reaching african american students: profile of an afrocentric teacher by dr.kmt shockley

8/14/2019 Reaching African American Students: Profile of an Afrocentric Teacher by Dr.Kmt Shockley

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DOI: 10.1177/00219347114037392011

2011 42: 1027 originally published online 27 MarchJournal of Black Studies Kmt Shockley

TeacherReaching African American Students: Profile of an Afrocentric

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1Morgan State University

Corresponding Author:Kmt Shockley, Morgan State University, 1700 Cold Spring Lane, Banneker Building 315E,Baltimore, MD 21251Email: [email protected]

Reaching AfricanAmerican Students:Profile of anAfrocentric Teacher

Kmt Shockley 1

AbstractIn the public school systems of America, what gets attention is that which istrending at any given time. However, one trend that seems to be maintained(while piles of money are made off fads and mostly worthless professionaldevelopments) is that Black children are at the bottom of all of the tiers thatare measured. Although Afrocentric education has received largely negative

press from the mainstream, no argument can be defended against the notionof designing an education that is centered on the needs of those childrenwho come from communities that have been intentionally disorganized byAmerica (and Europe) for many years. Much is known about the problemsthat have come from the aforementioned historical happening, yet little isknown about solutions such as Afrocentric education. This article presents aprofile of an Afrocentric teacher who is dedicated to educating the childrenin his community. Findings include the need to focus on teacher transformation

as opposed to students simply learning the Three Rs.

KeywordsAfrocentric education, African centered education, Black education, Blackchildren


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1028 Journal of Black Studies 42(7)

The inability of the American system of public education to meet the needs ofits constituency is one of the most perplexing problems in U.S. society today.Scores of researchers, policy makers, school administrators, and teachers have

been trying to figure out what to do about the entrenched problem of a largelyineffective school system (Hale-Benson, 1982; Kozol, 1991; Lomotey, 1978).Researchers and the like have been searching for solutions to the problem of asystem that is ineffective overall and that now has trouble producing studentswho can compete with global peers (such as other Western nations). Butresearchers who are concerned about the miseducation and diseducation offirst-language Spanish speakers, African Americans, and Asians are doublymiffed because the system appears unyielding to the many voices that haveattempted to seek substantive change for those students (Ali & McWhirter,2006; Contreras & Valverde, 1994; Lee, 1996; Orfield & Eaton, 1997).Whereas the concerns of all groups are equally important, it is a consistent factthat as a composite group Black children in U.S. schools are experiencingextreme difficulties (National Center for Education Statistics, 2004). In fact,Black children in the United States have experienced major difficulties since

being allowed to be educated in U.S. schools (Anderson, 1988).The poor academic performance of such a large number of children of

African descent is disgraceful. What is even more insidious is that even if thechildren began to perform better in the system, they would only be perform-ing better in a system that at best miseducates them (Akoto, 1992). That is,the problem that Black children have is that they are between a rock and ahard placeon one hand, they are not performing well in U.S. public schools;on the other hand, Black students who do perform well are being trainedaway from the needs and interests of their own community. Perhaps the highdrop-out rates of Black students in some parts of the country speak to the fol-

lowing conundrum: if you do not study or if you do not get good grades youfail, but if you do study and you do get good grades and you will be misedu-cated. Could it be that such a conundrum is felt by many our students, so theyexit the system or treat it like it is a joke?

In many states, half the Black students leave high school before gettingtheir diplomas. For example, in 2006 Black students in South Carolina expe-rienced a dropout rate near 50% (South Carolina Department of Education,2006). In that same year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation conducted astudy that found that the number one reason why Blacks were dropping outof school in South Carolina was because classes are not interesting. Severalstudies have discussed the lack of interest Black students have toward U.S.schooling. Instead of aiming to understand why many African Americanchildren do not value their schooling in the United States, many authors and


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scholars have chosen to focus on what some believe is a phenomenon calledacting White. In short, acting White consists of a set of negative anti-intellectual

behaviors exhibited by Black students toward their Black peers when those peers decide to study and learn. The problem with such an analysis is thatacting White is obviously a symptom of a much larger problemthat Blackchildren feel disconnected from U.S. schooling.

Whereas much time and even media attention has been given to the actingWhite phenomenon (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Cook & Ludwig, 1998), scantwork has been done that highlights the type of teaching that inspires childrenof African descent to become excited about learning and being intellectual.The purpose of this study is to investigate the broad practices, pedagogy, anddemeanor of a teacher named Brother Ture, who uses Afrocentric methodsto teach and reach his students. While he teaches them, virtually all of hisstudents are engaged in the lessons, and the students connect with BrotherTure on a deep levelthey want to make him proud. Anti-intellectual behav-ior does not appear to be an issue for students in his classes. In fact, not onlyis anti-intellectual behavior a nonissue for these (all Black, mostly poor, andurban public charter school students), they become almost giddy when hestops them in the hallways and asks them facts about African, European, and

American history. Throughout the day they come to him to share new thingsthey learn outside his eighth-grade social studies/history classroom.

This is an in-depth study of a teacher who has attracted much attention forhis Afrocentric methods. In terms of the organization of this study, I first

present a background that discusses Afrocentric education as a potentialagent for change in U.S. schools. Second, I define Afrocentric education as acombination of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1994, 2001)and Afrocentric ideology (Asante, 1998). Third, I present the Africalogical

ethnographic biographical case study methodology used for this study. Fifth,I present the findings of the many observations, interviews, and analyses of biographical information related to Brother Ture. Sixth, I lay out implicationsof what this study could mean for public school educators, specifically interms of their dispositions toward students. Finally, the conclusion sectionadvises meaningful actions that could help to make the ideals of Afrocentriceducation more popularly known and authentically used.

BackgroundI have spent more than 15 years working in some capacity in the U.S. publicschools (either as a classroom teacher, counselor, coordinator, presenter,researcher, school board member, consultant, etc.) in the following regions:


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Indianapolis, IN; Cincinnati, OH; Fairfax County,VA; Prince GeorgesCounty, MD; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; Houston, TX; Aiken, SC;Chicago, IL; and Los Angeles, CA. I have spent the past 10 years in the posi-tion of being able to observe those public schools while charting the experi-ences of teachers, students, and administrators in African centered schools(some of which have been private and others public charter).

I have noticed differences between Afrocentric educators and non-Afrocentric educators. I have never seen Afrocentric educators teaching toget through lessons regardless of students responses to what was beingtaught. Additionally, I have never seen an Afrocentric educator yell at a stu-dent or call him or her names. Conversely, while working as a fourth-gradereading and math teacher in Cincinnati, among the many degrading epithetsI heard teachers say to students, one of the worst was when a teacher said toa student, Boy, youve got the brains of a dead gnat!

My formal and informal observations of teaching practices around thecountry are not able to be summed up to a simple matter of small schoolversus big school or public school versus private school. Instead, my for-mal and informal observations of Afrocentric versus non-Afrocentric indi-vidual teaching has more to do with what I observe as the difference between

teaching for students to learn (non-Afrocentric) and teaching for students tolead (Afrocentric). Often, Afrocentric teachers concern themselves with pre-

paring students to be positive and proactive members of the Black community and because they have that as a goal, they teach with a certain passion anddesperation in hopes that the students can understand the immediate urgencyof the moment, which is filled with a need to regain dignity, security, and astrong sense of community among Blacks.

I believe that it is with a sense of desperation that many Afrocentric teach-

ers teach with such passion. They call the students kings and queens andsometimes brother or sister. They are desperate to regain in the Blackcommunity a sense of safety and security, dignity, and communal behavior.For example, Afrocentric teachers use accomplished historical figures suchas the worlds first mathematical genius named Imhotep to encourage stu-dents not only that they can do math but that math was invented by theirancestors, so they can even change or improve mathematics. Afrocentricteachers often teach about Imhotep while showing pictures or busts of him.They also bring in history lessons during math class, and they might begintalking about the various monuments Imhotep engineered. When studentsmeet content of this type of teaching, they become engaged in the subjectmatter that is being taught because the passion is met with math, social studies,art, and discussions all within one class.


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As mentioned before, most Afrocentric teachers are impassioned anddes perate, and they mix those emotions together with their deep passion forAfrican history and their knowledge of the reality of the global situation inwhich Africans now find themselves. What results from emotions and knowl-edge is an investment in the well-being and development of students, whichin turn attracts the students to these teachers and creates a family atmospherewithin schools wherein personal relationships are formed. Afrocentric teachersfind creative ways to learn things about students families so they can tetherthose things in when they need to remind a student of the school-homeconnection.

Considering that Afrocentric teachers such as Brother Ture are able toconnect somewhat deeply with students and keep them engaged, it is a won-der why there are not more studies conducted on the pedagogy of Afrocentriceducators. This case presents an Afrocentric teacher who brings immenseamounts of passion, energy, African cultural knowledge, and diverse teach-ing styles to the classroom. Students report learning more from his class thanfrom all their other classes put together. Whether they are exaggerating ornot, they pay very close attention to what he is saying while he teaches them,they cooperate with him in every way imaginable, and they call him by phone

late in the evening and early in the morning to discuss things that are happen-ing in their lives. Brother Ture works as a public charter school teacher in ain a mostly Black, urban area of Boston. He is dedicated to the idea of beingan Afrocentric teacher. This study poses a broad question: What can we learnfrom his example as an Afrocentric educator?

What Is Afrocentric Education?

Afrocentric education is the act of placing the needs of Black children at thecenter of their education. Rather than teaching Black children unneeded factsand unusable information (such as uncentered perspectives on historical mat-ters, such as the Columbus story, which serves to confuse Black children), ingeneral, Afrocentric education attempts to equip Black children with self-knowledge for the purpose of instilling in them a sense of agency for the

purpose of nationbuilding (literally teaching Black children of their respon-sibility to reproduce and build families). More instructively, Afrocentriceducation is a process:

1. Teachers must become informed of who they are as African people.This includes learning about African cultural groups (such as Akan,Ewe, Hausa, Zulu, etc.) and adopting some of the practices of whichever


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group he or she chooses; however, the teacher must become familiarwith the group through its indigenous practices and beliefs, not mod-ern practices and beliefs. The eventual goal of this learning is to beinitiated into an African cultural group.

2. As the teacher becomes evermore familiarized with the Africancultural group, he or she uses aspects of what he or she is learn-ing in the classroom. For example, if the teacher learns about howAfricans greet one another, he or she might introduce the greeting(e.g., Habari Gani? ), what is meant by the greeting, when it is used,the etymology behind the greeting, and so forth.

3. The teacher is consistent and understands that he or she is not doingthe students a favor by being Afrocentric; he or she is simply doingthe job of someone who teaches Black children.

Afrocentric education theory and scholarship is outlined by seven con-structs that are the building blocks of Afrocentric education. The constructsare as follows: identitythe importance of identifying the Black child as anAfrican; pan Africanismthe idea that all Black people in the world areAfricans; African culturethe long-standing tradition of Blacks using African

culture to sustain themselves and bring order to their lives and communities;African values adoption and transmissioninclusion of an African ethosinto educational process for Black children; Black nationalismthe idea thatBlacks, regardless of their specific location, constitute a nation; communitycontrol with institution buildingthe ability to make important decisionsabout the institutions that exist in ones community; and education as opposedto schoolingeducation is the process of imparting upon children all thingsthey need to provide leadership within their communities and within their

nation, while schooling is a training process (Shockley & Frederick, 2010).Afrocentric teachers are observed in relation to their understanding andimplementation of the seven constructs.

MethodBecause the purpose of this study is to investigate the broad practices, peda-gogy, and demeanor of a teacher named Brother Ture, who uses Afrocentricmethods to teach and reach his students, the study is enhanced and supported

by the Africalogical critical ethnographic biographical case study. Afrocentricscholarship is supported by the Afrocentric research methods that constituteAfricalogy. Asante (1990) defined Africalogy as the Africentric study of


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phenomena, events, ideas, and personalities related to Africa (p. 14). Asante provides insight into the shape of the discipline of Africalogy:

Centrism, the groundedness of observation and behavior in ones ownhistorical experiences, shapes the concepts, paradigms, theories, andmethods of Africalogy. In this way Africalogy secures its place along-side other centric pluralisms without hierarchy and without seekinghegemony. As a discipline, Africalogy is sustained by a commitmentto centering the study of African phenomena and events in the particu-lar cultural voice of the composite African people. Furthermore, itopens the door for interpretations of reality based in evidence secured

by reference to the African world voice. (p. 12)

Both ethnography and Africalogy require that researchers become familiarwith the phenomena being studied. Cultural and social immersion is pre-ferred over scientific distance. Asante explains that this [immersion] processin itself is extremely difficult because it means that the researcher must havesome familiarity with the history, language, philosophy, and myths of the

people under study (p. 27). In addition, ethnography requires prolonged

engagement with participants in the study. I have spent 3 years trackingBrother Tures teaching and community outreach.

In this research I advocate for what I identify as the imperatives ofAfricentric theory and education, and I employ reconceptualized critical the-ory as a basis for examining Afrocentric education practice. Critical theory is

best understood as an attempt to confront the injustice of a particular societyor public sphere within society (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2000, p. 291). Thisinvestigation was served by components of critical theory, namely I exam-

ined the teachers practice to see if he seemed to want to . . .serve studentswell and responsibly (Fine, Weis, Weseen, & Wong, 2000, p. 122), by adher-ing to the imperatives of Afrocentric education as advanced by Afrocentriceducationists and scholars in the development of the constructs (which werelaid out earlier).

Biography includes writing about the life of another person and payingspecific attention to the story they are trying to tell with their life. Stakes

posit that the qualitative case study is characterized by researchers spendingextended time, on site, personally in contact with activities and operations ofthe case, reflecting, revising meanings of what is going on (2000, p. 445)creates a perfect union between the characteristics of ethnographic and this

biographical case study research. That is, I developed an understanding of the


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natives point of view by spending extended quality time with BrotherTure. In that same vein, I was also open to participate in various culturalactivities that gave me a great deal of insight into the case.

This study was guided by the following central question: What are the broad practices, philosophies, and community outreach work of Afrocentriceducator Brother Ture, and how do those practices, philosophies, and out-reaches help create an Afrocentric classroom where students are deeplyengaged in what he is teaching?

Participant SelectionBrother Ture has been teaching at Boston Charter School (BCS) for 3 years,

before which he taught for 2 years at a high school in Boston. He was28 years old when this study began, and has already gained a reputation asan outspoken advocate for Black youth who is unapologetically Afrocentricin his beliefs. Before meeting him a few years ago, I was told by everyonethat knew him about his energy and vitality. I wanted to find an Afrocentriceducator who was a relatively young so I could track growth and develop-ment over the span of years. This study is ongoing and has been for about

3 years. Brother Ture was chosen for three major reasons: (a) He is very wellknown in his community for his work with children. (b) He embraces thenotion of being Afrocentric and uses that label to self-describe; he also

believes that Afrocentric teaching is the best type of teaching for Black stu-dents. (c) He was accessible for observation and interviews throughout thestudy. Perhaps I also wanted to choose a teacher that was not far from me inage (although I am older than Brother Ture is); I wanted to have great accessto him for discussions and questions without having to worry about being

disrespectful or inappropriate. Brother Ture was an excellent choice becausehe was very accessible, and fortunately he saw my research as an interestingaddendum to his already busy lifestyle.

Data AnalysisBrother Ture provides mounds of data because he is so active and vital. Todocument his philosophies, practices, and community outreach, he firstagreed to participate in both formal and informal interviews as well as class-room and outside-of-classroom observations. During the interview phase,I asked questions such as the following: What is an Afrocentric teacher anddo you self-identify with all of the precepts of being Afrocentric? What kindsof things do you do in your classroom to create an Afrocentric learning


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experience? Why do you teach from an Afrocentric perspective? How doyou describe the way you are? How do you become the way you are? Howdo you think your students see you? What do you think about Africa? Whydo you think the way you think about Africa? What can you say to help meto understand the person you are? Observations were conducted over a 1.5-year

period with more than 30 visits (most in Boston, but I did observe him whenhe relocated to Washington, DC, as well). BCS is a public charter school inBoston that is not billed as being Afrocentric. Brother Ture is the onlyAfrocentric teacher in the building, but he recruits incessantly.

This work is part of is an ongoing, broad study of Afrocentric educationthat began in 2002. This specific line of inquiry began in the fall of 2006.Data were retrieved by means of classroom observations; attending Afrocentriceducation meetings and conventions; attending Brother Tures countlesscommunity meetings; invited guest speeches; organizational leadership cadremeetings; informal interviews of the students themselves; interaction andinformal interviews with BCS faculty, staff, and administration; participationin African rituals and events with Brother Ture; and joining an Afrocentric

parent community collective started by Brother Ture, which met after schoolhours at BCS. Data were secure in an electronic notebook, audio interviews

and visual productions were also secured, and The Ethnograph v. 5.0 wasused to assist with coding and data management.

Profile of an Afrocentric Teacher

I got my consciousness around eighth grade. I attended an all-White private school where I was called nigger so much that I began to think

that was my name. Literally, just like in the movie, you know.

Brother Ture, October 2008

Brother Ture is from Boston, Massachusetts. When this study began hewas 28 years old and lived in an apartment in Roxbury, a mostly Black andurban area of Boston. One year after this study began, he moved back toWashington, DC, where he had lived before for 4 years while completing hisundergraduate degrees in business and psychology at an HBCU (HistoricallyBlack Colleges and Universities). He enjoys reading books by and about

people of African descent; he is particularly impressed by the work, speeches,and personality of Asa Hilliard (the late educational psychologist and profes-sor of education at Georgia State University). He regularly quotes Hilliard.


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He also quotes Khallid Muhammad at times (Muhammad is the late nationalspokesperson for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan). For example,Brother Ture constantly uses Muhammads saying, [Black people] lost theirland, language, and our culture, and many of us, by the way we act, have evenlost our mind! People are constantly asking Brother Ture how he is able toremember so many quotes. He uses the quotes throughout each day, especiallywhen he is having difficulty dealing with students.

The principal of BCS gave Brother Ture some special duties because, asshe said, He is very talented at what he does, so why not let him use thosetalents? Particularly, she was talking about his ability to interact, empathize, and

be in community with the students, parents, and other members of thecommunity who come through the schools doors. Also, many of the teachersask him to help with students they are unable to handle. When students arehaving difficulty they may come and talk with him in his office. On his deskin his office cubicle are pictures of Malcolm X, a sketch picture of a Blackman fighting off some wolves as he protects his wifeon the picture it says,The Maroons. Also on his desk are statuettes of African kings and Imhotep.There is a calendar of Black women, and on the same picture is a quote from

professor Naim Akbar that says, Whatever we can do to facilitate learning on

the one hand and loving on the other is important, because those are the mosthealing forces available to us.

The desk is cluttered, but also on the cubicle walls are pictures of him andhis students, African masks, and a Blueprint for freedom. There are also

pictures on the back wall of Afrocentric education consultant JawanzaKunjufu, Khallid Muhammad, Afrocentric historian John G. Jackson,Afrocentric investigator Ivan Van Sertima, Afrocentric psychologist AmosWilson, African centered scholar ben Jochannan, Afrocentric cultural critic

Marimba Ani, Afrocentric historian Theophile Obenga, Afrocentric psychol-ogist Bobby Wright, African centered historian John Henrick Clarke,Afrocentrist Molefi Asante, and Afrocentric anthropologist Cheikh AntaDiop. Atop all these pictures is a photo of him and Asa Hilliard on a studytour in Egypt. There are student papers on the walls with grades on them.There is a notice for a parent meeting on his desk, written by him. It reads,Parent Meetings: Please join us for our next parent meeting. We will discussfundraising, school policy, community outreach and other topics. Futuremeetings will be held every second Tuesday of the month. Brother Ture isfounder and coordinator of an Afrocentric parent group at BCS.

I was fortunate that Brother Ture found me to be a person of trust becauseit opened doors for me that otherwise would have been closed. For example,I was able to capture elements of his beliefs and practice because he made


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himself available to me on most occasions. In what follows, I offer a portraitof a typical day with Brother Ture. I begin the evening before upon my flightlanding in Boston. My observation trips there were all marked by the extraor-dinary energy of Brother Ture and his passion for his work with Blackstudents.

The Gifts of Brother Ture: Energy, Knowledge,and Relationship Building for TransformationBostons Logan Airport is not the most interesting sight to see. After ada-mantly refusing to let me rent a car or take public transportation, on mostoccasions Brother Ture would get up extra early to pick me up from theairport and drive me to the school; I arrived in the evening, he would driveme to my hotel or to any one of his many meetings. When he would pull up,the airport would become more interesting. He drove a small maroon HondaCivic with red, black, and green seat covers and cultural displays on the out-side of the car. Inevitably someone would ask, How are you gonna get inthat car? because I am of rather large size and the car is miniature! I wouldalways make due. As we drove haphazardly through the streets of Boston to

the school, I was constantly frightened at the way the drivers seemed to seeone another as nuisances with which to share the roadthey drive with reck-less abandon, and Brother Ture is no exception. The fear was real. I sighedwith relief when we finally pulled into the school parking lot.

As we walked into the school, other teachers would say, Hi BrotherTure! He would answer, Habari Gani? (Kiswahili for What good newsdo you have?) They would respond, Habari Gani! and smile. Getting inthe door of the school took at least 15 minutes every time I visited, even when

it was ten degrees below zero outside. The reason it took so long is becauseBrother Ture found a reason to stop and talk with every person he saw beforeentering the building. Sometimes it would be a student; sometimes teacherswould be trying to hurry into the building because it was freezing outside,and Brother Ture would talk with them as if he did not feel the cold. On oneoccasion I said, Why dont you all carry it inside? The other teacher said,Yea! Brother Ture said, Uh, hold on, just one more question. All of hisdiscussions were always about something related to a student.

Before classes begin each day, students must line up outside on the play-ground in an orderly fashion. Before the day begins, Brother Ture might beoffering me a tour of the school or something of that sort, then he would say,Hold up brother, I gotta go get my warriors! Then he would literally skipdown the stairs to go back outside to greet the students. On many occasions


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it was so cold my tear ducts would let the water stream. Once the studentssaid to him, Ah, you were late today! He was about 2 minutes later gettingoutside than normal. When he got out there he would say things like, Okay,lets get our minds Black! Who said, We can accomplish what we will!The students yelled, Marcus Garvey! The students looked somewhat cold.I was extremely cold. Brother Ture appeared to not feel the cold at all. Hewent on and on, asking students to recite things, such as the school pledge.They said it. What did Malcolm X say about chickens? They said, Theycome home to roost! Approximately 65 middle school students all knew himand responded to him; they were not talking to one another. More students

began trickling in the later it got.When the bell finally rang, the students looked at Brother Ture. He held

one finger up in the air and almost all of them got quiet. He put up a secondfinger and they straightened up in the line. He then put up a third finger and theyturned to the left, then a fourth one and they turned to the right. I thoughtabout the Malcolm X story where he had such control and organization overmembers of the Nation of Islam. Then he pointed at the door, and they allquietly quietly up the steps into the school. Before breaking the threshold,however, they shook hands with Brother Ture and the school principal.

Sometimes the principal was there for those greetings and sometimes she wasnot. When she was not, he would ask me to stand in and shake hands. Whilegreeting them he would say, Habari Gani! Welcome back home. I know youregonna have a great day today, right? They would answer affirmatively.

After they got into the building, Brother Ture would inevitably have to dealwith a situation. For example, on one morning a student who had attended theschool had been shot and killed the evening before school. BCS administra-tion worried that some of his friends were planning to retaliate against the

shooters. The administration did not know how to talk with students about thesituation, so they asked Brother Ture to see what he could find out. BrotherTure intervened and found out that a retaliation was planned. So he told theadministrators, If yaw dont want these students to shoot nobody, dont getthe police involved just yet. They obliged. Brother Ture called the parent ofthe student at most risk for retaliation. For two weeks after the incidentBrother Ture drove that student in his car to and from school. While in thecar, Brother Ture would say, Do you know why the Hutu and the Tutsi

people of Rwanda fought and killed one another? The student would sayno. He told him, Because the Europeans told them that they were different,

but really they were the same. He would continue, You know why BiggieSmalls and Tupac are both dead? Because one was from east of the plantationand one was from west of it. He would ask questions and dialogue with the


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student. One day the student said, But you look like a punk when your boysget shot and you dont do nothing about it. Brother Ture said, Most of theyoung Black kids your age who are under the ground right now six feet underare there because they didnt wanna look like no punk. The student seemedto be in deeper reflection every day for those two weeks. As of the end of thisstudy in Boston, no retaliation took place.

Brother Ture has a very in-your-face way with students. But he gets intheir face and ostensibly says, I care about you and I love you. He neverinteracts with a student without tethering in some information about Africa.Students respond to him by first acting as if they do not understand where inthe world he is coming from. But often, by the end of the interaction, they areon board. When he walks down the hallway and sees students, he says thingslike Tell me one thing about Queen Hatshepsut or Who was Mama Queen

Nzingha? or Who wrote Blueprint for Black Power ? Sometimes studentsstop him. For example, Imani stopped him and said, Brother Ture I bet youdont know what today is! He answered, What is it? The student said,Today is Harriet Tubmans birthday! He relishes in those moments andthen begins a quiz session with student.

Transformation and TeachingBrother Ture teaches social studies and history. Moments before class, thestudents stood in the hallway quietly waiting on his instructions. He spoke tothem as they waited to enter saying, I know youre all going to be strongtoday in class right? He asked the class what the first thing was they weregoing to do when they entered the classroom. One male student answered,Sit our ladies down first. He said, Right. After they entered the class-

room, he said, Ladies, do you feel safe? They replied affirmatively. Thenhe said, You can not learn if you dont feel safe. He also told the students,I have to present at a prison this weekend, and you know whatI have to

sneak this information in to them. He was referring to a packet of MalcolmX readings. In the packet it outlined and talked about a Black tradition ofexcellence. The students worked quietly on their reading. He said, Yougotta read to lead. He asked, Whats the best way to keep a secret from aBlack person? The students replied, Put it in a book. A student wanted toelaborate and he let her stand up and talk. He asked, How did FrederickDouglas learn how to read? She explained his study of the alphabet. The

packet had a number of different Black leaders in itMartin Delaney, Ida B.Wells, and so forth. It emphasized Malcolm X. The students read for the first15 minutes of class.


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After reading, he told the students to get up. They moved some of thedesks. A girl was lifting her desk. He said to one of the male students, Youaint gon help the sista out? The student took the desk and helped. He hada ball. He said, If youre gonna be a revolutionary you gotta be able to speakto the people. He bounce passed the ball a few times. The students stood ina circle for the activity. He said, Give me three things a circle represents inour culture. A student said, unity and peace. Another one said, love.Then he said, Heres what were gonna do, Im gonna ask you some ques-tions about Malcolm, Ill pass the ball to you, you have to catch the ball andanswer. Ashe ? (Ok?) They responded, Ashe. He passed the ball to a stu-dent and said, Who can tell me something about Malcolm? She replied,He used to be called Detroit Red! Then that student passed to another stu-dent and asked a question. They continued the game. He kept it lively withlots of interjections of things like Defense! Defense! Defense! He calledstudents names out with enthusiasm and a little silliness. He would ask ques-tions like How do European and African cultures differ? He would alsoask, How are they similar? He smiled and grinned as he watched the studentssaying excellent! when they offered information. The students laughed butwere focused on his questions and their answers. He told the students to all

sway from side to side as they waited for the ball to be thrown to them.Students discussed Betty X Shabazz; Malcolm Little; one student men-tioned that Malcolm was shot 19 times. They struggled to remember BettyShabazzs maiden name. He played this ball game with them about otherhistory factsa few of them were related to the Boston public school standard-ized assessment tool. The students recalled many things. One said, WhenMalcolm X was in jail he came under the teachings of Elijah Muhammad.

He told the students to raise their hands if they have had a teacher who put

them down or hurt their feelings. Some raised hands. He said, What didMalcolm do when that happened? A student said, He learned from it.Brother Ture said, We know from history we shouldnt let a teacher dowhat? They replied, Take us down. A student mentioned that Malcolm Xlived in New York. Next he said, You guys are gonna be news reporters andheres what were gonna do, were gonna go back to 1963, youre in a publicforum and back in the day when news reporters had paper and pencil. Setyour chairs up around the projector. He said, Are you news reporters for

NBC, ABC, or CBS? They said no. He said, Right, youre news reportersfor the Black newspaper. He continued with a quote from Afrocentricreporter Listervelt Middleton: Minute by minute, hour by hour . . . Finish thequote. They could not. He helped them: as you lose your history you loseyour . . . They responded, Power! They moved the desks around again,


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this time for the reporter exercise. He continued with the lesson by saying,I have a question for you guys: When news reporters talk, do they stand up?They said, Yes. He replied, Okay, lets keep that same norm for this.

The students sat around the LCD. Desks were out of the way. One student pulled the shades down. He got his PowerPoint prepared. Because the unitwas on Malcolm X, the presentation was called The Dynamic Leadershipof Malcolm X. He announced that in the last class one of his students had13 pages of notes. He said,

If your hand starts to hurt you know youre doing something. He saidwhen youre in college others will be sitting next to you and their handwill hurt, but will yours hurt, no, because youll be like, We did thatwith Brother Tures class.

When the PowerPoint was almost complete, he put on a pair of glasseslike Malcolm Xs and read some of the information on the slide as though hewas Malcolm X with some call and response.

All in the same class, as demonstrated above, Brother Ture incorporatescritical thinking, cultural relevancy, Afrocentrism, critical questioning, rea-

soning, discussion, analysis, call and response, soft technology, and has stu-dents intensely engaged in the topic. Most Afrocentric educators do the same;that is, they incorporate multiple pedagogical styles of instruction into theclassroom, but all of their stylistics are relevant to the Black childrens cul-ture and learning styles. The level of student engagement and care about whatis being learned is high. Students bring in their prior knowledge of the topics.Information that relates to the standardized test is intermitted throughout hislessons. He does not complain about the standardized test, nor does he use it

as an excuse to not teach African information. His interactions with studentsdemonstrate that he really wants to be doing what he is doing. He is moti-vated and revived when the students demonstrate they have learned informa-tion that he sees as, in his own words, what warriors need to know in orderto survive the war. His belief is that Blacks are in a war with the Whitesupremacist educational system, which is miseducating Black children.

I asked Brother Ture why he uses so many proverbs in his daily practice.He said, Proverbs can be used for so many different things. Proverbs are so

powerful that you can correct an elder with proverbs. You can use them whenthings are good, you can use them when things are bad. Then he joked, say-ing, With proverbs its like a liquor storewhen times are good you usethem, when times are bad you use them. Then I asked him why he let thestudents call him on his cell phone regularly. He said, Because they may


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need me. His answers to things are usually short and to the point. He likes tostay focused on all of the daily happenings in the school and finds little timeto shoot the breeze. He is a dedicated worker.

After his afternoon social studies class, the Dean of Students (who is actu-ally in charge of discipline) brought a student to Brother Ture and said thestudent was behaving badly. Brother Ture said to the student, Whats the

problem? Every time I pull you over (have to reprimand you) I invest powerin you so whos failing? The student responded, Both of us. The student

began to explain what happened. He said to the student, I think youre bril-liant beyond any test we could possibly give you, but because you cant prac-tice your word for the week, which is what? Student said, Positive

behavior. Brother Ture said, Exactly. But I think you and I are soon gonna be separated because you keep getting into trouble. He reminded the studentof the trouble he was in yesterday. He said, Yesterday you said you weredoing your work but you were not doing it. I think thats an integrity issue.He asked the student why hes not becoming better. He told the student,Come here. Brother Ture stood up holding his right hand next to the wallas high as he could raise it and said, Thats my expectation of you. Then,he said, Is that where your behavior is? The student said, No. Brother

Ture said, Where is your behavior? Student placed his hand low to indicatelow behavior. Next, Brother Ture showed Her em Akhet (the Sphinx) andexplained that it was Heru on the Horizon. He explained the Her em Akhetssymbol of the human head on the lions body signifies that you must riseabove your beastly instinct. He worked with the student so that the studentcould understand that the brain rises above and we use our brains to controlour actions. He said, In order for us to reach higher levels of intelligence our

brain must go above our bodies. Because if we dont were animals. I was

surprised at what the student said next. He said, This is what I expect tolearn like in college. Im getting a head start. Brother Ture said, Do you getit? The student responded affirmatively. Brother Ture said, Then I dontwant you doing things that are going to violate our ancestors.

Brother Ture has energy, knowledge of Africa, and close connection withthe community by being in a number of organizations; he started one calledAwake Your African Mind (AYAM)! He does not seem to tire because heenjoys working with the students so much that it actually gives him energy.When they behave well, he finds a way to get them to think of their behavioras an example of African excellence. When they behave badly, he usesAfricans who did the right thing (such as Dessalines or Rosa Parks) as anexample of good behavior that should be followed. He is able to constantly

pull in examples related to Africa because he reads incessantly. While many


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teachers are talking negatively about students during their lunch hour, BrotherTure pulls out a book and completely ignores the conversation. Some of theteachers are annoyed by his dedication to the cause of Afrocentric educationand his decision to be an advocate for students. He uses his community con-nections to expose the students to a number of different people. He invitesguest speakers from the community into his classroom on a regular basis.Brother Tures work at BCS can serve as an example of the type of workersneeded in public schools all around the United Statescommitted and con-sistent workers who do not try to thwart Afrocentric efforts, those who try toenhance Afrocentric efforts, and people who are lifelong learners.

ImplicationsAfrocentric education is marginalized in mainstream discussions becausesome people are uncomfortable with the notion of dealing with Black peo-

ples reality for prolonged periods of time. In other words, reminders of theatrocities that African Americans have faced (such as slavery, lynching, Blackcodes, etc.) make many educators (of all races) very uncomfortable. But the

problem is that by not dealing with the atrocities, people simultaneously

operate outside of a land of reality. In the make-believe world where Black people are simply members of a minority group just like others (such asAsians, Indians, etc.), Black people suffer continuously because they are notin the same reality with other groups. Not only are Blacks involuntaryminorities (Ogbu, 1993), they were subjected to codes and laws that noother group ever had to experience. One such law was that in some states aBlack person could not look out the same window as a White person(Anderson, 1994). The history of discrimination and racism against people of

African descent has placed them in a special circumstance, and standardizededucation ignores that circumstance.This study highlights a teacher who is doing excellent work with the chil-

dren in his classroom. What would happen if teachers expressed more energyand more knowledge of Africa and were able to demonstrate that they caredabout and love Black people? How would such teaching and relationship

building make a difference for the children? It certainly could only turn whatis happening now into a positive direction. What if teacher education pro-grams emphasized the kind of teaching and relationship building BrotherTure accomplishes so that teachers who are going to be working with urban,inner city, Black children could have an example of a type of teaching thatworks for Black children? Many of Brother Tures students have said to methat he is the only teacher who has ever really taught them something. What


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does that say about the rest of what is going on in the classrooms where thosestudents sit every day? Teacher education programs seem to wish to repelagainst anything Afrocentric, and this is not to the detriment of anyone morethan it is to Black children.

Furthermore, education policy should reflect the fact that Afrocentric edu-cation is one of the only truly sensible approaches to educating Black children.This is true because Black children are not sitting in Americas classrooms asmembers of the society whose ancestors decided that they wanted a better wayof life. Instead, African American children sit in classrooms representing agroup of people who had virtually everything (including their culture, theirlanguage, and their folkways) stolen from them. Hence, they need an educa-tion that is reminiscent of their own special situation. It is unscrupulous thatAfrocentric education offers a resolve for the miseducation of Black children,yet no real efforts to understand it and make sure that Black children areexposed to it exist en masse anywhere in the United States today.

ConclusionsEducation researchers and the like should spend more time trying to make

sure that Afrocentric education is no longer trivialized. The trivialization isin statements such as Well, dont you think all children should have thesame education? If askers of that question were serious, they would askthemselves first whether all children get the same treatment in this country.Are there disproportionate numbers of Blacks represented in almost everynegative sphere one can think of (from health problems to unemployment)?The answer is yes, so if different things are happening to Blacks for whateverreason, then their education should be delivered in such a way that they can

address those issues. Another trivialization that is discussed is whetherAfrocentric education works. I know many readers will initially wonder howthat trivializes, but to ask if an education that is centered on the very peopleit is trying to reach works is an intellectual sleight-of-hand. WhereasAfrocentric education has much growing to do, no other education will suf-fice because there must be an accounting for Black childrens knowing whothey are so they can fulfill their missions. Simply put, Afrocentric educationis a type of education that forces teachers to exist inside the African realityduring the time they are teaching Black studentsits a simple thing that forsome reason keeps getting missed.


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Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorshipand/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of thisarticle.

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Bio

Kmt Shockley , PhD, is a professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD,USA. Kmt Shockleys research interests include African centered education, educa-tion leadership, and teacher education.

reaching african american students: profile of an afrocentric teacher by dr.kmt shockley

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