Rather than relegating Black history to one month, one self-selected elective course, or one passionate educator, New York City debuted a K-12 Black Studies curriculum to expose New Yorkers year-round to the stories, experiences, and contributions of Black people across the world.
“We’re here to tell the truth and to teach the truth,” former New York City Schools Chancellor chancellor David Banks said earlier this year. “Black history is American history. Period. Full stop.”
Its unveiling comes at a pivotal moment in American history, as states like Georgia, Florida, and Texas look to limit the inclusion of Black history in the classroom, attempting to dismiss it as teaching kids race or to hate the country that subjected Black families to violence for centuries.
But the words students and educators used in association with New York’s Black studies were consistently positive: joyous, exciting, fun, engaging. For the first time, students are seeing themselves and their perspective of the world in the material.
“The best part has been it feels like we're rebuilding trust with the community that really had been in some ways lied to and bamboozled for many generations in terms of public education,” said P.S. 125 Principal Yael Leopold. Images made for The 74 in Harlem, New York, October 2024.
“We’re here to tell the truth and to teach the truth,” former New York City Schools Chancellor chancellor David Banks said earlier this year. “Black history is American history. Period. Full stop.”
Its unveiling comes at a pivotal moment in American history, as states like Georgia, Florida, and Texas look to limit the inclusion of Black history in the classroom, attempting to dismiss it as teaching kids race or to hate the country that subjected Black families to violence for centuries.
But the words students and educators used in association with New York’s Black studies were consistently positive: joyous, exciting, fun, engaging. For the first time, students are seeing themselves and their perspective of the world in the material.
“The best part has been it feels like we're rebuilding trust with the community that really had been in some ways lied to and bamboozled for many generations in terms of public education,” said P.S. 125 Principal Yael Leopold. Images made for The 74 in Harlem, New York, October 2024.