Black History, Why Not

[OsunkoyaIfayomi]

Black History, Why Not?
Teach-in / Discussion
Sat. Nov. 6, 12:30-4:30 pm
Harlingen, Reformed Church, 34 Dutchtown Rd, (facing Rt. 206) Montgomery
Twp, NJ
<http://apiecenj.org/> http://APIECENJ.org
<http://apiecenj.org/BlackHistoryYNot_Flier_Fmt.doc> Teach-In Flyer (MS
WORD) <http://apiecenj.org/Nov6_Registration.htm> Teach-In
Registration Form


To Students, Scholars, Educators, Advocates, Parents and Friends,



The fight to teach Black History in our public schools is the topic of a
teach-in entitled "Black History? Why Not?" in Montgomery Township, NJ
on Saturday, November 6, 2004, at 12:30 pm at the Harlingen Reformed
Church on 34 Dutchtown Road.



Featured panelists will include groundbreaking scholar on matters of
race and genetics, Dr. Joseph Graves, author and education advocate Dr.
Sam Anderson, renowned middle school principal Baruti Kafele, scholar of
Haitian Studies Dr. Joanne Cunningham and curriculum specialist and
teacher Deitria Smith. A second panel featuring education advocates
from various urban and suburban settings will talk about the nuts and
bolts of starting and strengthening our education and curriculum
advocacy. We will also entertain proposals for coordination across our
districts between parents and other advocates, public school educators
and administrators and university and college scholars around the
promotion of greater black studies courses and integration into the
public school curricula of all of our communities.


The event is sponsored by A Parents' Initiative for Every Child's
Education. For information, visit http://APIECENJ.org
<http://apiecenj.org/> or call 908-874-5094.



Five decades ago, folks of Montgomery, Alabama boycotted to get a seat
on the bus. On November 6, in Montgomery, New Jersey, we need to fight
so that Black History has a place in the social studies curriculum of
our schools.


What you can do help fulfill the potential of this event:

* Make plans to attend and invite others to attend with you.
Organize transportation to the event from your location. Teach-In
<http://apiecenj.org/Nov6_Registration.htm> Registration Form
* Forward this message with a personal note to your constituents,
colleagues, students, friends and others.
* If you are a teacher, suggest to your students to attend and
perhaps offer extra credit for their feedback on the event.
* Provide to us outreach suggestions and forward these materials
to likeminded organizations and informational outlets.
* Print of the flier from the link provided below and distribute
it at relevant events, post it, bring it to meetings, etc.



The panel that is assembling to call us to action around these issues is
awesome. The best way to recognize the full potential of the event is
to pack the house and converge around a plan of action to not only
prevail around this question in Montgomery Township, NJ, but to raise
these issues in all of our public schools. Let us breathe some new life
into the struggle around the question as to how history is taught in our
public schools. Our future depends on how well we understand our past!



For APIECE http://APIECENJ.org <http://apiecenj.org/> ,



In Solidarity and Struggle,

Jerome Carr

Renee Carr

Karen Gaffney, PhD

Byron Jasper

Stacie McCormick

Bob Witanek

For A Parents' Initiative for Every Child's Education

http://APIECENJ.org <http://apiecenj.org/>



Teach-In: Black History? Why Not?
Sat. Nov. 6, 12:30-4:30 pm
Harlingen Reformed Church, 34 Dutchtown Rd, (facing Rt. 206) Montgomery
Twp, NJ

Wheelchair accessible. $5 suggested donation but nobody will be turned
away. RSVP / Advance Registration requested.

APIECE (http://APIECENJ.org <http://apiecenj.org/> ) is advocating the
implementation of a Black History elective in Montgomery Township, NJ.
This event represents a new initiative. Our goal is to signal to the
district and the community that we are taking our fight to new levels.
This event is also an opportunity for education advocates to strengthen
similar efforts in all of our communities and explore new proposals for
coordination of efforts.

Featuring ( Discussions will include floor participation. )

Dr. Sam Anderson

Education Director at Medgar Evers College's Center for Law & Social
Justice. Author of Black Holocaust for Beginners (Writers & Readers)
and co-author of a two volume work entitled The Third World Confronts
Science & Technology. Active with the Independent Commission on Public
Education (ICOPE) in New York City

Dr. Joanne Cunningham

Professor of African, African-American and Caribbean Studies
specializing in Caribbean and Haitian Studies at William Paterson
University and elected member of Princeton Regional School Board

Dr. Joseph L. Graves, Jr.

University Core Director and Professor of Biological Sciences at
Fairleigh Dickinson University, author of The Race Myth: Why We Pretend
Race Exists in America, Dutton Books, 2004; Between a Rock and a Hard
Place: Teaching the Biological and Social Construction of Race, in
Tu-Smith & Reddy Editors, Race in the College Classroom: Pedagogy and
Politics, Rutgers University Press, 2002, and The Emperor's New Clothes:
Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium, Rutgers University Press,
2001.

Baruti Kafele

Principal of Patrick Healy Middle School, Author of A Handbook for
Teachers of African American Children and A Black Parent's Handbook to
Educating Your Children (Outside the Classroom)

Deitria Smith

Teacher of African History and Social Studies at Patrick Healy Middle
School in East Orange, NJ

Local Advocates

Including Jerome Carr, Rene Carr, Bob Witanek, Dr. Karen Gaffney, (of
APIECE), Ron Plummer, Maria Juega (from Princeton), Lisa Davis of
Peoples Organization for Progress and possibly representatives of other
local advocacy efforts

Schedule

12:30 - 2:30 Panel Discussion - Black History? Why Not? With
introduction by APIECE Founder Jerome Carr

Educators and scholars will discuss what is missing in current history
curricula and the need to adequately address the historic contributions
of Africans in American History, the racial oppression of African
Americans and the struggles of those who resist oppression. The context
will go beyond academic study. The goal is to show how this history
needs to be known to all people today if we are going to meet the
challenges of racism and other forms of oppression.

2:30 - 3 Break (some food will be on hand)

3 - 4:30 Panel Discussion - Building a Community Movement to Advocate
for Our Children's Education

Advocates will deal with the nuts and bolts of community support for
improved public education. Issues in public education have a common
thread in urban and suburban settings. What issues are crucial and how
to work for improvements can be determined only on a community by
community basis. This panel will examine the "how to" particulars of
initiating and continuing efforts around these issues from perspectives
of activists from various urban and suburban settings. We will explore
ideas for town to town coordination.

Sponsor: A Parents' Initiative for Every Child's Education
(A.P.I.E.C.E.)
To co-sponsor, endorse, offer ideas or for info: (908) 874-5094 /
APIECE@apiecenj.org APIECE (http://APIECENJ.org <http://apiecenj.org/>
)