“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.

Black Lives Matter at SchoolMykella PalmerMarch 8, 2024All 13 Principles, All Four Demands, Collective Value, DCPS, DC, Early childhood, Elementary, Empathy, Event, High School, Hire Black Teachers, SY23, Unapologetically Black, Vanessa Williams, Working Groups

Be You! Students Show Us Who They Are — and Are Not!

In recognition of BLM at School, students and I read two books, Hey Black Child and M is for Melanin, both of which focus on who you are as a Black child and how you can affirm and celebrate yourself.

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerFebruary 9, 2024Children’s Books, DC, Early childhood, Elementary, Loving Engagement, SY23, Unapologetically Black

Students Define Economic Justice

DCAESJ working group member and Prince George's County Public Schools high school teacher Amber Bennett Foote shared what the lesson her students are engaged in for Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerFebruary 5, 2024SY23, MD, Unapologetically Black

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…

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.

Black Lives Matter at SchoolAllison AcostaMarch 6, 2023Event, Unapologetically Black, Hire Black Teachers, Vanessa Williams

Community as Resistance at Hayfield Secondary

Students were introduced to Black writers, poets, and photographers who have recorded the power of community among Black people, then created unique visual presentations and taught middle school students at Hayfield what they learned.

Teaching Stories, Black Lives Matter at SchoolAllison AcostaMarch 6, 2023Black Villages, Unapologetically Black, VA, High School, Vanessa Williams, Kimberly Ellis

Sip N Paint at Freedom HS

Using the Pan-African colors as their palette, students transformed blank canvases into stunning recreations of the Sankofa bird, Black power fist, or their own original creations

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesAllison AcostaMarch 6, 2023VA, Vanessa Williams, ArtsEducation, Unapologetically Black, High School, Kimberly Ellis, Working Groups

Students Hear From HBCU Alumni at Montgomery Blair HS

For the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, the staff of Montgomery Blair High School (MCPS) planned a range of activities including a panel discussion of ten Blair HS staff who are alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Black Lives Matter at SchoolAllison AcostaFebruary 16, 2023Unapologetically Black, Loving Engagement, Black Villages, SY22, MD, MCPS

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.

People's History, Black Lives Matter at SchoolMykella PalmerJune 23, 2022Mandate Black History, Unapologetically Black, Event

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.

Teaching Stories, Black Lives Matter at SchoolMykella PalmerMarch 24, 2022Howard University, Vanessa Williams, SY22, VA, Hire Black Teachers, Mandate Black History, Empathy, Unapologetically Black

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.

Black Lives Matter at SchoolAllison AcostaJune 13, 2021Raphael Bonhomme, Mandate Black History, Intergenerational, Black Villages, Unapologetically Black

Early Childhood Art Inspired by Cyrus Kabiru's Afrofuturist C-Stunners

Early childhood students at School Within School @ Goding explore Black joy through the Afrofuturist art of Cyrus Kabiru, who creates glasses (he calls c-stunners) out of discarded materials.

Teaching Stories, Black Lives Matter at SchoolMykella PalmerMarch 1, 2021Early Childhood, Teacher Author, ArtsEducation, Globalism, Unapologetically Black

2020 Social Justice Printmaking Teacher Workshop

Teacher artist Alex Huttinger led the 2nd annual Social Justice Printmaking Workshop, hosted by D.C. Area Educators for Social Jusitce at Halcyon Arts Lab for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.

Teaching Stories, Black Lives Matter at SchoolAllison AcostaFebruary 10, 2020SY20, Event, Intergenerational, Unapologetically Black

Key Figures in U.S. History

Mark McCants, the math resource teacher at Stoddert Elementary School (DCPS), shared this description of the school’s activities.

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerMarch 26, 2019SY19, Elementary, DC, DCPS, ArtsEducation, Unapologetically Black, Intergenerational, Empathy

Rest in Power: Tributes to the Lives of Young Black Men

As a part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, students in Beth Barkley’s Human Rights and Social Action classes at Cardozo Education Campus (DCPS) created a tribute to the young Black men who have lost their lives to police brutality.

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerMarch 26, 2019SY19, High School, DC, DCPS, LastWords, Empathy, Unapologetically Black

Social Justice Printmaking in Middle School: Black Joy

Students at Jefferson Middle School (DCPS) engaged in a social justice printmaking workshop.

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerMarch 1, 2019SY19, ArtsEducation, Middle School, DC, DCPS, Unapologetically Black

Social Justice Printmaking Teacher Workshop

On Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019, teacher artist Alex Huttinger offered a workshop for 20 D.C. area teachers as part of Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Read more >>

Black Lives Matter at School, Other StoriesMykella PalmerFebruary 15, 2019SY19, ArtsEducation, Event, Intergenerational, Unapologetically Black

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerFebruary 8, 2019SY19, DC, DCPS, MD, VA, Unapologetically Black, Black Villages

Representation and Marginalization in History: Fourth Grade Exploration

Students at Mundo Verde explored representation and marginalization in history with their fourth-grade teacher, Dani McCormick.

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerFebruary 7, 2019SY19, Elementary, DC, Dani McCormick, Diversity, Empathy, Unapologetically Black, Queer Affirming, Trans Affirming

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.

Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerFebruary 4, 2019SY19, Go-Go, DC, DCPS, Elementary, Intergenerational, Black Villages, Unapologetically Black