floor, Ms. Ariel Alford is prepared to launch into a lesson on Black Lives Matter from an international perspective, focusing that day on Denmark.

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D.C. Area Teachers Pledge to Teach the Truth

D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice and the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum invited D.C. area teachers and allies to a convening to decry the GOP legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history on Saturday, June 12. The rally was part of a national day of action to Teach the Truth organized by the Zinn Education Project and Black Lives Matter at School.

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Teach the Beat Go Go Lesson

Langdon Elementary School (DCPS) kicked off Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action in DC with a Teach the Beat lesson from international go-go artist, William “Ju Ju” House on February 4, 2019. Thirty fifth graders took turns jamming on Ju Ju's rototom drum set, a hands-on experience that taught them all about the pocket, Chuck Brown, and go-go's wider influence. 

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