At Morningside Center, every month is Black History Month. This February, let’s celebrate New York City’s first Black Studies curriculum debuted in 2024, and piloted at one of Morningside’s partner schools, The Ralph Bunche School, PS 125 in Harlem.
At Morningside Center, every month is Black History Month. And we, like the nation, owe that to Carter G. Woodson and his vision to celebrate Black people who make the whole world a better place.
Exhibit at StudioBE, New Orleans, LA, winter 2025, https://studiobenola.com/
One hundred years ago, in February 1926—after getting a PhD, organizing and educating at every opportunity, and founding the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, ASALH)—Woodson announced Negro History Week, having selected February because it held the birthdays of two men he considered to be foundational in establishing black freedom in the United States: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
But it’s vital to note that for Woodson, “[r]ather than focusing on two men, the black community, he believed, should focus on the countless black men and women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization.” Right from the beginning the celebrations prioritized youth education. The now-ASALH created and shared widely pictures, lesson plans, historical plays, and posters highlighting important dates and people. From launch, the celebrations exploded in popularity.
So it’s entirely aligned with Carter’s vision that today Morningside celebrates New York City’s first Black Studies curriculum debuted in 2024, and piloted at one of our partner schools, The Ralph Bunche School, PS 125 in Harlem. Black Studies As the Study of the World has PK - 12 lessons, resources, context for educators, alignment to NY state requirements, literacy book lists for every age and grade, and is packed with learning across disciplines, geographies and cultures.
From Adinkra symbols and history for Kindergarteners to the study of names, identities and culturally relevant social emotional learning (SEL) skills to Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution (1806, grade 5) to a series on Black women for 8th graders (Henrietta Lacks to Ida B. Wells)—female leadership continues in a 9th grade series on the African Continent. Grade 11 introduces a series on reparations and 12th grade delves into appropriation, fashion and capitalism in the 21st Century.
The Ralph Bunche School—along with the whole of Community School District 5 in Harlem—partnered with Morningside beginning more than four years ago with a focus on culturally relevant SEL for every adult in every school, learners, families and even some CBOs.
Last week, our Executive Director Cassie Schwerner visited Ralph Bunche. Cassie shared:
I was so impressed when we walked into a 5th grade classroom and the two teachers were leading a writing lesson—but rather than technical explanations, they used the books students were reading on Freedom Riders and Malcolm X to demonstrate integral writing skills. The writing prompt was to explain how the actions of the Freedom Riders helped bring about change in the US. The teachers explained to students that they would need to discuss ACTIONS (red in the photo below) as well as the CHANGE THAT OCCURRED (yellow in the photo below). Students were asked to compose complex sentences covering both aspects of the question.
Join us—and let the whole world be nourished, spirited, inspired, educated and expanded with NYCPS’s Black Studies As the Study of the World. And if you need training, coaching, support, ideas or community to get started—Morningside Center has been holding hands as we embark together on the adventure of inclusion, joy and celebration for more than 40 years. We got you.