Black Homeschooling: An Abolitionist Approach

Black homeschooling shows us the agency, self-determination, radical imagination, and power of Black people to create communities that center Black liberation. This extraordinary panel of Black homeschooling experts will discuss the history of Black homeschooling, how families can get involved, and why the time of Black homeschooling is now. Join the movement! This event will be live-streamed to YouTube and will not be recorded. We invite you to reserve a ticket at the price point that works best for you and your circumstances. We look forward to your attendance!

Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman, EdD is a Maryland-based homeschooling mother, playwright, media arts administrator and researcher who is co-founder of the education research group Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars (BFHES). She is co-editor of the forthcoming book Homeschooling Black Children in the United States: An examination of homeschooling in practice, theory and popular culture. Dr. Ali-Coleman's research includes study of African American homeschooled students who are dual-enrolled in community college, creative placemaking as a tool for community building and high impact learning practices. Since 2008, she has served as creative director of the arts group, Liberated Muse and she offers homeschool courses and services through the brand StudentMediaOnline.com. In 2018 she debuted her first children's book, Mariah's Maracas, illustrated by her life and creative partner who, for the past 12 years, has helped homeschool their now 17 year-old daughter who is dual-enrolled in community college. Dr. Ali-Coleman holds a doctoral degree in Higher Education/Community College Leadership from Morgan State University and credits Advancing Youth Development (AYD) theory as being a foundational component of her practice as a parent and educator.

Dr. Fields-Smith is an Associate Professor of Elementary Education at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. She earned her doctorate from Emory University in 2004. Her research interests include Black family engagement and homeschooling among Black families. Prior to earning her doctorate, Dr. Fields-Smith served as an elementary school teacher in Connecticut. Her 2020 AESA Critic’s Choice Award winning book, Exploring Single Black Mothers’ Resistance through Homeschooling details the lives of four single Black mothers who homeschool while choosing not to work full-time. Dr. Fields-Smith is the co-founder of Black Family Home Educators and Scholars, LLC, a space where Black home educators and scholars gather to set the agenda for research, support one another in the effort of educating Black children with excellence.

Anita Gibson is an author, speaker, and educational strategist. She develops academic success strategies for students and organizations, including educational programs, training sessions and academic support. Her book, STAR Finder, assists parents with finding their children’s strengths, talents and abilities and offers resources to discover their future potential. For the past 18 years, Anita has served as the director of Shabach Christian Academy, a homeschool program in Maryland. She resides in Maryland with her amazing husband, Glen and they have homeschooled three awesome children from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Brandi Hinnant-Crawford (she/her/hers) is a self-described womanist, liberation theologian, critical pedagogue, improvement scientist, and aspiring scholar-activist. As an Associate Professor of Educational Research at Western Carolina University, Brandi’s work seeks to expose policies and practices related to exploitation and domination—while simultaneously exploring remedies to alleviate the impact of those policies and practices. Her research agenda has two broad strands that are intimately connected: the first is equity, inclusion, and access: which deals with the pedagogy, policies, and practices within K-12 schooling. The second is organizational improvement which examines the effectiveness of improvement and evaluation methodologies and the role of different stakeholders in the realization of improvement. Her recent book, Improvement Science in Education: A Primer, reconceptualizes improvement by centering justice as the purpose of improvement. Brandi holds a doctorate in philosophy from Emory University in Educational Studies, a master’s degree in Urban Education Policy from Brown University, and bachelor’s degrees in English and Communication from North Carolina State University. While she loves research and teaching, her first priority is being the mother of her eight-year-old twins, Elizabeth Freedom and Elijah Justice Crawford.

*This event will be live-streamed to YouTube and will not be recorded. It will take place at 8PM EST, if you do not receive a post-purchase email please contact ominiramars@abolitionistteachingnetwork.org.*