Freedom Schools: Education in a Democratic Society

1. Freedom Schools:Education in a Democratic Society

2. Partner Discussion • What is the purpose of education in a democratic society? (One sentence) • What are freedom schools? (One sentence) • What is one historical or contemporary example?

3. Freedom Summer (1964) • Segregated Education • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) • Freedom Schools & a “Liberation Curriculum” • Results

4. Freedom Summer (1999) • Teach for America in the Mississippi Delta • Chris Myers and Freedom Schools (1999-present) • Leadership, Freedom, and Vision

5. What is the Sunflower County Freedom Project? The Freedom Project is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to educational excellence and leadership development in Sunflower County, Mississippi. We use the history and spirit of the 1960s freedom struggle to motivate young people to become capable and compassionate leaders in their communities. Now in our fifth year, the Freedom Project offers middle and high school students intensive academic enrichment, mentoring, educational travel, and martial arts training. We develop our students' confidence and leadership ability by demanding genuine achievement and performance -- we accept no excuses for anything less.

6. Our vision for leadership Following the same set of students from seventh grade through high school, the Freedom Project will build a corps of academically capable, socially conscious, and mentally disciplined leaders who are willing and able to make positive changes in their communities. We will ensure that Freedom Fellows succeed in high school and college by offering intensive academic instruction, consistent mentoring, and martial arts training. By the end of their senior year in high school, our Fellows will be honor roll students who have earned both a scholarship to a four-year college and a black belt in the Korean art of taekwondo.

7. Making freedom real "Freedom" is the most powerful idea in American History, an idea that inspired the original Freedom Schools established in Mississippi during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. During their first year, all Freedom Fellows are immersed in a curriculum that emphasizes the civil rights movement, and the leaders of the freedom struggle stand as historical models for Fellows to follow. Fellows learn that to live up to their heritage and make freedom real today, they must take advantage of the opportunities available to them -- opportunities won through their ancestors' struggles. They must push themselves to become educated, disciplined, and capable enough to make positive changes in themselves and their communities.

8. Build a Native American Freedom School Local Indians have funds from casino revenues to support a freedom school for Native American youth. You and a partner will draft a proposal for such a freedom school. The proposal must include. 1) Name of the School2) Vision Statement & Teaching Philosophy3) Proposed Personnel and Class Size4) Brief Curriculum Outline5) Sample Lesson Idea

9. Bibliography Steve Estes, I Am a Man: Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005). Chris Myers, “Sunflower County Freedom Project,”www.sunflowerfreedom.org.