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Empowering the Black Identify through Cultural EducationA Review of the LiteratureCathie JeanEnglish 495, Section 04Dr. Amy MaskoNovember 29, 2013Introduction??? On October 29, 1969, the Supreme Court ruled the end of segregation in school districts. This was the day that black students and white students would attain the goal of integration and the day that children “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Integration did happen, but it came with a price; the loss of identity of black people and the overwhelming presence of the Eurocentric model, “Despite the ethnic changes in the population of the United States during the last 40 years, education has continued to be based upon Eurocentric model, the teaching of the world view from a European-centered or a Western-centered point of view. (Darling-Hammond, 2010). For decades the school system has used the Eurocentric model and for decades black students have been stereotyped as the rebellious race that cannot achieve academically.??? ?According to the United States Census Bureau, Black or African Americans alone makes 13.1% of the United States population yet, “the cultural and educational needs of blacks remain still one of the most perplexing problems in the U.S. Society” (Shockley, 2008, 1). The Eurocentric curriculum which is used in schools today seem to be widening the cultural gap between children in school and their teachers because its practices does not allow an academically engaging approach that respects and includes students’ backgrounds in the content of their education. This article explores ways in which the educational system can help empower the black identity and enhance the academic achievements of African American students in America.Purpose??? ?According to the 2011 National Center for Education Statistics, Black students have the second highest rate of dropouts. The dropout rates for white students still remains lower than the rate of all races. Obviously, the educational system is failing a group of students. Luckily, much literature has been evaluated on the academic performances of African Americans students. “Such research is critical for identifying the factors that lead to academic success so that they can be adopted into early intervention programs aimed at promoting achievement” in African American students (Shin,2011, p. 218). Education scholars and practitioners have also taken the initiative of addressing the educational problems that face black children in the U.S. Public schools as well. Some believe that the answer is Multicultural Education, education and instruction designed for cultures of several different races, yet, “a growing group of black scholars and practitioners called 'cultural reattachment Afrocentric educators' believes that black students need an African culture-based education that is focused on their particular learning needs” (Shockley,2008, p. 1). Now the question that remains is which one is the most effective way to influence the academic success of Black students in America.?In analyzing the literature on racial identity as a factor to academic achievement in African American students, this paper will demonstrate the significance of the Black Identity. The review defines and describes the pedagogy of Afrocentric and Multicultural learning and its effects on African American students’ ways of learning. It also explores the hidden books in Timbuktu, Mali as a source for the African American learning experience in order to propose a lost written African connection. The overall objective of this thesis is to focus on Black identity and its effect on the achievement of African American students in schools.Empowering the Black Identity through Cultural EducationalA Review of the LiteratureRace plays a significant role in the African American identity because it influences their self-concept. African Americans struggle with the idea of self-concept with the educational schools system; those struggles are usually ignored by stereotypes of black students being rebels in schools, indicating that they academically fail when it comes to education. Hardly, do the schools consider finding the root to this issue, which is the importance of the black identity within the Euro-centric curriculum taught in many schools. This literature considers whether the use of African American, history and the pedagogy of Afrocentric or Multicultural education are promising approaches for solving the Black self-concept problem in the United States by responding to the following questions:What are the implications of the Black self-concept?How does Racial-Ethnic Identity (REI) or Black Racial Identity (BRI) effect the black student?Is Afrocentric Education the best solution?Is Multicultural Education the best solution?Understanding the limitations and history of education for African American students can highlight the complexity of their search for blackness in the United States and underscores the need for more African American curriculum in the educational system.What are the implications of the Black Self-Concept?In 1920, Dr. Carter G. Woodson created Negro History and Literature week, which is now referred to a Black History Month. His goal was to educate black people about their cultural background and to bring them a sense of pride in their race. In today's educational system, especially in White middle-class culture, Black History Month is just another holiday.When February arrived, with the prescribed unit called Black History Month, this school, like so many other schools across the country, presented historical accounts in a shallow, time-limited manner, teaching children about token African Americans who were supposed to represent African American identity in general. (Landa, 2012)Sleeter and Grant (2003) used the words “tourist curriculum” to address these curricular add-ons because they believed that this approach could prolong an attitude of “otherness toward the group which they are celebrating” (Landa, 2012, p.?). Landa (2012) examined the importance of teachers allowing students to formulate their self-identity through books, conversations, and questions. “Without a deliberate effort to uncover their thoughts, Black children remain trapped in a 'silenced dialogue'” (Delpit, 1995,p.27).She observed a white teacher who, during Black History, allowed three African American boys in her classroom to ask questions and respond to the stories she shared lessons surrounding Black History Month.This study was done at a public school in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class, which had few African American students and one African American teacher amongst the majority of White teachers. The participants met every day and the data consisted of three types reflective evaluations: drawings and explanations that depict the way they are the same or different from their friends; responding to the book, Yoko, by Rosemary Wells (2009) to focus on the differences they felt amongst others; and writing in response to The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles (1995). The purpose was to gain a personal response from the participants on how they would have reacted if they were in that situation. She found that students feel less alienated when and more confident when they are free to talk about their feelings and what they understand about Black History month in relation to their identity.Landa's observation is helpful in outlining the importance of the Black voice as a dynamic progression towards empowerment. Problematic in Landa's observation is the identification of the roots causes of the alienation of the Black people.(Freeman, 2005) examines the commonalities’ in the exclusion of Black people from education in other parts of the World, other than the United States. She identifies that there is a monetary and non-monetary cost for the cultural alienation and annihilation of the under-utilization of Black people. He also talks about the negative stereotypes that have been imbedded into the minds of Blacks and people around the world to created division and to “prevent Black people from being empowered intellectually, culturally, and economically” (139). One of the educational challenges Freeman mentions as a Black global inhibitor is their lack of literacy. Literacy and books were always important to black people and for many centuries literacy represented wealth and power amongst Blacks (Singleton, 2004). Literacy was part of the Black experience. Freeman quotes James Anderson, who sees the history of Black people as a way to impact the experience of Black students. “To understand better the experiences of Black populations, a more in-depth comparison must be made of their historical experiences” (155).Landa and Freeman discussed the presence of the alienation of the Black self-concept and the value of education in the lives of Black people. There is great value in the consideration of self-concept and racial-ethic identity influences it.How does Racial-Ethnic Identity (REI) or Black Racial Identity (BRI) effect the black student?Models of race and ethnicity have increased over many decades in the United States as the U.S. Gradually became an ethnically diverse population, the “melting pot.”Racial identity is a surface-level manifestation based on what we look like yet has deep implications in how we are treated [and] ethnic identity development consists of an individual’s movement toward a highly conscious identification with their own cultural values, behaviors, beliefs, and traditions. Ethnic and racial identity models provide a theoretical structure for understanding individuals' negotiation of their own and other cultures” (Chavez,A.F., Guido-DiBrito, F. ,1999, 40-41)The roots of these models developed from a psychological researcher (Erik Erikson), identity formations studies (Marcia), or the cognitive structural work of Jean Piaget. “These models were originally developed primarily for African Americans to understand the black experience in the United States” (41). Chavez,A.F., Guido-DiBrito, F. (1999) reviewed different models of ethnic and racial development and how people can improve their education by being aware of their racial-ethic identity (Ware,2009). It is difficult for the minority to understand their own cultures when the learning environment does not include the culture. Researchers believe that learning environments must be inclusive to multicultural styles of education and that “a strong learning community must be created that honors, supports, and challenges each learner to be a uniquely contributing member”(Banks, 1998, Snipes, 2005,Leonardo Z.,Grubb.W.N. 2013,Sleeter 2001).Racial-ethic identity does have an effect on the relationships in the classrooms. Sleeter et al. (2001) refers to the struggles of white preservice students have in multicultural educational environments and how “preservice students are fairly na?ve and have stereotypic beliefs about urban children, such as believing that urban children bring attitudes that interfere with education. Most White preservice students bring little awareness or understanding of discrimination, especially racism” (Schultz, 1996; King, 1991; Su, 1996, 1997).Chavez,A.F., Guido-DiBrito, F. (1999) says that “most individuals from white ethnic groups have experienced learning that is grounded in their own cultural norms [so] their communal skills may be less well developed” (45). They acknowledged that some with ethnic individual have learned how to negotiate outside their own cultural norms, but they “may continue to struggle after many years of white-normed education” (45). The racial-ethic identity of other cultures needs to be introduced in the classroom earlier in life so that this will not continue to be a struggle for others when they become adults. These researchers believe racial-ethnic identity will be enhanced once educators begin to do the following:create positive multicultural learning communities by teaching in authentic, relational, and self-shaping ways, by encouraging and offering nonjudgmental processing of multiple perspectives, and facilitating a sense of respectful community within the learning environment. In addition, educators can help learners understand the benefits of developing multicultural understandings and skills for future work and community environments (46)Exploring racial-ethnic identities can help not only students, but teachers in the classroom and can also improve the learning experience for everyone in the educational plimenting this idea of REI, DeCuir-Gunby (2009) examined Black racial identity (BRI) in teenagers in the field of education. “The educational system serves as an important means to understanding Black racial identity (BRI)” (103). This article sought to bring explanations and understandings from other BRI literature about BRI within education. She focused on how BRI was examined by “literature’s use of surveying.” Watt (2006) did an evaluation using The Student Development Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) and The Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS-B) to evaluate those developments in 46 college students between the ages of 18-21. She focuses more on the attitudes and the interpersonal traits of psychological developments of African American peer mentors in an all-White campus. She discovered that there is a relationship between racial identity and interpersonal identity. She encouraged researchers to investigate a bit further on the identity development of African Americans.C. Smith et al. (2009) founded a significant association between a strong racial-ethnic identity and higher reading and listening comprehension scores in their longitudinal study. This study they examined a group of 678 African American children from first to third grade. “ If these internal perceptions can be maintained long term, or if parallel efforts are implemented by others to encourage children to ascribe to this integration, there may be an increased likelihood of positive academic, psychological, and social outcomes among these youth” (154). In another study that examined family, school, and community factors and the relationships to racial-ethnic attitudes and academic achievement, E. Smith et al. (2003) founded that racial pride did anticipate higher achievement in standardized tests. “ Higher racial-ethnic pride was related to higher achievement measured by grades and standardized test scores, while racial distrust and perception of barriers due to race were related to reduced performance” (159). This highlight that important on the way that others perceive the students and how much of an effect it has on their academic when they internalize it. “In this study children with higher levels of racial-ethnic pride actually felt more positively about people from other racial-ethnic groups” (72). That provided evidence that racial pride is a component of multicultural education and appreciation. This study was done on 98 African American fourth- grade students.(King, 2005) defines the principles and methods of transformative vision for Black education. She highlights the concerns in Black intellectual traditions and how the Black culture has been alienated and annihilated in education and educational research. She sees educational research as one factor that has created a struggle for black education since it “undermined [the] educational excellence traditions that African people have instituted and practiced as part of their human experience.” She tackles the questions of: “what has happened to the Black education and the socialization agenda?” This question addresses the roles of intellectuals on racism, hegemony, and their responsibility as educators in the humanity of Black people.Afrocentricity Giddings (2001) discussed incidents and issues in the efforts to infuse Afrocentric content into the U.S. school curriculum. He focused on the goals of Afrocentric curriculum which are:Assist students in developing the necessary intellectual, moral, and emotional skills for accomplishing a productive, affirming life in this society.Provide such educational instruction as to deconstruct established hegemonic pillars and to safeguard against the construction of new onesProvide students of African descent with educational instruction that uses techniques that are in accord with their learning styles.Assist students of African descent in maintain a positive self-concept, with the goal of achieving a sense of collective accountability.Serve as a model for Banks (1988) “Transformation” and “Social Action” approaches to multicultural education.He does note that there is a difference in goals amongst multicultural education and Afrocentric education and says that: “the fact that the issue of multicultural reform is being seriously discussed at school boards has encouraged Afrocentric reformers to also add their voices to this discourse” (467). Therefore, Afrocentric ideas serve as a foothold from multicultural ideas. Afrocentric educators want to prove that if Afrocentric reform is provided then it can serve as an advantage over Eurocentric school curriculum.In this study, he states that Afrocentric curriculum reformers believe that their curriculum would lessen the vast amount of “low achievement, crime, teenage pregnancy, and disrespect for self and elders, in the cases where these social ills plague African American youth, by providing a cultural base that reinforces such traditional values as collective accountability” (469). Researchers like Asante (1992) argue that children who are culturally centered in their own cultural are more disciplined and have more motivation at school. Furthermore, Nobles (1990) states that “there is a relationship between culture and Black student achievement” (p.12). To prove the effectiveness of culture and Black student achievement he focused on the developments of Afrocentric curriculum within the past decade in the School District of Philadelphia. On April 16, 1969 the following policy statement was issued to the Philadelphia’s school district:The policy of School District of Philadelphia requires every school to provide a well-rounded program of African and Afro-American history and culture for every child as an integral part of his [/her] total school experience (School District of Philadelphia, 1990)Within this policy they were programs such as Black History Month Oratorical Competition and City-Wide Martin L. King Jr. Commemorative Program. It also included teachers training and resources that helped them incorporate Afrocentric content into their classrooms. By 1995, a survey was sent out to test if they were successful in incorporating the Afrocentric content into their curriculum and the results did not suggest that the implementation of Afrocentric content in Philadelphia schools as a success. Mezzacappa (1994) cited poverty as one of the reasons for its failure. Gidding stated that Anthony Alvarado, a member of the Commonwealth Court Education Panel, “confirmed that although many ‘educators have discovered ways to successfully teach inner-city students…education…has not been sufficiently powerful…to overcome the challenges around poverty and race’” (p. A15). Although there were many aspects that could have created a successful outcome, it is important to note that that African American curriculum was not included into the overall curriculum. Many teachers did not take the extra steps to integrate the curriculum and “not many teachers are willing or able to participate in extra staff development sessions” (472). An effective change in curriculum will not appear in the academic achievement of students unless the teachers and parents are willing to put in the effort in incorporating the curriculum and if the curriculum is not expanded throughout the whole curriculum.The widening scope of the loss of Black identity has prompted Black intellectuals and researchers to rethink old ideas of this issue and its solution. The search for the long-term solution continues with Shin (2011) who examined the influence of racial/ethnic, cultural, and community perceptions on the academic self-esteem of African American elementary school. He evaluated 88 African American elementary schools in order to find a relationship between Afrocentric values and academic achievement. Others have advocated Afrocentric education as a way to engage and empower Black students (Shockley and Gibson). Shin's results were that Afrocentric values did endorse confidence in their academic abilities. “Adopting an Afrocentric worldview may be particularity important for African American children who reside in low-income neighborhoods because they are bombarded by numerous negative stereotypes that have the potential for damaging their self-image and well-being” (224). His study highlighted the importance of school-community-based early intervention programs that enrich values in the African American communities and Afrocentric values there were predictive of academic self-efficacy beliefs, but “racial/ethnic identity did not significantly predict the outcome variable” (218).Gibson (2013) produced a video featuring Dr. Adelaid L. Sanford at a Second Annual World Conference of Afrocentricity International at Imhotep Charter High School in Philadelphia and addressed the topic “Afrocentric Education as a Human Right.” She used positive adjectives to describe her predominantly black audience in order “to help erase the residue of negativity in which [they] have been breed so long, that [they] have become comfortable with.” Then she spoke about the importance of blacks learning their African heritage and embracing their African consciousness. She shared what she felt, from her experiences as a teacher, principal, and a New York State Regent for Education, were the manifestations of Afrocentricity. “Afrocentricity as a human right medication means you put our people at the center of your universe. They are the subject not the object.” She believed and demonstrated throughout her life stories that Blacks should work for the betterment of other Blacks.Likewise, Shockley (2008) addressed the practices, theories and philosophies of Afrocentric education leaders and their concern for the black community. The problems faced by Afrocentric institutions, such as “aggression toward such effort from the majority and a lack of support from blacks themselves,” are addressed in this article as well (9). The authors implies that Afrocentric leaders are “major vehicles” for community change and that quick fixes such as the achievement gap “do not have their origins in the field of education” (9). She presented African-centered policy recommendations as a way to engage black children and their communities in their self-identity search to revolutionize the African world.Patterson, J.A., Mickelson, K.A., Peterson, J.L., Gross D.S. (2008) used oral history to show how relevant their African Americans academic struggle is today and what the educational system can learn what worked best for African Americans in education. Through their findings of an all-Black Douglass School in Parsons, Kansas from 1908-1958, they promoted the importance of African-centered schools. Interviews of over 50 Douglass alumni were conducted. Interviews were videotaped within individual and group settings; the authors and high school students also conducted interviews. The participants also presented photos and other materials (e.g. newspaper clippings, report cards, and yearbooks) during the interviews. In these interviews, the Douglass alumnus described how their teachers “inspired and instilled confidence” in their students. The “Black pride” message was constantly taught by teachers and they made sure that they understood that students knew that they were representing the Black community. “Donald Carson expressed,Yeah, one of the statements you used to hear from more than one teacher was 'Hey boy, you gotta work hard and make your people proud!' You heard that over and over, in one form or another” (316)Before the school was destroyed, the Douglass alumni remembered their school's library holding various books, magazines, and newspapers published by Black institutions about various subjects and about Blacks in the city. The alumni also mentioned the importance of having black educators, mentors, role models, and the effect they had in the success of each students. They told the interviews that teachers that looked like them impacted their lives.As far as I can tell the most important thing I can tell you is that the teachers all looked like me. Makes a difference 'cause those teachers are found in later life—t hose teachers had a lot of expectations of me and they did a whole lot to make sure I filled those expectations. They had a lot of my interest at hand. Basically, those teachers took care of us (316)The behaviors of the teachers indicated the importance of caring relationships, racial pride, discipline, high expectations, and Black role models. They used these tools to help African Americans students suppress oppression and to prosper in education.(Lee, 2005) provides a summary about new models derived from the cognitive sciences and sociocultural learning; it is referred to as “learning sciences.” Throughout her study she explains the cultural orientation of Black researchers and how the educational research done by Black scholars intersect with the state of research of knowledge on learning, yet their voices are ignored in education reform. “It is ironic; however, these African American voices of political resistance are not the center of institutionalized conversations about the sources of inequity in the educational opportunities for African American students” (62). She also includes programs led by Black scholars (Afrocentricity) and how they can serve as paradigms of a “culturally nurturing pedagogy.” She believes that researchers, with the inclusion of Black researchers, should collaborate to discuss and examine the influence of culture on learning in order to study the academic achievement of black students and to change the conceptions of race inform in the education of Black youth. Lee argues the underrated views of black low-income children and their readiness for school and the negative effects that public school can have in the education of black students. She highlights the importance and beneficial effects of cultural responsive teaching and discusses “other more generic pedagogical approaches.Ginwright (2004) examines the limits of Afrocentric reform for poor African Americans. Through his study of the conditions of the poor black communities, he exposes the forces the prevent Afrocentric reform to improve the school. He focus on an urban black high school which tries to create a culture of achievement with an Afrocentric curriculum is having a hard time accomplishing that goal. “Afrocentric ideas have been confined primarily to black, educated middle class. The term “Afrocentric” has little or no meaning for blacks who remain on the bottom of America's economic ladder” (2). In this book he underlines effects of the black middle class on the working class communities, the importance of ethnic identity and its impact on the community. He also provides the reader with the history of Afrocentricity and strategies such as “hip-hop culture” to enhance the curriculum and school reform.Interestingly, Ware (2006) examined the effects of culturally responsive teaching pedagogy and its effects on the achievement of African American students. She compared two African American urban teachers and examined them. Two data sources were used in this study. The first source was three formal interviews with the teachers and five interviews following observations. The second source was three observations for one hour each time. Ware used the “warm demander,” as characterized by to describe the two teachers (Vasquez, 1989; Kleinfeild, 1975,; Irvine and Fraser, 1998). “ The two teachers were identified in the following contexts: (a) warm demanders as authority figure and disciplinarians, (b) warm demanders as caregivers, and (c) warm demanders and pedagogues” (436). These teachers were described as listeners, “insiders in their community,” comfortable with their heritage, and authoritative. Students were proud of their teachers’ meanness because they saw this behavior as “an effort to push them to attain academic progress and manage the class environment in a way that supported students’ success” (Foster 1991). She found that both teachers had warm-demander pedagogy, teachers who had high expectations for students of color and were willing to help them. Both teachers were similar in their behavior towards students and both reflected on “the realization that some students want the stern attention and see the teacher as weak if she does not respond with a level of power and an assertion that indicates that the teacher is in control” (438). The two teachers see this discipline as an important aspect of culturally responsive teaching that is the reality in the life experiences of many African American children at home.Both teachers also had strong cultural/racial identity and they displayed it in the classroom through their love for Black literature and through the Afrocentric clothes which they wore occasionally. “These teachers also used their knowledge and comfort with their heritage to teach students in their school about their heritage” (451). Ware suggested that this was an important variable that made them warm demanders. The students who responded to their pedagogy embraced a culture of achievement.Culture of AchievementDuncan (2012) examined the culture of achievement by making the connections between United States History curriculum design, self-concept, and test scores of eighth-grade students in the KIPP: STAR College Preparatory Charter School. This was achieved through an online questionnaire. The contention in the present study is that all United States history curricula is race-based but can become more comprehensive through inclusion of the stories of the races previously ignored or marginalized, in this case, Blacks (94)To validate his point they designed a curriculum that was Afrocentric. A mixed-method study was conducted to examine the effects of Afrocentric U.S. history curriculum on self-concept and academic achievement of Black students. Two hundred and seventeen students from four consecutive school years (2006-2010) were tested. The students were African, African American, or Hispanic. At the end of the study, the Euro-centric curricular design was compared to the Afrocentric curricular design. The results showed that students who received the Afrocentric curriculum achieved a higher score than the students who received the Euro-centric curriculum.If the objective of education is to produce citizens who will contribute who will contribute positively to the nation and the world, the American history curriculum must be re-evaluated and re-created. An Afrocentric United States history curriculum is a total history through which all students may engage and grow (95)Duncan would agree that American students can benefit from African American history (Giddings, 2001). He concluded stating that if students do not have available to them all the perspectives of history than they will not learn to think critically, therefore, history should not be hidden from them.TimbuktuOne bit of African history that remained hidden until now is currently being reveled by many researchers (Jeppie, S., Diagne, S.B. (2008),Hunwick, J.O., Boye,A.J.,Hunwick,J. (2008), Singleton (2004)). Jeppie, S., Diagne, S.B. (2008) examined the hidden legacy of written history in Africa, specifically in Timbuktu. In this book there are collections of articles written by many scholars around the world about Timbuktu. Topics such as archeology, literature, intellectual life, libraries, and private collections in Timbuktu and West Africa are covered by leading international scholars. Within this work it clear that “there is much to learn in that old city of mud brick buildings on the edge of the desert” (5). Timbuktu’s legacy is clearly laid down by the people of Timbuktu and photographs of the manuscripts are also published in this book.Hunwick, J.O., Boye, A.J.,Hunwick,J. (2008) also published a book that dealt with the history, culture, and a discussion about Timbuktu and its scholars and libraries. He includes 45 pages of photographs that show the old manuscripts written or transcribed in Arab scripts between the 17th and 19th centuries, great mosque, and the people of Timbuktu. This book is “a homage to the scholars of Timbuktu and an attempt to bring these written sources of African history to a wider public, as well, as to enlighten the many who have grown up to believe that Africa had no written history. “With the astonishing photographs alone, this book brings to life the richness of Timbuktu.In the same way, Singleton (2004) discussed the ignored black institution in West Africa (Timbuktu). He talked about its history as the center for Islamic scholarship.” In Timbuktu, literacy and books transcended scholarly value and symbolized wealth, power, and baraka (blessings) as well as an efficient means of transmitting information” (3). He went over the history and the rise and fall of Timbuktu. Although Timbuktu was known a remote place for years by Western culture, he brought to light the importance of books and libraries during the Golden Age in Timbuktu by the elite blacks. “During the sixteenth century, Timbuktu housed as many as 150 to 180 maktabs (Qur'anic schools) where basic reading and recitation of the Qur'an were taught [and] where basic literacy skills were abundant” (3). Education has always been an African value and when their history is alienated, they have no power and legacy to pass on to the next generation. Singleton encouraged researchers to find more information about Timbuktu in order to share its contributions to not only Islamic history, but also African history. This is history that should not only be included in Afrocentric Education, but Multicultural Education as well.Multicultural EducationComplimenting this idea of looking for answers from the past Chapman (2004) focused on the Garveyism contributions to the idea of multicultural education and how multicultural education and Garveyism agreed on the issues of racial pride. During the Civil Rights Movements, African Americans and other groups fought for equality in school policies and practices. The four “Rights” of James Banks dimensions of multicultural education slightly aligns with Garvey's United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) subcommittee. “Both multicultural education and Garveyism benefited from the legacy of social Americans have held central leadership positions” (426). Within this article the scholars finds more theoretical connections between multicultural education and Garveyism concerning the education of people of African descent. His findings were that Garvyism began the study of multicultural education, but did not receive much academic attention.Although the belief that multicultural education promotes greater self-esteem has been criticized in Education, it continues to be necessary for students of color to be able to acknowledge and celebrate their copious connections to the many ancestors who built and shaped the United States so they may understand that they indeed deserve all the benefits offered by full citizen participation (427)Although the “Rights” of Banks were similar to Garvey's it is problematic that he calls him the beginner of multiculturalism. Garvey made claims of racial superiority and called African Americans to invest in each other than the White man. He appears more Afrocentric than Multicultural in his stance.Leonardo, Z., Grubb.W.N. (2013) provides a general review about racial inequality and education and how race works in education. He addresses the different approaches which have been offered to solve this dilemma. In this book he covers curriculum, (re)segregation in schools, high stakes testing, and discusses racism and its effect on students of color. The current curriculum is described as certain works that “fail to account for race, by default, if not by design, [it] reinforces current racial arrangements.” This book embraces multicultural education within the school system and the importance of implementing other cultures into the curriculum to enrich White students.Regarding the multicultural cultural environment in schools Sleeter (2001) revised the research on teacher preparation for multicultural schools. She looked at other published data that touched on the subject of teacher preparation and focused on the perceptions of the White preservice students towards the multicultural teaching profession. “White pre-service students tend to use colorblindness as a way of coping with fear and ignorance” (McIntyre, 1997; Valli, 1995). In this article white preservice students are said to have “limited visions of multicultural teaching” and they carry into their classrooms. Unlike preservice White students, preservice students of color “bring a richer multicultural knowledge base to teacher education than do white students” (Landson-Billings, 1991; Rios & Montecinos, 1999; Su, 1996, 1997). Researchers have stated that students of color show more dedication to “multicultural teaching, social justice, and providing children of color with an academically challenging curriculum” (95). This is not a new phenomenon in the Eurocentric educational system. Nineteen Midwest Holmes Group teacher preparation programs reported in a survey that 94% of their faculty and students were Anglo (Fuller 1992). From those 19 Midwest teacher preparation programs, “only 56% of these institutions required elementary education students to complete a multicultural education course; one institution did not even offer such a course” (95). V.L. Clark (1987) wrote in the 1980's that “historically black institutions [HBIs] only represented 5% of the institutions of higher education, the HBIs have produced 66% of the black teachers in the United States” (p.86). In 2013, HBI's or Historically Black Colleges and Universities [HBCU's], are slowly disappearing because they cannot maintain their significance and mission in todays mixed society (Brown II 2013).With HBCU's declining, predominantly white institutions are now being held responsible for the multicultural teaching of teachers. They have come up with different approaches to prepare white preservice students for multicultural teaching. The approaches were as follows: Recruitment and selection of preservice students, community-based cross –cultural immersion experiences, Multicultural Education Coursework, Stand-Alone Multicultural Education Courses, and Multicultural Education Coursework with a field Experience. Sleeter explained the strategies of each preservice approach and the struggle of each program to find out which one is more effective. Her findings suggested a stronger experience in community-based immersion than stand-alone multicultural education courses. Community-based learning with ongoing professional development and school reform seemed to have the answer to the most promising culturally responsive teachers.Banks (1988) discussed different approaches to Multicultural Curriculum reform that have been integrated into curriculum over that past years. These approaches include: The Contributions Approach, The Ethnic Additive Approach, The Transformation Approach, The Decision-Making and Social Action Approach. Banks labels the Contribution Approach as the easiest approach for teachers, it is “characterized by the addition of ethnic heroes into the curriculum that are selected using criteria similar to those used to select mainstream heroes for inclusion into the curriculum” (1). In this curriculum heroes such as Martin Luther King and holidays such as Black History Month are mentioned. The teacher focus on the success and the “Horatio Alger myth that every American who is willing to work hard can go from rags to riches and pull himself or herself up by the bootstrap” (1). This approach is touristic in its ways; it is a study of other culture and their exotic and strange characteristics. This type of approach reinforces “stereotypes and misconceptions.” After this approach is used, these people and events are no longer discussed in class instead the curriculum continues unchanged and basic in its structure. The Ethnic Additive Approach involves the addition of a book, unit, or to the curriculum. This “allows the teacher to put ethnic content into the curriculum without reconstructing it [and] can be the first phase in a more radical curriculum reform effort” (2). This approach, however, has similar setback to the Contributions approach when considering the frames of reference. “It usually results in the viewing of ethnic content from the perspectives of mainstream historians, writers, artist, and scientist because it does not involve a restructuring of the curriculum” (2). In this case, the selected portions of information are selected using Mainstream-Centric and Euro-Centric criteria and point of views. For example when we introduce Thanksgiving from the perspective of the Puritans who saw this as discovering a new land and friends instead of the perspective of the Native Americans who viewed this as a day that their land was stripped from them.The Transformative Approach differed primarily from the other two approaches. “This approach changes the basic assumptions of the curriculum and enables students to view concepts, issues, themes, and problems from several ethnic perspectives and points of view” (2). This approach is taken in by the Afrocentric community. The students get to hear the contributions of other ethnic groups from the perspectives of those groups.The Decision-Making and Social Action approach includes all the aspects of the Transformative Approach, but it also require students to think critically and to take action. “In this approach, students study a social problem [,] they gather pertinent data, analyze their values and beliefs, synthesize their knowledge and values, and identity alternative courses of action, and finally decide what, if any, actions they will take” to solve or reduce the issue (2). The major goal of this approach is not only to teach students how think and acquire them with skills that allow them to make decisions, but to empower them.Banks concludes by saying that integrating these approaches usually happen gradually. These approaches are often mixed within teaching. “It is not realistic to expect a teacher to move directly from a highly Mainstream-Centric curriculum to one that focuses on decision making and social action.The ideas, history, and pedagogy of Afrocentric learning should be implemented into the school curriculum in order to enhance the black self-concept. Most of the scholars in these articles saw that there is indeed a need for black students to find their identity and some of the studies showed the positive effects Afrocentric learning had on the academics of African Americans. Future research should replicate these findings and they should start using Afrocentric history, pedagogy and leadership as a stepping stool to achieving the idea of true multicultural education and Black self-efficacy.DiscussionThis paper represents an exploration of two pedagogues, Afrocentric and Multicultural education. It also embraces the importance of incorporating the writing of Timbuktu, Mali to further the learning achievement of Black students. Furthermore, this paper brings to attention the examination of the black identity and how its presence can facilitate the academic success of Black students. Eurocentric education fails to incorporate black contributions to world history, and thus black students do not feel that they have no connection to African history. Eurocentric education only rarely addresses African history and when it does it is usually about slavery and the indigenous Africans that who are poor, corrupt, and diseased; therefore, it leaves many black Americans ignorant about Africans and African culture. Our education system teaches black students that their history began with slavery. Slavery does tie the binds between African Americans and Africans, but it also keeps the two groups apart, creating a gap in the people’s knowledge of themselves. Black students are hypnotized by the stereotypes placed on the black race, by Eurocentric education, as beggars and slaves. The stereotypes and negative images of Africa portrayed in the media causes African Americans not to associate themselves to their African roots because they have been brainwashed to believe that Africans have not accomplished anything. This current approach to education neglects the precious history of black people before slavery. This approach fails to care for “the historic manuscripts of Timbuktu [which] are revolutionizing our understanding of Africa, increasing our knowledge of African history” (Hunwick & Boye, 2008, 9). It abandons the academic success of Africa as a civilization altogether. In addition, Eurocentric education system dismisses “abundant Islamic literatures in Arabic in Western Sudanic Africa, [which] are also written in African languages--so-called ajami manuscripts (Hunwick &Boye, 2008, p.95). This research reminds us that there was an African civilization and history prior to the Atlantic Slave Trade. When students are taught from the beginning that they were always under control by another race, it exposes them to negative interpretations of what it means to be black in America. When the black culture, history, tradition, and values are part of the education, black students are included and develop a sense of responsibility and self-identity through the awareness of African culture. ??The findings provide support for including black literature aimed at improving the academic achievements of Black students.Eurocentric education also fails to incorporate black contributions to American history, and thus black students do not feel as though they are relevant to the educational system. Malcom X once said:When we send our children to school in this country, the learn noting about us other than that we used to be cotton pickers. Every little child going to school thinks his grandfather was a cotton picker. Why, your grandfather…was some of the greatest Black people who walked his earth. It was your grandfather’s hands who forged civilization and it was our grandmother’s hands who rocked the cradle of civilizationAfrican Americans have accomplished a lot for the United States; without them, America would not have flourished because the American society was built on the backs of African Americans. However, there are a lot of current myths that have crippled the mindset of African Americans about their own people. These myths include that black people are lazy and abuse the welfare system, or that angry black woman that does not need the aggressive black man. All these myths and many more have created a black society that does not see itself in a positive light because it is stuck in what Melissa Harrris-Perry calls a “crooked room:”:When they confront race and gender stereotypes, black [people] are standing in a crooked room, and they have to figure out which way is up (p.29)This is especially true for Black women in America. All the accomplishments and potentials for the black society are covered up by these myths and even if they worked hard and “pulled themselves up by the bootstraps, the educational system still does not instill them with truth and encouragement. Instead the educational system continues to label and criticize the behaviors of African Americans and most African Americans are allowing themselves to believe these labels and stereotypes as well. Thus, the mis-education of the Negro continues. In reading the research, one gains a sense of the struggle between Afrocentric education and Multicultural Education. In both practices the importance of black culture being taught in school is highly emphasized, but educators and researchers struggle with the purposes of theories. Afrocentric schooling is seen as another form of segregation and multicultural education, an “ethnic cheerleader.” On the other side, Multicultural education can be viewed as another form of ineffective integration which only raises awareness. Instead of educators saying this is “our history,” they are saying “this is how their history fits into ours.” It is inspiring to see that both theories do suggest that the Eurocentric model is not the most effective model to use in America’s educational system today because it shows that there is an effort in the minds of Americans to better the educational system. Though their purposes are similar, Afrocentric and Multicultural Education are also different in significant ways. Afrocentric education focuses more on the restoration of self-help and cultural renewal that Marcus Garvey advertised in the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The Afrocentric community does not receive much attention from mainstream researchers even though its practices and strategies have been proven effective. On the other hand, multicultural education has received much attention by the public. “Today there is a sizable body” of review on multicultural education that is available to researchers (Sleeter, 2001, 94). Multicultural educationists propose the idea of creating a multicultural environment that can support and empower all students to develop a cultural awareness of diverse cultural background and lifestyles. ???Importantly, both styles of education stress on the importance of black education or educators who are culturally immersed in the cultures of their students. Some other important findings from this research are the importance of Black educators and community-based immersion. These students need to see educators who are knowledgeable and comfortable in “their heritage to teach students in their school about their heritage [and] these black educators can use their “strong identification with their African American/African heritage to encourage their students” (Ware, 2006, 451). These students need a role model within their schools to help improve their personal identites. When it comes to predominantly white teachers the best way to prepare them for culturally diverse schools is to have these white educators live in the communities that are different from their typical community while learning to teach. Although the data was based on small projects, community-based immersion experiences reported a significant impact on how white teachers engaged the students using culturally relevant knowledge. These two findings highlight the importance of not only placing an effective pedagogy, but how cultured role models and community experiences also affect the academic achievement of black students.??? ConclusionOur current educational system promotes European and Western culture, history, traditions, and values this system had been proven as ineffective with Black students, but America continues to use this way of teaching.The problems faced by black children and communities are steeped in decades of intentional and unintentional ignorance about, and aggression toward, supporting efforts that might empower blacks with agency and self-determination (Shockley,2008,9). The overwhelmingly recalled “culture shock” and feeling of unwelcomeness still endures within the educational system. “The best words that described my experience was ‘We just ignore you, but come every day’” (Patterson, J.A.,Mickelson, K.A., Peterson, J.L., Gross, D.S., 2008, 318). These words encompass the purpose of a Eurocentric education. If America continues to ignore other cultures and perpetuate their own ideas, they open the doors for criticism and neglect the identity of a growing population within their own nation.The Eurocentric model was not part of my research, but I do think it sets up an interesting contrast between it and the Multicultural and Afrocentric theory. From the works of Afrocentric and Multicultural educationists we can gain much insight into what educational system might help empower black students and their communities in America. Both of these theories seek to perpetuate and enhance the Black Identity, and will ultimately play a role in student success in this culturally diverse population. ?The recommendation of teaching a culture with the perspective of the people of that culture is one aspect that both of these theories also agree on.Although much has been learned regarding the Black Identity, there are still many unanswered questions regarding its influence on the academic success of black students. This research is relevant in this Age of Obama where respondents of The U.S. Census Bureau check off more than one race. Because of this, it is imperative that researchers consider these theories in light of current practices and changes in America.ReferencesAsante, M.K. (1991). The Afrocentric idea in education. Journal of Negro Education, 60(2), 170- 179.Banks, J.A. (1988). Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform. 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