The Coalition Bringing Black Studies to Life

Amid a nationwide debate over the importance of teaching African American history in schools, one coalition is pushing back —one state at a time. 

The Education Equity Action Plan Coalition (EEAPC) is a nonprofit organization of Black educators and community leaders at the forefront of developing Pre-K–12 Black Studies curriculum in New York City public schools.

The coalition has supported the creation of a curriculum that pays tribute to the contributions and history of African-Americans and the Black diaspora. EEAPC is building and piloting the curriculum in 2023, with the goal of launching in all New York City public schools in 2024.

So far, the Coalition has utilized prominent Black spaces such as hair salons and barber shops to host enriching conversations about race, politics and history and put forth the work of their Coalition. 

Famed Harlem soul food restaurant Sylvia’s served as the location of their first Black Media Salon last May. Hosted and moderated by news anchor Cheryl Wills, the event shared the organization’s outreach efforts and future events to members of the press. New Yorkers are supportive of making fundamental changes to the public school curriculum to foster greater representation.  Ninety-two percent of Black voters indicated support for adding Black studies to the state’s curriculum, according to a 2022 report published by the Black Education Research Collective.

BERC is one of the founding member organizations that comprise the EEAP Coalition. Additional members include the Black Edfluencers-United, The Eagle Academy Foundation, United Way of New York City, the New York City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, and the Association of Black Educators of New York, Inc. The EEAP Coalition is also working in tandem with the New York City Department of Education. 

The EEAPC is focused on ensuring that the history and legacies of Black and African diaspora communities are taught in a comprehensive manner. The coalition has been working with various community groups and organizations to ensure that the curriculum is multifaceted.

The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy found that Baltimore schools did have somewhat of a comprehensive curriculum when it came to incorporating Black studies, reporting that “36% of your secondary school texts are about the African American experience.” However, a good chunk of that material is about oppression, with themes of slavery, police brutality, and mass incarceration.

There are diverse narratives and perspectives of Black history that have yet to be further explored — “early African civilizations, the continuum of the Black experience in America, the contributions and achievements of African-diaspora peoples and their impact on the modern world…”

It helps students of all backgrounds to partake in a rigorous education system and understand the world around them. Increased awareness of the contributions of Black people is imperative to the academic development of students.