Call for Proposals Special Issue: Journal of Pan African Studies African American Education in the Urban Context

Call for Proposals

Special Issue: Journal of Pan African Studies

African American Education in the Urban Context

Historically, education has been seen as a tool of liberation for
African people and other oppressed groups living in America. During
the Antebellum period, when it was illegal to educate enslaved
Africans in the southern states, free Africans in the northern states
experienced racism and discrimination in their attempts to obtain an
equal education. Furthermore, African people throughout America
believed that education was a key ingredient to achieving freedom and
equal rights. This belief has transcended generations, and has become
the building block for social protest and activism in the African
American community. To this end, African American political and social
leaders and organizations have worked tirelessly to ensure that
African Americans had access to fair and equal educational
opportunities. However recent developments in public education
threaten to challenge the prominent role education has had in the
lives of African Americans.

Over the last two decades, we have witnessed a series of attacks on
public education. These attacks have had a disproportionally negative
impact on the education that African Americans receive in urban areas
throughout the United States. Educational reforms geared towards
increasing parental choice and competition in urban school districts
have also caused many students to receive a substandard education. In
addition, during the 2012-2013 academic year, several major urban
school districts have announced their plans to close dozens of
schools, which will effectively displace thousands of students. As
major cities across the country fight to balance their budgets,
students of African descent have been forced to bear the brunt of this
burden.

This special issue of the Journal of Pan African Studies seeks to
explore the topic of African Americans in American public education,
with special attention given the educational experiences of African
Americans in urban environments. This issue will examine the growth
and development of education through the lens of the African American
experience. In addition, this issue will explore how educational
institutions initially used to control the thinking and behaviors of
the masses have been transformed into tools for the liberation for all
oppressed groups throughout the world. Hopefully by looking towards
the past and exploring positive models towards effectively educating
students of African descent we can chart an improved educational
system for the future.

This special issue will present essays, film and book reviews that
explore the positive and detrimental impact that education and
specific educational institutions have had on lives of African people
in America and throughout the diaspora.

Suggested topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

Africana Studies
Latino Studies
Urban Education
African American Educational History
African American Intellectual Tradition
Urban Educational Reform
School Desegregation
Bilingual Education
Ebonics (Black English) and African American Education
African American Higher Education
Independent Educational Institutions
African Centered Education & Pedagogies
Charter Schools
Religious-Based Educational Institutions
Schools Vouchers
School-to-Prison Pipeline

Criteria for Selection

Each paper must directly contribute this issue of African Americans in
American public education, with special attention to educational
experiences of African Americans in urban environments. Interested
participants should email a 100-word abstract by January 17, 2014.
Authors whose abstracts are selected will then be asked to submit a
completed paper by April 2014. Each submission must include:

Title of Paper
Author’s Name(s)
Institution and/or Affiliation
Email Address

Please send your submissions in the Subject area as “JPAS African
American Education” to:

Guest Editor, Dr. Patrick Spearman, Assistant Professor, Youngstown
State University: pspearman@ysu.edu; and/or

Associate Editor of JPAS, Dr. Karanja Keita Carroll, Assistant
Professor State University of New York at New Paltz:
carrollk@newpaltz.edu .

Each paper should not exceed 25 pages. Notification of acceptance will
be provided within 30 days of receiving an abstract and/or a paper.