“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his [her] influence stops.“
—Henry Adams
At the Center for Black Educator Development, we believe that the impact of a great teacher is everlasting and lifesaving.
So, to all the great Black teachers out there, know that you’re special. You’re special not solely because you choose to educate—reason enough—but because you are choosing to help bend the moral arc of the universe.
With the tools you carefully honed with intentionality, compassion, expertise, data-driven decisions and culturally-affirming mirrors, you work every day against the misguided derision that affirming aggrieved children tends to attract.
In the jewel of a book, Fugitive Pedagogy, Dr. Jarvis R. Givens makes clear the daring lineage we continue when we seek to teach Black children well: “Black education was a fugitive project from its inception—outlawed and defined as a criminal act…Black teachers were a distinct group of political actors. They CONTINUE READING: DEAR BLACK TEACHERS, WE SEE YOU! - Philly's 7th Ward