Futuring Black Lives

<i>Futuring Black Lives</i> is a historical ethnography examining Black institution builders in the late 1960s and early 1970s and their work to leverage the power of publications and the literary imagination to engage concerned men and women in conversations about the educational journeys and futures of Black children. While many began as reactions to anti-Blackness and American public schooling failing Black children Independent Black Institutions (IBIs) came to be viable ecosystems anchored in a shared Black value system preparing Black children in three areas: identity purpose and direction.<br> <br> The rationale for establishing and valuing IBIs remains highly relevant given the sociopolitical landscape of education today. In addition to persistent racial disparities in academic achievement and Black students' highly disproportionate experiences of punishment and discipline friction and legislation against critical examination of race racism and racist ideas in school settings are front and center and children's and young adult literature are under attack through censorship and outright book bans. Yet Black institution builders left useful maps of and for the educational future/s of Black children that remain available in journals newspapers pamphlets and other ephemera. Author Maisha T. Winn demonstrates how and why the historiography-grounded futuring of Black education can and should inform current pursuits of equity justice and liberation through education.