Freedom Schools - Legacy

Legacy

Part of the Freedom School legacy can be seen in the dozens of schools that hold the name today: Akwesasne Freedom School on a Mohawk Indian reservation; The Freedom Schools in St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois; Paulo Freire Freedom School in Tucson, Arizona; and Saint Paul Freedom School, in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the Mississippi Delta, the Sunflower County Freedom Project operates annual summer Freedom Schools emphasizing Civil Rights History as well as a year-round college preparatory program for middle and high school students. The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) operates a nationwide modern Freedom School program. This program is coordinated through the Children's Defense Fund's Black Community Crusade for Children initiative. The CDF Freedom Schools national program operates over 130 summer program sites in 24 states across the country serving nearly 9,000 children. In Michigan the Black Radical Congress in Detroit launched a campaign to create a model based on the Freedom Schools. All cite the influence of the 1964 Freedom Schools in their mission statements.

Philadelphia Freedom Schools is an independent community education initiative operating a modern version of the Mississippi curriculum with an emphasis on academic scholarship, social action and intergenerational leadership. Philadelphia Freedom Schools (PFS) are organized through a lead agency, Communities In Schools.