Askwith Education Forum Askwith Education Forum Celebrates the Launch of the Black Teacher Archive The groundbreaking new digital repository centralizes the experiences of Black educators during Jim Crow and creates new portals to understanding the history of African American education Posted October 4, 2023 By News editor Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion History of Education Teachers and Teaching Black educators have long engaged in pedagogical practices as acts of resistance, in response to efforts to disenfranchise and dehumanize Black people. What does their activism tell us about life as a Black teacher during segregation? How can that history enrich our understanding of Black education and Black experiences during Jim Crow and beyond, into the present? On October 3, 2023, an Askwith Education Forum explored these critically important questions with Harvard scholars Jarvis Givens and Imani Perry, the initiators of the Black Teacher Archive — a newly launched, freely available online historical resource that centralizes and makes accessible the political and intellectual contributions of black educators before 1970. The conversation, hosted by Harvard's Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, looked at how the Black Teacher Archive — made possible through the contributions of nearly 70 archival repositories — offers a potentially transformative portal for understanding African American history, structural inequality, and the responsibility of educators in the pursuit of freedom and justice. How does the archive meets the current moment, as efforts to advance educational equity and justice often face new waves of repression?Watch the event, in full, above. Image opens in new tab. "The Black Teacher Archive is personal," BTA project manager Micha Broadnax said. "It is also communal. The stewardship of archives is a relationship to care." Image opens in new tab. Moderator Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, professor of history and of African and African American Studies at Harvard, introduces the Black Teacher Archive co-founders Image opens in new tab. The audience at Askwith Hall for "Unveiling the Black Teacher Archive" on October 3, 2023 Image opens in new tab. "It was a reminder of how organized Black teachers were — and they were intentional to document what they were doing and to leave a record of it. That, in itself — for me — was transformative," said Professor Jarvis Givens Image opens in new tab. An audience member views a gallery exhibit depicting items in the Black Teacher Archive at a reception following the Askwith Education Forum Image opens in new tab. "Part of our question was, in collecting these materials, how do we function in an ethical way, so we're not just people from very elite universities mining these other institutions for their materials," said Professor Imani Perry Sign-up for the Black Teacher Archive newsletter for project updates and opportunities to collaborate. Askwith Education Forum Bringing innovators and influential leaders to the Harvard Graduate School of Education Explore All Articles Related Articles News Black Teacher Archive Enters New Phase with Grant Awards The next phase of the project, led by Professor Jarvis Givens and Radcliffe's Imani Perry, will support new research and fill in gaps in the archive's collection Education Now Navigating Tensions Over Teaching Race and Racism A discussion on how schools, educators, and families can navigate the continued politicization and tensions around teaching and talking about race, racism, diversity, and equity. Askwith Education Forum Askwith Education Forum: Combatting Hate by Teaching the Holocaust and Other Hard Histories A discussion exploring the power of personal narrative and personal identity as a tool for teaching and understanding history.