Who will remember?: Racial identity and civil rights literature for Black children at Freedom School

Abstract

Within Freedom Schools, the intellectual identities of academic achievement and success for Black children are fostered with positive cultural identity and social action as the foundation. This is partially accomplished with access to positive cultural messages in children’s and young adult literature. The study in this article contributes to existing literature on the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools and focuses on the ways in which Black children’s positive racial identity development is supported through the use of culturally sustaining content and pedagogical practices at Freedom Schools. Specifically, this research explored racial identity development through examining the educational experiences of Black children’s interactions with Movement Oriented Civil Rights-Themed Multicultural Children’s Literature.