Black Educators as Movement Leaders

Throughout the history of Black struggle and the social movements it has fueled, education and the transmission of knowledge have been central to advancing sociopolitical change. In this context, community organizers have long viewed education as a political battleground, embedding it as a foundational element within movement-building strategies. For example, initiatives like freedom schools, revolutionary institutions such as the Oakland Community School, and Pan-Africanist schools during the Black Power movement all placed education at the core of the Black liberation struggle.

Moreover, in today’s ongoing fights against capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism, it’s essential to remember the ways of teaching as a core pillar of community organizing. Through this, we must honor the legacy of Black educators who aligned themselves with this struggle, fostering critical consciousness through both facilitation and lived experience. At the heart of these educational spaces were educators who understood that teaching was essential to the movements they served, using education as a tool for liberation.

Black educators have played a pivotal role in shaping both knowledge and organizing throughout history. Consequently, as we consider the future of social movements, we should look to the educators who redefined teaching as integral to community organizing. Thus, our goal today is to revitalize a teaching tradition pioneered by Black educators—a tradition deeply rooted within their communities and designed to empower students and families to challenge the world around them.

Anna Julia Cooper was a key figure in early Pan-Africanist movements, analyzing the intersections of race, class, and gender in policy, economics, social science, and education. As a high school teacher and principal, she argued that educated Black individuals had a responsibility to serve their communities. Through her work with the North Carolina Teachers Association, she championed teaching approaches that recognized the potential of Black students. Notably, at the 1900 Pan-African Congress, she established herself as an anti-colonial thinker, viewing education as a tool for liberation. In her influential work, What Are We Worth?, she stressed the importance of an education that taught Black children to think critically and morally, emphasizing the holistic development of her students for the betterment of their communities. This analysis draws from Black Intellectual Thought in Education: The Missing Traditions of Anna Julia Cooper, Carter G. Woodson, and Alain LeRoy Locke.

Similarly, Jitu Weusi, born Leslie Campbell in Brooklyn in 1939, embodied Black empowerment and self-determination as a teacher and community organizer. During the 1960s, he co-founded the African American Teachers Association to address the miseducation of Black students and later established The East, a Pan-African cultural hub. Through The East’s programs—including the Uhuru Sasa school and the International African Arts Festival— Weusi emphasized community empowerment, cultural affirmation, and unity, redefining teaching as a community-centered, lifelong process intertwined with movement building.

In addition, Ella Baker, as documented in Barbara Ransby’s Ella Baker And The Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision, was a 20th-century educator who operated largely outside traditional classrooms and infused her anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist philosophy into her organizing work. She notably played a pivotal role in the development of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), emphasizing self-sufficiency and leadership development over reliance on charismatic figures. As she articulated, her approach underscored the importance of learning from the process itself, emphasizing the necessity to lead and empower yourself. Thus, this philosophy inspired those she taught to take on leadership roles within their communities.

Furthermore, Bob Moses’s early organizing work with SNCC became a defining experience that influenced the organization’s activism and teaching. During his time, he learned that successful organizing began with being welcomed into the community, building trust, and working alongside locals to initiate change. These lessons would shape Moses’s lifelong commitment to education and organizing, eventually leading him to create the Algebra Project. Through this initiative, Moses sought to use mathematics as an organizing tool, ensuring quality public education. In doing so, his approach connected core community members with outside organizers, recognizing that meaningful change could only happen through collective effort.

Likewise, Ericka Huggins joined the Black Panther Party and brought her commitment to Black empowerment to the Oakland Community School, where she served as Director. In this role, she introduced meditation into the school’s daily routine, fostering self-awareness among students, and emphasized teaching critical thinking skills to empower children to actively engage with their world. Moreover, while incarcerated, Huggins continued her activism by founding the Sisterlove collective, creating a supportive community for newly incarcerated women and helping them find solidarity within confinement.

Indeed, the list of Black teachers organizing within the broader Black freedom and liberation struggles goes on and on, underscoring the importance of today’s Black educators in continuing a lineage deeply rooted in resistance and liberation. These educators—and countless others whose names may not be listed—serve as historical mentors, demonstrating that teaching is vital not only in reaching communities but in actively engaging with them. Ultimately, they remind us that teaching and organizing are not just concepts; they are legacies of active engagement and resistance passed on through generations. As we honor this legacy, let us remember that their work is not only history but a call to action—to build and sustain educational spaces as the sociopolitical organizers Black teachers have called themselves to be. Ultimately, they remind us that teaching and organizing extend beyond classroom walls, intertwining with community life to foster empowerment and transformation. By viewing the community as a classroom, we honor their legacy through active engagement—building educational spaces that bridge in-class learning with real-world action, making education a catalyst for collective liberation