Tyree Scott Freedom School Curriculum
The Tyree Scott Freedom School currently occurs during winter and summer breaks and on several weekends. Curriculum reflects the desire to follow in the footsteps of the Freedom Schools of the 1960s and learn from current Freedom School programs in other cities around the country. Whereas civil rights era Freedom Schools dealt primarily with legalized segregation, Tyree Scott Freedom School focuses on addressing the culture of institutional racism.
Curriculum is based around the Undoing Racism principles of the People’s Institute including: learning from history, sharing culture, developing leadership, maintaining accountability, networking, understanding power and gate keeping, and undoing internalized racial oppression. Participants analyze why people are poor, develop power analyses, define racism, learn principles of organizing, learn African American, Native American, Latino and Asian history, and discuss intersections of racism with sexism and heterosexism (homophobia).
Freedom School students participate in various field trips. An environmental-justice tour of South Seattle exposes the effects of environmental racism to local communities. Youth visit: a Duwamish river Superfund site, Mara Farms community garden, and the former site of Longs Paint Co. in South Park, a factory that local residents (suffering from asthma and other pollution-related health problems) organized to have removed. A tour of the International District (historic Chinatown) visits Danny Woo community garden, the Bulosan Memorial Exhibit, and the Panama Hotel, which provides a unique glimpse at items left behind by Japanese Americans who were interned during WWII and never returned to Seattle to claim their belongings. A tour of El Centro de la Raza exposes youth to the rich local history of Latino organizing, including the peaceful occupation of the Beacon Hill School in 1972. A Black Panther Party tour of the Central District takes youth to the former headquarters of the party, exposes them to the Ten Point Platform, and gives them the opportunity to questions of Aaron Dixon, former Black Panther and founder of the Seattle chapter.
Curriculum also incorporates: understandings of internalized racial oppression developed by the People's Institute, ideas around post-traumatic slavery developed by Dr. Joy Leary, and understandings of cultural racism developed by Dr. Edwin Nichols.
Curriculum is specifically designed to reflect the needs of the participants, young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one. 85% of the youth who attend are low-income and are youth of color. Although the majority comes from Seattle, youth from across Washington State often come as well. Freedom School is free to attend and breakfast snacks and lunch are provided each six-hour day. All participants must stay the entire time, because each activity builds on the previous one and an important goal is for the group to develop a common language and understanding around the issues they discuss.
Freedom School curriculum is inclusive and interactive with small breakout groups, physical activities, and lots of discussion time. In mainstream schools children are often not expected to be able to pay attention. Even on longer, less interactive days, facilitators have high expectations of Freedom School participants to continue to pay attention and treat everyone with respect. The young people usually have no difficulty when the activities truly apply to their lives.
Freedom School also presents opportunities for young people to meet with and hold discussions with community and national leaders. In 2006, for example, Freedom School students met in small groups with Seattle City Council members; King County Commissioners; representatives from the foster-care system, and experienced community organizers. This gave the young people a chance to speak truth to power, ask hard questions of community leaders, and utilize the information that they learned through Freedom School.
Read more about this topic: Tyree Scott Freedom School, Tyree Scott Freedom School in Seattle
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