We Need Black Teachers
A CALL TO ACTION INITIATED, CREATED, TESTED AND PROMOTED BY YOUTH.
In 2021, through radical imagination, our teaching apprentices launched the We Need Black Teachers campaign as an opportunity to encourage and empower their peers to proactively think about a transformative career in education, while addressing the profound impact that Black educators have on their lives.
Through digital organizing, these student activists ignited the campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedBlackTeachers as an online dialogue with impressions surpassing six million. All to change the way the youth experience education, especially Black students who lack teacher representation.
We are now calling on individuals to join us in amplifying our campaign in our efforts to help rebuild the National Black Teacher Pipeline.
Opportunities to join our movement include:
- Enrolling in our year-round Teaching Academy high school CTE course
- Applying to be a part of our Freedom Schools Literacy Academy summer programming
- Applying to our Black Teacher Pipeline Fellowship
Help us amplify our We Need Black Teachers Campaign
Together, we can raise awareness around the shortage of Black teachers across the country, inspire Black youth to answer the call of becoming educator activists, and partner with national and local thought-leaders to create a movement around education as activism.
Educators, advocates, influencers, content creators, community members and all stakeholders, join us in rebuilding the National Black Teacher Pipeline by using the hashtag #WeNeedBlackTeachers to advance the conversation.
- Take a photo of yourself wearing your We Need Black Teachers swag and tag us in the photo. Don’t have any swag? Support the campaign by purchasing some now.
- Listen to the Rebuilding the National Black Educator Pipeline podcast.
- Raise awareness about our mission by using one of our We Need Black Teachers graphics.
- Content creators and micro-influencers, use #WeNeedBlackTeachers in your posts. Your voice and reach are critical!
- Follow us on TikTok, Instagram and X.
Explore a career in teaching through the lens of Black pedagogy and historical frameworks. Advocate to have the Center’s Teaching Academy, a year-round high school Career & Technical Education (CTE) course, instituted at your school.
This CTE course is for students who are up for an intellectually rigorous, collaborative and rewarding experience.
Become a Servant Leader Apprentice or Junior Servant Leader at one of our Philadelphia-based Freedom Schools Literacy Academy locations or through our virtual program.
Train with world-class educators steeped in Black pedagogy. Gain first-hand experience teaching rising first to third-grade scholars.
Once you participate in the Teaching Academy CTE course or the Freedom Schools Literacy Academy, you’ll be eligible for the Center’s Black Teacher Pipeline Fellowship that provides college students with scholarships, academic support, professional coaching and retention bonuses.
Freedom Schools is a direct way to be an activist for your community.
Teaching these kids what is right, how to love each other and advocate for themselves.
I want to be what I had growing up as an educator, so I want to instill that sense of pride and expansive knowledge.
I understand that it is crucial that Black boys and girls know that someone sees them, loves them, and believes in their innate genius.
I would like to see Black teachers reclaim their wholeness, continue to create sustainable institutions that unearth the work of the ancestors, demand critical thought, and listen to the communities in which they serve.
Freedom School Literacy Academy really taps into what being Black is and embracing your blackness.
Making sure we get more Black teachers into the education system is what stuck with me the most and what made me want to come to this program.
What’s special about this camp is honestly the uplifting and emphasis on Black culture: how they want to embed into these children that you are Black, you are beautiful. You are Black and intelligent.
I would recommend this experience 100 percent to my friends because it was not only fun, but it exposed me to new ideas.
I would encourage them to join the education profession for the sake of their own education.
I want them to know that it is crucial for them to stand up and speak out about the unfairness of the system but most importantly, be the change.
INVEST IN FUTURE TEACHERS
School and District Leaders, partner with us to set up a Teaching Academy designed for all high school students to explore a career in education through the Center’s Career & Technical Education course that’s based on Black pedagogy and historical frameworks.
Students who complete the Teaching Academy CTE course become eligible for a Black Teacher Pipeline Fellowship that provides college students with scholarships, academic support, professional coaching and retention bonuses.
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