Integrating African American Culture into the American Education System

Within the African American community, one issue is constantly discussed: education. Though there are many reasons for this, one is that African Americans have historically underperformed in school in comparison to their white counterparts. In his article, “Mr. Nigger: The Challenges of Educating Black Males within American Society,” Toby Jenkins focuses on the black male and how he is treated in the school system. While treatment of students is a legitimate concern, one may also look to the lack of representation of African Americans within the education system. In nearly every, if not every, subject in school African Americans are underrepresented and as a result, underperform and are unprepared for higher education and the greater world around them. This paper will explore how an integration of African American culture into education can greatly benefit African American students.

One of the most interesting components of the American culture is the denial of culture. Many Americans like to consider “culture” as something that is specifically foreign or limited to ethnic groups.  Many Americans “may be offended by the notion that they hold certain ideas and behave in certain ways simply because they were born and raised in the United States and not because they had consciously thought about those ideas and behaviors and chosen the ones they preferred” (Morgan 31).  Ironically, America takes on a culture of individualism. However, for this sweeping statement to be made, one must forget that America is not comprised of a single group of people; within America, there are any number of smaller groups that all have their own specific culture (mentality, history). An important aspect of developing culture is education. Interestingly enough, though America has a vast scope of people, the education system is fairly limited. Within the education system, one culture is being perpetuated and instead of pushing America to be more homogenous, the nation is remaining polarized; most minorities are not ascribing to “American culture” being taught to them and as a result, are not reaping the benefits of being an American.

            In “Marginalized curriculums: Transforming one's place in the margins,” Bryant discusses the literary canon and how this part of the English curriculum marginalizes a vast majority of students. In order to discuss how the literary canon has marginalized so many types of students, Bryant dissects a theory by Paul Lauter. This theory looks at three specific factors that Launter believe tie directly to marginalization (58). First, the professionalization of the teaching literature placed the power to select literature that was to be taught in school in the hands of a few elite. Secondly, a theory of aesthetic was developed that significantly narrowed the books that could be chosen to be placed in the canon. This theory said that great poetry-poetry worth being studied- involved tension, not simplicity or unity. This simple definition of poetry to be studied automatically eliminated many African American and female poets; these poets had a tendency to write in a style different from that sought after by the canon. Thirdly, the canon has attempted to break history up into important time periods. Because American history has been written by white men, most “significant time periods” were those that favored and focused on the white community. Although America is known as a melting pot, only a section of the population is being represented in the literary canon that all students are subject to.

Much research has been done throughout the years as to why African Americans historically perform lower in the school system. Despite all of this information and research gathered on the African American community and their performance within the school system, not much has changed; African Americans are still underperforming. While a look at the literary canon is only one example, it is a well-known fact that a lack of representation within the school system leads to marginalization. This paper will focus on one possible way to bring African Americans out of the margins and into a reality of representation within the school system. While the ideas in this paper may indeed relate to other minorities, their marginalization, and practical ways to create education for all students, this paper will focus on the African American community.

The history of African Americans has been unique to say the least. Though nearly all African Americans have a long-standing history in America through ancestors who have been in America for decades, the African American culture is distinctly different from the one known to be the typical American culture. While the American culture is defined by being individualistic, the defining characteristic of the African American community was best phrased by W. E. B. Du Bois as a “double-consciousness.” In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois describes double-consciousness as an acute awareness that the African American is not fully apart of the society he or she lives in. In this double-consciousness, the African American population is aware of how the surrounding community views them as lesser (45). Interestingly enough, Du Bois states that it is not the goal of the African American to change society.  African Americans do not wish to change the American system any more than they wish to be changed by the system. In essence, the African American seeks to be able to be both black and American; African Americans want to be able to maintain their identity and be fully accepted as members of society. Though Du Bois expressed these thoughts over 100 years ago, they still ring true. African Americans have still not reached equality within the nation and are still fully aware of their unique position within the nation. While the double-consciousness discussed above may not strike one as “cultural,” it is absolutely imperative to understand this group mentality in order to understand the importance of incorporating culture into the education system.

Another example of this separation between the alleged equality and reality of equality within American society for the African American community can be found in Kajikawa’s discussion of African American music. Kajikawa argues that, although America has been increasingly diversified since the 1980s, “the idea of ‘black music’ persists” (19). Kajikawa argues that no other music is nearly as racially coded as black music. She continues that when other minorities enter the music scene, they too, are forced to choose a black or white sound. Interestingly enough, Kajikawa points out that though black music is readily distinguishable, it is not excluded from the public sphere (such as retail stores). This distinction is interesting in that it harkens back to a “separate but equal” mentality. Black music is still considered as something noticeably different from American music but it is still enjoyed by mass audiences. Kajikawa attributes this to the ability to decontextualize the sound of black music from the reality of the meaning lying within the sound. While Kajikawa’s paper focuses on the distinct culture visible through black music, this look at music can be a helpful insight into how double-consciousness plays out in reality.

Though a subtle “separate but equal” attitude seems to persist in American social life, much has changed for African Americans in the area of education. One must remember that there was a time in this nation where African Americans were not educated. Many African Americans were never offered education until it was made public during Reconstruction. Unfortunately, these schools were subject to being funded by state governments who were dominated by white Americans. This led to black schools being drastically underfunded. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) serves to reinforce this façade of “separate but equal” schools and institutions. A shift in this thought toward education for African Americans does not change until Brown v. Board of Education (1954). This case stated that separate is inherently unequal. Though the decision of this case was a landmark in and of itself, significant change was not immediate. Furthermore, equality has still not been reached in performance between African American students and their white counterparts.

Because it is no longer acceptable to categorize blacks as “the lesser race,” it is important to explore the possible reasons as to why African Americans are underperforming in school. While any number of factors can be attributed to the lesser performance of African American students, the fact remains that African American students are being marginalized. As discussed previously, white students are overrepresented in nearly every subject area of the education system, as seen through the example of the literary canon, while their black counterparts are being marginalized. Before looking into how the education system can and should be changed, an interesting topic to look at is black self-education. For indeed, blacks being marginalized within the education system is not a new concept. And yet, many African Americans have positively influenced this nation through their intellect and fresh perspective on American history.

Because African American history has traditionally been excluded from all public education settings, many renowned African American thinkers are self-educated and have passed this information down in much of the same way folklore is passed down: through word of mouth. In his paper, Dagbovie explores how some of America’s most influential African Americans from the 1960s through the 1980s were self-educated. These self-proclaimed historians include: Malcolm X, Harold Cruse, Angela Davis and Lerone Bennett, Jr. Dagbovie discusses how each of these people constitute significant historians and how each have influenced the history of this nation. Though it is not necessary to delve into the details of each of these historians, it is important to see the patterns of the self-educated historian and how this has affected the African American community and American history as a whole. As a public intellectual, Malcolm X had the brilliant capability of actively educating himself on the history of African Americans and communicating this history to his audience in a way which inspired many to actively pursue their own education and liberation (608). Though the other historians mentioned may not have had the same breadth of audience Malcolm X had, much of their self-education served the same purpose. For example, while Cruse was not an active speaker, he was able to communicate his ideas through his writing: The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Critical Interpretation of African American History (613). While Angela Davis is unique in her focus on African American females tracing back to the female slave, she too chose to articulate her historical studies through formal articles (618). Lerone Bennett, Jr. is an interesting case in that he chooses to mass communicate the importance of African American history through two popular magazines: Ebony and Jet (621).

Each of the self-educated historians mentioned above had a major impact on the Black Power movement. While the benefits of this movement are debatable, the significant role these people played is not. Nor is the fact that through the work of these self-proclaimed historians and others like them the African American community was empowered to seek after education and knowledge of their own history. The work of these historians and the turmoil in which they lived also reveals three things. First, they reveal exactly how much work must be done for one to seek out their own history. Secondly, they reveal the detriment of not being educated. Thirdly, they reveal the power one holds with an accurate perspective toward history. For indeed, self-proclaimed historians of the African American community were the only members of the black community who had a grasp on history as taught in the public education system and a grasp on the history of the African American community too often omitted from the history books. These self-educated historians had a great deal of power and influence within the African American community because unlike the public school system, which was only telling less than half of the American story, these intellectuals were able to tell a holistic story as pertained to the history of African Americans. Taking the example of these self-educated men and women, one can only imagine how much more influence public schools would be able to have in communities if schools told whole truths and histories.

In 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) Bob Moses and Liz Fusco started the summer freedom school project in Mississippi (Street 273). Though Moses’ initial reason for working in Mississippi was to encourage wider voting in the state, Moses found a way to make a longer lasting impact in the state. The main premise behind freedom schools was to encourage students to “think and develop their own ideas about a free society” (274). These schools did exactly what this paper suggests would be the best possible academic route for African American students in that they  incorporated African American culture into every aspect of the academic setting. In addition to the typical subjects covered in school (math, science, English, etc.), the freedom schools also taught subjects such as political and social studies, art, film studies, dance, drama, etc. While it is obvious how African American culture can be integrated into the additional subjects taught in freedom schools, one may have difficulty comprehending how African American culture could be incorporated into subjects such as math and science. In all core classes, the material was placed in a context the students would recognize.

Reflecting the citizenship schools that emerged through the programmes of the Highlander Folk School, SNCC intended the curriculum to derive from the students’ background and planned to base classroom activities around the students’ experiences, thus ensuring that school activities remained fully grounded in Mississippian culture. As Jane Stembridge suggested to new freedom school teachers, ‘rather than discuss the concept of economic pressure as such, you talk about Capitol Street in Jackson [Mississippi] and how many of the stores have been closed down. The students will begin to understand these concepts, but as realities’ (278-279).

In this way, African American students received an education which mirrored the quality of education received by their white peers. Because these schools were so politically rooted, they were also able to remain current. In order to look at the impact and history of the Emancipation Proclamation, the September 1963 issue of Ebony was used as supplemental text by many schools (280). 

            While these schools did not become the official school system of Mississippi, they do provide substantial evidence for the encouragement of integrating culture into the public education system. First, the freedom schools provided an environment for students to learn and understand. Because the freedom schools incorporated details of everyday life for the dwellers of Mississippi, subjects such as math and science no longer seemed like foreign concepts, but rather, related directly to their lives. Secondly, the freedom schools differed from typical public schools in that they did not teach typical history classes where only white history was taught. In these summer schools, students were given the opportunity to learn African American history. Though the students who participated in freedom schools were African American, there was no way for them to be formally educated in the history of African Americans before the freedom schools. Lastly, the freedom schools were able to better prepare students for higher education. While one may argue that most of higher education is also slanted in favor of white history, students who attended freedom schools were able to receive a more holistic perspective on American history and have a better understanding of their own history as a people. In sum, the freedom schools were able to provide African Americans just as much education on their own history as typical public schools give on white history.

            Despite the invaluable experience freedom schools and the possibility of schools like them provide, there are a few possible negatives to address. One may argue that reproducing schools like the freedom schools would simply be too expensive. Indeed, it seems that completely new text books would need to be produced and distributed in order for African American history and culture to be taught. In order to see a possible solution, one need only look to the freedom schools. “… SNCC solicited charities, organizations and individuals to provide books that stressed the black contribution to American life. The Souls of Black Folk, John Hope Franklin’s From Slavery to Freedom, Carter G. Woodson’s Negro Makers of History and Langston Hughes’s A Pictorial History of the Negro People in the United States formed the core of the history curriculum” (280).  With the number of groups dedicated to the equality of the African American community within society, the mass distribution of the above works should not be a difficulty. Similarly, one may argue that no single school or district has the time or resources to completely revamp the current education system. However, a large percentage of America is being completely ignored within the school system. In order for a more perfect union to be a reality, education for all citizens must be developed. Furthermore, most schools with a majority of African American students are already drastically underfunded. Theoretically, the state could incentivize instilling more African American culturally sound education by offering districts funding in exchange for instating the program.

            While this paper has focused on the value of integrating culture into education for African Americans, the thoughts expressed here could be applied to other minorities and their lack of representation within the public school system. The reality of pockets of people living in various areas of the nation persists today. Areas in the nation exist where there is a higher percentage of Latinos than whites or African Americans. In this case, the thoughts expressed in this paper should be applied to Latinos. Furthermore, with America constantly changing to include different types of people, one may argue that students should be learning about the vast number of people groups within this nation who have been a major part in American history. While the statement above is accurate- students should be learning about a holistic America- African American students have yet to be adequately educated on their own history. In order for the education system to represent the American population, each member of American society must be educated in his or her own history first.

Works Cited

Bryant, L. A. Marginalized curriculums: Transforming one's place in the margins.  Transformations, 4(2), (1993). 58-58.

Dagbovie, Pero Gaglo. History as a Core Subject Area of African American Studies: Self-Taught             and Self-Proclaimed African American Historians, 1960s-1980s. Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 37, No. 5 (May., 2007), pp. 602-629

Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Vintage /Library of America, 1990. Print.

Jenkins, Toby S. Mr. Nigger: The Challenges of Educating Black Males within American Society. Journal of Black Studies ,Vol. 37, No. 1 (Sep., 2006), pp. 127-155

Kajikawa, L. Y. (2009). Centering the margins: Black music and american culture, 1980--2000.                 University of California, Los Angeles. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. 226.

Lauter, Paul. "Race and Gender in the Shaping of the American Literary Canon: A Case Study    from the Twenties." Feminist Studies 9.3 (1983): 435-463.

Morgan, D. (2008). American Culture, Corporate Culture, and the Transformation of Business                  Practice: The role of Social Foresight in a Restorative Economy. Foresight: The Journal of Futures Studies, Strategic Thinking and Policy, 10(4), 31-42.

Street, J. (2004). Reconstructing Education From the Bottom Up: SNCC's 1964 Mississippi Summer   Project and African American Culture. Journal of American Studies, 38(2), 273-296.