Liberate or Domesticate? A conversation on segregation & civil rights, schools & purpose

Dr. Jesse Turner, Director of the Central Connecticut State University Literacy Center and leader in the Save Our Schools contingent, “50th Anniversary March for Civil Rights”
Dr. Sherick Hughes, Associate Professor in the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Education, and lead organizer of Save Our Schools
Dr. Ida E. Jones, Assistant Curator of Manuscripts at the Moorland Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and author of the newly released book, Mary McLeod Bethune in Washington, D.C: Activism and Education in Logan Circle.

The 1963 March on Washington demanded an end to school segregation as part of its call for “Jobs, Justice and Freedom!” As the 50th anniversary of the March approaches, The Education Town Hall speaks with participants in a renewed call for “Education as a Civil Right” and explores some pre-March history of African American education.

More on the August 22 program and guests. News Notes: Global Education for All, “A Nation Confused,” and “Jobs, Justice and Freedom: 2013”

A few notes from the show:

Dr. Jesse Turner: “Will I domesticate you or liberate you?” That’s what teachers — and schools more generally — have to ask….

Dr. Sherick Hughes: In the 1963 March on Washington, education was considered as a form of dissension Martin Luther King was about liberation.

Turner: Education is civil rights, it’s history, it’s who you are. It’s not just reading and math isolated and tested.

Silence and apathy are the enemy of democracy….Finally I had to say: I can’t take this any more. Children are not test scores!

Dr. Ida E. Jones: Education has lost the concept of enlightening an individual mind and become all about the test.

Here’s the conversation, recorded live

Join the Save Our Schools contingent Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. at Farragut Square to make education a prominent issue in the anniversary march and beyond. Learn more about the history of educational activism from Dr. Jones’ book: purchase or borrow the paperback or e-book.

The Education Town Hall is broadcast Thursdays at 11 a.m. (Eastern) on We Act Radio.

Listen on-line at We Act Radio)

In the DC Metro Area: WPWC 1480 AM

Full recordings are archived for later discussion and sharing.

Join the (live) conversation by calling 202-889-9797.
Post comments here anytime.

Listen and DO SOMETHING!