853© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 W.T. Pink, G.W. Noblit (eds.), Second International Handbook of Urban Education, Springer International Handbooks of Education, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40317-5_45

Chapter 45“Hold Up, Wait a Minute, Let Me Put Some Freedom In It”: Hip-Hop Based Education and the Freedom School Experience

Kristal Moore Clemons, Paula Groves Price, and Kawachi A. Clemons

45.1 Introduction

For over 60 years, America’s system of public schooling has undergone a number of “experiments” to reform the nature and process of schooling (Chicago, Houston, New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Newark). The types of reforms and the ide-ologies guiding the different reforms have varied, but all are, at their core, based on liberal ideologies of democracy and universality (Groves 2002). Some reforms have been based on the need to address equal opportunities to a quality education (deseg-regation efforts); some focused on diversifying curriculum and experiences for stu-dents in classrooms (multicultural education movement); and others have been rooted in responses to global capitalism (excellence movement). And while the results of these different reforms are varied and debatable, they all rest on an assumption that there is a “one best system” for schooling in a diverse pluralistic society (Tyack 1974; Groves 2002).

When we look at the experiences and outcomes of the schooling experiences of African Americans, it is clear that under these attempts at this universal system, African American children have been significantly shortchanged. African American children are disproportionately placed in special education, tracked into lower level

K.M. Clemons (*) College of Education, Florida State University, 1210C Stone Building 1114 W. Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USAe-mail: kristal.clemons@fsu.edu

P.G. Price Washington State University, 328 Cleveland Hall, Pullman, WA 99164-2132, USAe-mail: pgroves@wsu.edu

K.A. Clemons Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

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courses and ability groups by teachers, expelled, suspended, and forced out of schools (Linton 2015; Murrell 2002; Oakes 1985). If anything, the experience of African Americans in schools provides strong evidence that that there is no ‘one best system,’ or at best, such a system has not been designed and implemented in ways that systematically support the success of all students.

According to Comer and Haynes (1991), American education has failed to address the needs of Black children largely because the structure of public educa-tion and the philosophies that guide its development neglect salient features of Black culture and life. In other words, most schools are not culturally responsive to African American children and they do not acknowledge the epistemologies and cultural experiences that African American students bring to the classroom.

This chapter urges readers to critically consider the use of Hip Hop culture as an educational tool and framework for the educational success of urban African American youth. The data presented in this chapter is from the Durham Freedom School, located in Durham, North Carolina. This 5-week summer program was a part of a network of summer programs sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). The CDF is a private non-profit organization that provides programming in high needs areas to “build strong, literate, and empowered children prepared to make a difference in themselves, their families, communities, nation, and world” (http://www.childrensdefense.org/programs/freedomschools/).

The CDF Freedom Schools grew out of the work of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project where over 40 freedom schools were created serving over 2000 young children and adults. This movement was rebirthed in the early 1990s under the auspices of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN), a national organization that operated from 1991 to 1996. The BSLN was created to train a group of young activists in movement building and social change. They also wanted to strengthen the intergenerational leadership between activists from the 1950 and 1960s and the post civil rights generation. Utilizing data collected from the 2007 and 2008 Durham Freedom School this paper will: (1) discuss HHBE as a culturally responsive framework to engage urban youth in their education and community; (2) discuss HHBE as a critical thinking and social activism vehicle for youth to mobi-lize and find voice; and (3) present the voices of urban youth and parents engaged in a Hip Hop Based Education Freedom School.

Over 50 years after the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools, there is still a need for libratory education, particularly for children of color in economically disenfran-chised communities. In many ways, the conditions of predominantly African American communities have worsened, as schools deteriorate and the juvenile jus-tice system and prison industrial complex disproportionately incarcerate Black and Brown bodies in what the Children’s Defense Fund calls the “cradle to prison pipe-line” (http://www.childrensdefense.org/library/data/cradle-prison-pipeline-report-2007- full-highres.html).

For African American children and families living under this system of the “new Jim Crow,” American society has sent a clear message that Black lives do not matter (Alexander 2010). This is the reality Grammy Award winning Hip Hop artist Kendrick Lamar is articulating in his song “Alright” from his 2015 album To Pimp

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a Butterfly. Lamar describes his psychological and emotional burdens, the racial inequities as it pertains to police brutality against black bodies, and the struggles characterized by the recent Black Lives Matter movement. Similar to slave songs and the Negro spirituals of the Civil Rights Movement, “Alright” is a song of testi-mony whose significance is also bound in the socio-political context and the expres-sive needs of the Hip Hop generation. Lamar’s underlying message, like the voices outlined in this chapter, is driven by a specific pain and struggle that ultimately manifests into a mantra of hope and optimism.

45.2 Hip Hop Based Education

Scholars and artists describe Hip Hop as a form of musical, cultural, and social creativity. According to Dyson (2004), Hip Hop expresses the desire of young Black people to reclaim their history, reactivate forms of Black radicalism and contest the powers of despair and economic depression that presently besiege the Black com-munity. Hip Hop Based Education (HHBE) is theoretically grounded in the tradi-tions of critical theory and the field of culturally relevant pedagogy has largely informed its classroom application (Hill 2009). According to Marc Lamont Hill (2009), HHBE is a comprehensive phrase that includes the use of the four elements of Hip Hop (rap/MCing, the DJ/turntablism, break dancing, graffiti) to inform peda-gogy in both formal and informal school spaces. He states, “Hip hop pedagogy reflects an alternate, more expansive vision of pedagogy that reconsiders the rela-tionships among students, teachers, texts, schools, and the broader social world” (Hill 2009, p. 120). Scholars of culturally relevant pedagogy have demonstrated through their research and community endeavors the importance of appealing to the worldviews, values, cultural orientations and experiences in order to impact greater educational outcomes (e.g. Lee 1995; Gay 2000; Ladson-Billings 1995, 1998). For the purposes of this essay, we are situating HHBE as an extension of culturally responsive pedagogy. While culturally relevant and culturally responsive pedagogy are often used interchangeably, we believe that HHBE is not only culturally rele-vant, in terms of curriculum and approach, but it is also responsive to the needs and conditions of the community and the students. Because of our data and analysis of Hip Hop as a vehicle for greater social action and civic engagement for youth, we are using the term culturally responsive.

Love (2015) reminds us of the lack of attention that has been given to HHBE methods in education programs for elementary and early childhood students. She writes, “HHBE has resulted in many positive education outcomes, ranging from teaching academic skills to teaching critical reflection at secondary levels. Given what HHBE have accomplished, it is troubling that there is an absence of attention to these methods in programs for elementary and early childhood educators” (p. 107). Dimitriadis (2015) agrees and argues for educators to utilize approaches that take seriously how young people respond to Hip Hop texts. This call for student- centered pedagogy, where students of color are valued and understood as both learners and

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creators of knowledge, is a powerful epistemological shift in how society tradition-ally understands the roles of teachers and students (Delgado-Bernal 2002).

As educators, our lot is to make connections between sources of knowledge from both inside and outside of the traditional classroom. Hip Hop pedagogy provides opportunities to make such connections with students. Hip Hop culture is a product of the post civil rights movement that embodies rap music, graffiti, art, breakdanc-ing, spoken word, performance art, and personal expression through clothing, hair-styles and diction. Hip Hop is the culture of urban marginalized youth. It is a combination of the thoughts, words, and behaviors/actions of those who dwell in urban settings and have traditionally been marginalized from socioeconomic and educational attainment (Emdin 2010). Rap music and Hip Hop culture has allowed many Black youths to develop and express a deeper critical consciousness (Dyson 2004). Through Hip Hop, a voice has been established that cries out against injus-tice, celebrates cultural traditions, and re-affirms a Black aesthetic that has been systematically subordinated through colonization, slavery, and pressure towards assimilation. Critics of Hip Hop and its discourse often present it in a dichotomy of art versus reality where the perspective of Hip Hop’s reality is not seen as art. Shusterman (2005) notes, “this dogmatic dichotomy suggests that art is somehow only fiction and deceit rather than a powerful reality that can purvey the truth and represent the real in ways just as powerful as scientific and philosophical discourse” (p. 55). Clemons (2014a) furthers this notion of musical art and listening by stating this artistic familiarity or lack of familiarity in the case of Hip Hop “is a result of a constructed objectivity presents a musical hegemony that places rap music on the margins of what is considered as acceptable forms of artistic representation” (p. 52). Through the use of a Hip Hop pedagogy, educators can encourage students to use Hip Hop culture to tell stories of hope, perseverance, and remain committed to social justice.

45.3 The Freedom Schools Movement

The 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project was an effort by nonviolent, civil rights activists to integrate Mississippi’s segregated political and educational sys-tem. Clemons (2014b) reminds us,

The summer of 1964 marked an important time in American history. With little money and few supplies, the Freedom Schools set out to empower African Americans in Mississippi to become active citizens and change agents in their respective communities. In 1964, there were at least forty-one Freedom School sites located in churches, run down taverns, back porches, and under trees in various counties in Mississippi. (p. 141)

Over 3000 students attended the Mississippi Freedom Schools. Originally aimed at school-aged children, the freedom schools also served many adults. The curriculum focused on the philosophy of the Civil Rights Movement, reading, writing, arithme-tic, and African American history. Freedom Schools’ pedagogical vision began with

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the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC wanted to “simul-taneously change the hearts of southern Whites, to enlighten America about condi-tions in the South, and to discover true morality in themselves” (Perlstein 1990, p. 298).

The Freedom Schools of 1964 were part of serious efforts to combat voter sup-pression and encourage the youth to engage in the movement for civil rights. The members of SNCC knew they needed teacher to confront the segregated public educational school system in Mississippi. The Freedom Schools of 1964 wanted to supplement what children were not getting in their traditional public schools and mobilize voter registration. The Freedom Schools movement was reborn in 1992 under the leadership of Marian Wright Edelman and the CDF’s Black Community Crusade for Children. The contemporary Freedom Schools were created in an effort to strengthen the intergenerational leadership between activists from the 1950s and 1960s and the post-civil rights generation. Presently there are over 150 CDF Freedom Schools’ sites in 96 cities and 29 states across the country (http://www.childrensdefense.org/programs/freedomschools/). CDF Freedom Schools are typi-cally comprised of a 5 or 6-week summer enrichment program. CDF Freedom Schools call their students “scholars” to push them in a direction of educational excellence and civic engagement. The ratio between scholars and servant leaders is typically ten students to one teacher. The staff is usually a diverse of group of neigh-borhood stakeholders and college-aged students that serve as the teachers or Servant Leader Interns (SLIs). The staff must participate in an extensive national training at Alex Haley’s Farm in Clinton and the University of Tennessee Knoxville in Knoxville Tennessee. The facilitators are called Ella Baker Trainers (EBTs) and they work with the SLIs to teach them how to properly institute the integrated read-ing curriculum (IRC). The national training is also a time for the SLIs to meet other SLIs from across the nation and recognize that they are indeed part of a movement where every student who is participating will be reading the same book, singing the same songs and participating in the same social action in their respective city. Individual grade levels do not separate the CDF Freedom Schools; instead they are separated into four levels. Level I is comprised of kindergarten to second grade, Level II is comprised of third through fifth grade, Level III is comprised of sixth through eighth grade, and Level IV is comprised of ninth through eleventh grade.

45.4 The Durham Freedom School

The CDF Freedom Schools program focuses on the theme “I Can and Must Make a Difference” in my self, family, community, country, world and with hope, education and action. The students who participate in the program are intentionally called “scholars” to empower them to adopt an academic identity that allows them to become their own educational advocates. Scholars are separated into four levels/grades. Level I (K–2), Level II (3–5), Level III (6–8), and Level IV (9–12). The SLIs

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use a curriculum designed by the CDF that is equipped with lesson plans, discussion questions, and an outside resource list. In addition to student participation, parents were required to attend at least two parent meetings during the duration of the pro-gram. The parent meetings consisted of information about the local and national social action agenda from the CDF and more local information on pertinent issues within the community.

A typical day at CDF Freedom Schools begins with Harambee! a Kiswahili term for “let’s pull together”—a 30-min activity to celebrate and affirm the value of each participant and prepare for work and learning ahead. After Harambee! the inte-grated reading curriculum (IRC) begins and lasts for 2 h and 45 min. In that time, scholars engage in cooperative group activities, conflict resolution discussions, Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) time, critical thinking, social action, and group reading. The IRC in CDF Freedom Schools utilizes many award winning children’s and young adult books that are grounded in Civil Rights and Black his-tory and written by African American, Caribbean and Latino authors. For many students, the IRC is their first experience with a multicultural literacy curriculum that is culturally responsive in both content and pedagogy. Consistent with Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, scholars have opportunities to report back their comprehension through poetry, song, diagramming, and role-playing (Gardner 1993, 2006; Seiler 2008). Following the IRC, every CDF Freedom school transi-tions into an afternoon curriculum that is site specific and tailored to the expertise and strengths of the local staff.

The Durham Freedom School (DFS) was a Hip Hop Inspired Freedom School that was connected to the host university’s Hip Hop Initiative’s pre-collegiate pro-gram (Clemons and Clemons 2013). The 5-week summer program served children in grades 3–9 in the local community for scholars to experience culturally relevant reading, community action, and a supportive and culturally stimulating learning environment. During the summers of 2007 and 2008, 63 and 57 scholars were enrolled, respectively.

The afternoon curriculum unique to the Durham Freedom School was entitled Hip Hop based. Designed to promote the development of leadership skills, critical thinking, and literacy through engagement in Hip Hop, the afternoon curriculum provided scholars opportunities to write, perform, organize performance venues, and critically analyze Hip Hop history, music, and culture.

One of the initial inspirations for the Durham Freedom School’s Hip Hop based educational approach was sparked from the Hip Hop Arts and Leadership (HHAL) work Mary Stone Hanley and her graduate students developed. Hanley et al. (2005) note, “Hip Hop, an art form that involves music, literary skills, and performance skills, presents a means of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning, imagina-tion, qualitative problem-solving, sensory awareness, concentration and focus, lit-eracy, and cultural knowledge—qualities intrinsic to the arts” (p. 4). Grounded in the four elements of Hip Hop, scholars in the DFS learned the art of DJing and the technological and production side of the industry; the art of Mcing and the use of

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literary devices used to effectively manipulate language; the art of graffiti and visual art; and the art of break-dancing and the use of dance and creative movement in drama (Forman and Neal 2004). In the afternoons, scholars also worked with Hip Hop artists, co-creating songs, poetry, and performances. Scholars also participated in a Hip Hop club, where they could focus more closely on areas that matched their individual interests. Afternoon clubs included music production, visual arts/fashion design, Hip Hop theater, Hip Hop history, Hip Hop health and wellness, and Hip Hop dance. In each of these clubs, students used Hip Hop to engage in discussions of critical social issues facing the community.

In addition to implementing the CDF’s integrated reading curriculum and an afternoon Hip Hop based curriculum, the DFS also included field experiences and a finale to showcase student artwork and performances for the community.

What follows are the voices of students and parents involved in the Hip Hop Based Durham Freedom School. It is important, however, that we briefly mention our positionality and involvement in the Durham Freedom School and the data col-lection process, as we believe that identity is a core component of culturally respon-sive education and research. We are all self-proclaimed members of the Hip Hop generation, growing up in Black urban contexts where Hip Hop music and culture were central to our upbringing and ways of life. As African American scholars and educators, we believe that “Black Minds Matter” and our collective mission as scholar-activists is to improve the education and opportunities for students of color, particularly those in urban environments.

Kristal and Kawachi founded the Durham Freedom School, recognizing a criti-cal need in the community. Paula, who previously lived in the Durham community, and was therefore familiar with the community context, served as an external evalu-ator. Kawachi served as director of the Hip Hop Initiative at North Carolina Central University. He worked to situate the Durham Freedom School under the University’s pre-collegiate program, R.A.P. (readiness and academic preparedness) and served as the Durham Freedom School’s sponsoring organization. Kristal’s previous expe-riences as a Servant Leader Intern with the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools in Chicago helped her transition into project director of the Durham Freedom School.

As a part of the external evaluation, Paula conducted focus group interviews with all 55 scholars enrolled in the Durham Freedom School in the Summer of 2008, as well as focus group and individual interviews with all staff members. Kawachi, who also served as the executive director of the Durham Freedom School, conducted the parent focus group interview following one of the parent meetings. The parent group interview included five mothers, one grandmother, and two fathers. All data was transcribed and coded, and using the constant comparison method, organized into themes (Glazer and Strauss 1967). This chapter centers on the scholars and the parents in the DFS because the voices of urban kids and parents are often silenced in public discussions of urban education.

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45.5 “You betta Recognize”: Youth and Parents Speak Out

Freedom is as freedom doeshow it is and what it wasThere was a joke, they used to tease,but now we have it and can’t believe.Why we have it, why it’s truehow you know freedom belongs to you?It’s in your heart, it’s in your soulpeople come the more it grows.Ain’t it nice to just be free?it only takes money, power, respect to have freedom.So thank the people that are older than mebecause they did it for us to be free.-Level III Scholar, age 12, Durham Freedom School

During the final week of the Durham Freedom School, scholars were interviewed to reflect on their learning over the summer as well as their experiences in the camp and the public school during the school year. Parents were interviewed regarding the experiences of their children in the Durham Freedom School and any changes that they have noticed in their children as a result of their participation in the summer program. The major themes that emerged from the data are presented in relation to two songs that were co-created by the scholars, servant leader interns and Hip Hop artists: “Freedom School is the Place to Be (Remix)” and “I am Hip Hop.” These two songs, in lyrical content and expression, exemplify the sentiments and voices heard from both the “old school” (parents) and the “new school” (scholars). These two songs also showcase the critical thinking skills, talents, and social activism of urban youth engaged in Hip Hop based education. Under the theme “Freedom School is the Place to Be (Remix), we discuss Freedom School and Hip Hop as culturally responsive education. The “I am Hip Hop” theme further explores Hip Hop based education as a means for self-expression and critical social activism.

45.6 “Freedom School is the Place to Be (Remix)”: Hip Hop Is Culturally Responsive

Freedom School is the place to beWhere we read a lot of books about our historyFreedom School is the place to beSo everybody come and have fun with meVerse 1Everybody come and have funI am Hip Hop that’s fo shoBut hey, you should already knowBecause especially the way my lyrics flowSmoothPeople think Hip Hop is all about calling girls _____But I say no

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Now I’m in the game and all that’s definitely go’in changeMy lyrics got so much rangeThey can make a difference and even break changeChorus:Freedom School is the Place to Be (x4)Everybody come and have funVerse 2We can make a differenceYou can make a differenceHey, we all can make a differenceAnd I can make a difference so we all can make a differenceBridge:Tell me what you feel like doing y’allI feel like hanging with my tribeHold up, wait a minuteLet me put some freedom in itFreedom in it (x 4)Freedom School is the place to be (x4)Everybody come and have fun.(DFS All-stars Level II & III Scholars 2008, track 1)

One of the major ideas expressed by the scholars at the DFS, was that their experience was very different from their experience in public school during the academic year. Freedom School was the “place to be” because it was fun, engaging, culturally responsive, and empowering. One 12 year old scholar remarked:

[At the DFS] we get to do something fun for once. At my school we can’t never do nothing unless we have permission slips. I think that Durham Freedom School’s better than school cuz we learned a lot of things. We learned about freedom and Hip Hop and all kinds of stuff.

Here, this male scholar comments that not only does he have the opportunity to engage in fun activities while learning, at the DFS he also learns about freedom while experiencing greater freedom. His comments that at his school they can’t “never do nothing unless we have permission slips” exemplifies his frustration at the lack of freedom students possess to do non-traditional activities or engage in field experiences. At the DFS, in addition to their activities across the University campus and in the community, scholars visited the planetarium and a science museum in neighboring communities on two separate occasions.

Freedom School was also “the place to be” because it was a culturally responsive educational environment where scholars “read a lot of books about our history.” Both scholars and parents remarked that a great strength of DFS was the opportu-nity to learn more about Black history, particularly through literacy. One 12 year old scholar said:

I’ve been learning about Hip Hop, pretty much. Learning new stuff and reading books and learning about Black history… I learned about Emmett Till and the murder of him. I learned about Martin Luther King, and I learned about Malcolm X, and W.E.B. DuBois. I’ve learned about clothing, where all the graffiti came from, like, the four elements of Hip Hop.

This scholar explicitly connects his knowledge of Hip Hop to the legacy of Black history and the CDF integrated reading curriculum. Many DFS students also spoke

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about how learning Black history and the elements of Hip Hop made them rethink their feelings about school and schooling. Another scholar stated:

I love writing. Cuz I like writing poems, cuz I’m the master at poems. And reading? Reading, it changed me a lot because the books was so exciting and they weren’t really boring and they caught my eye. Like, literally.

For this 12 year old boy, the CDF integrated reading curriculum that offered many books written by and about African Americans changed his feelings about reading. The books literally “caught his eye” because he could see himself in the curriculum and connect with the stories. His love for writing and writing poems was supported in both the morning CDF reading curriculum and the afternoon Hip Hop curricu-lum. This shift in attitudes towards academic subjects is consistent with the litera-ture in culturally responsive pedagogy and multicultural education. This furthers the notion that teachers and educational researchers can “see students take both respon-sibility for and deep interest in their education” (Ladson-Billings 2014 pp. 76–77). Ladson-Billings (2014) reminds us that this is the secret behind culturally relevant pedagogy: the ability to link principles of learning with deep understanding of (an appreciation for) culture.

Parents also noted that the culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy at the DFS made significant impacts on their children. One mother discussed an increase in motivation and engagement in her son:

I have a teenager who used to come the last couple years. Andwhen I brought him here he was very apprehensive about being in the program. His self-

esteem was a little low, but he had really engaged himself in the program and they engaged him and it, and worked on his reading skills. He reads today, which I was kinda, you know, happy about. He just changed his outlook about school and being able to apply himself. He was motivated during the summer. I mean he wanted to come every day, and it just helped him express himself more. English grades improved….turning that switch on, something that was done here, and I think, also there is interest in a new career path. We’ve been hear-ing for the past 13 years I want to be a policeman, well now we wanna be a graphic designer.

This mother attributes the change in her son’s “outlook about school” and ability to apply himself to the DFS experience. Because Servant Leaders (teachers) made efforts to engage him and also assist him in improving his reading and literacy skills with culturally responsive curriculum, this scholar became motivated, and that moti-vation extended into the school year with improved grades and interest in a new career path.

Another mother echoed these sentiments in relation to her daughter’s motivation and potential career path. She says:

Yeah I’ve got a student who is interested in graphic art as well. She always wanted to color and draw and stuff like that, but recently [we] went on a train trip to Charlotte and she was checking out the graffiti on the train cars and thinking “Oh, I think I could do that!” She ended up doing something like that in camp. She applies the things she learned in camp to a lot of different areas in her life and she is really excited about the Harambee. She kept teaching me Harambee, and she’s trying. I don’t know what it is, but she’s trying. The way you format things actually did seem to open her up more, and I liked that.

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This mother appreciated the DFS because for her daughter, the curriculum and ped-agogy seemed to “open her up more” to applying her knowledge gained to “a lot of different areas in her life.” The culturally responsive educational experience excited her daughter so much that she has been teaching her family central features of the Freedom School experience, such as Harambee, in an effort to replicate it at home. This idea of Freedom School opening up children to more learning and also increased communication and sharing at home was also shared by another mother:

Well I know with my son, he was able to communicate more. Me and him always talk and a lot of times I don’t know what he’s talking about. Sometime you know, with all the words in the Hip Hop slang, I always wished that I could relate some of his teachings in high school to be able to help him learn more. But Freedom School, it helped him to be able to read more, he wanted to read more, he wanted to, and he would come home and [say] “We had discussions in Freedom School.” He was just like, he knew who did this one thing… you know and it really opened up a lot of communication between us.

This mother attributes the Freedom School experience to improved reading skills and an increased desire and motivation to read and share his learning with his mother. The previous examples also exemplify the power of engagement in a Hip Hop based curriculum. Hip Hop connects with the scholars and has also exposed them to potential career paths that they previously never considered. Learning the different elements of Hip Hop has opened students to considering their passions and possibly involving themselves in a multi-billion dollar industry. HHBE in the DFS context has helped scholars learn, retain and understand the culture around them. One father noted,

I think since like Hip Hop culture has become pop culture, that’s what a lot of these children out here relate to and understand. The methods of teaching that you guys use incorporate Hip Hop culture and it makes it more relatable to the kids because, as the lady was saying this morning, a lot of people want to be so formal and structured and rigid, and well a lot of these children are more free flowing because that’s just how Hip Hop is. You know? And, I think they retain better, they retain things better that they understand. You know? And the reason why, Hip Hop is so influential to them is because it’s real, you know. I think that that’s what you guys bring forth.

An important thing to note with the above father’s comments is the recognition of Hip Hop Based education as curriculum content and pedagogy. He refers to the incorporation of Hip Hop culture and content as a means to relate to the children, but perhaps more importantly, he discusses the “methods of teaching” utilized in the DFS as being more aligned culturally with the children because they are “more free flowing” because that is the style of Hip Hop. Unlike the rigidity of the public school system, this parent acknowledges that the instruction matches with the Hip Hop identity espoused by most of the children.

When describing the difference between curriculum at DFS and what is learned during the school year in public school, another 12 year old male scholar responded:

At school, really, they learn about math, and language arts, and science, and all that stuff. But in Freedom School we talk about Black history, and music, and plus it’s more fun here than at school cuz at school they want you do work behind what you talking about. And here we don’t pretty much do work, we just read.

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Here we see a shift in consciousness and understanding about school. This DFS scholar does not look as learning Black history or reading as “work” rather he sees it as a source of edification and appreciates seeing his reflection in the curriculum. The use of Hip Hop combined with the CDFs civil rights educational approach functions as Love (2015) describes as “a tool for reflecting on the past to make con-nections with the present, centered on African traditions” (p. 111). Hip Hop at its core is a space of communal learning, which influences children’s social, emotional, educational, physical, and creative skills from birth (Love 2015).

Another 12 year old male scholar reflected on his social and emotional growth as a result of his participation in the DFS:

I think it’s helping me a lot! Cuz I’m learning more about my culture! And I can go to my school and teach everyone else.

Again, this scholar recognized that engaging in culturally responsive curriculum is helping him grow, and he is excited to teach everyone else his new knowledge of Black history and Hip Hop. Parents overwhelmingly expressed satisfaction regard-ing the curriculum at DFS and the academic achievements of their children. Many parents realized the DFS experience put their child at an educational advantage by introducing them to texts prior to the commencement of their traditional school year. One mother recounted a conversation she had with her child about Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun:

I told my daughter, “Raisin in the Sun” is on primetime television. My daughter responded, “Oh! I read that in Freedom School.” So I said, when did you read “Raisin in the Sun?” Because I didn’t have the book at home, and that was really impressive. The reading list that you guys have, it’s really helping the kids get ahead.

Another mom shared a similar sentiment when she was going over the school read-ing list for her daughter’s grade level at the beginning of the academic year. She stated,

You know when they start 7th grade they have a reading list and she started going over it she said “Oh! I read that!” in Freedom School. I said: “Well, go Freedom School!”

The DFS parents were satisfied with the exposure their children had to a more diverse library of multicultural texts. They also noted this type of curriculum fos-tered a greater sense of community amongst their peers. A mother of a level II scholar discussed the impact DFS’s curriculum and environment had on her shy son.

I think another piece that added was the, just being in the community sense at Freedom School, gave ‘em some, like a really good feeling of belonging and then go out and perhaps open up to other kids. My son is shy, as I’ve said before, but it did give him a means to have a place to come to every, on a daily basis, where everybody was close and interact together and you know, open up more, you know.

Fostering a sense of community and belonging in Freedom Schools is just as impor-tant as the academic curriculum. The ritual of beginning the day with Harambee, a pulling together of the group in community, offers multiple opportunities for schol-ars to affirm one another via songs and recognitions for small and large accomplish-ments. Similarly, the overarching national theme of making a difference in self and

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community reiterates the importance of scholars working together to improve the community.

The notion of community building and safe and supportive environment extended beyond the classroom. A mother of a level II scholar discussed how the DFS cur-riculum and creative products provided support in a time where she and her daugh-ter were grieving the loss of a loved one:

Well, my [name] missed the last week of Freedom School because my grandmother died unexpectedly. And [when] she got back and got the tape, the video, a few weeks later, and then she heard the poem about, you know the boy who lost his family, she said, “sounds like he’s talking to me” you know, she could relate to that.

The poem she is referring to is entitled “It’s Ok” written by two level III male scholars. They wrote this poem after they completed their morning lesson based on the CDF integrated reading curriculum book Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. They later turned this poem into a rap song during their afternoon music production course. The lyrics are shared below.

Verse 1—I feel sorry for those who lost another momma, daddy, cousin, aunt or brother uncle nephew, niece or sister

I feel your pain and I know you miss ‘emLet me tell you something that happened to meMy gramps got cancer, died and left meI know what you going through and I know it hurts but appreciate what you got and for what

it’s worthCause you never know what you got until it’s goneThen you really gonna feel like God did you wrongBut that’s one of the reasons why I wrote this song to tell y’all that life must go on

Chorus: It’s okay y’all (it’s okay) let your tears fall (let ‘em fall)Things will get brighterYou will seeYour life will get easy, much more easy (easy)When it seems like your sadness never will ceaseAfter your struggle there will be peace

Verse 2—Yo, I remember when my aunt died, didn’t know what do when my mom criedStill keep a shovel in my hand like a drillThinking it’s a dream, didn’t know it was for realHomie in jailStill missing with the billsThen we went bankrupt couldn’t pay the billsStepmom left had me feeling real sadHitting up the way got me feeling real madGrandad died didn’t think he would have passedSo I had the blues like I’m playing in a brassBut I stayed strong made it through the hard timesAnd if I said I didn’t cry, I’m probably lying

Chorus: It’s okay y’all (it’s okay) let your tears fall (let ‘em fall)Things will get brighterYou will seeYour life will get easy, much more easy (easy)When it seems like your sadness never will cease

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After your struggle there will be peace(Lemmons et al. 2008 track 6)

Perry et al. (2004) suggest that African American students are academically more receptive and successful when cooperation, harmony, socialization, and com-munity guide their learning environments. Love (2015) furthers this notion by stat-ing, “these learning components are indicative of a Hip Hop community of practice that is racially and ethnically diverse, intergenerational, and rich with learning opportunities for young children to observe, listen, and participate in activities that foster learning and creativity” (p. 125). The level III scholars observed the message about the grief, violence and brutality of losing a loved one in the case of Emmett Till, listened to the stories of their peers, and participated in a creative writing activ-ity that eventually proved to be cathartic for a fellow scholar enduring a similar feeling of grief. Similar to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” the song written by Lemmons et al. (2008) showcases intergenerational grief and sorrow while also offering hope and affirmation. Countering the hegemonic masculinity commonly found in popular rap songs, these two male scholars profess “it’s okay y’all (it’s okay) let your tears fall (let ‘em fall)” because “when it seems like your sadness never will cease, after your struggle there will be peace.”

45.7 “I am Hip Hop”: Hip Hop as Identity Expression and Social Activism

The DFS curriculum also engaged scholars in a social action project for the duration of the summer program. Students participated in a silent march, with picket signs about the Children’s Defense Fund national agenda related children’s health care. The DFS staff engaged with the scholars about the issues surrounding children and health insurance. Scholars completed written reflections on how they felt about health care and how it felt to go the doctor. As a group, students read about the Deamonte Driver story, a 12-year-old Maryland boy whose dental problems went untreated until he succumbed to a severe brain infection and died. The Children’s Defense Fund sent this information to each Freedom Schools site in an effort to mobilize the community to support the nation’s uninsured children. Many scholars shared that they did not realize that health insurance was an issue that concerned them and many children in the world. DFS scholars combined their understanding of the elements of Hip Hop with the mandatory CDF social action project. The blend of social action and HHBE forced scholars to think about the world around them in new and critical ways. One mother of a level II male scholar shared,

Yeah I heard that one. That one really got through, in terms of health education. It was the most powerful health education message that we’ve ever heard, but this was the one that made sense to him. He talked about that one extensively.

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A 12-year-old male scholar reflected on his learning at the DFS and shared:

Um, well I learned about Hip Hop and the history about Hip Hop and how it got started. And I learned how to do a whole bunch of art. And uh I learned how to rap. Ok, I learned art, health, and health ….I learned about how 9.4 of million children do not have health insurance…and I learned how to make beats. Um, what else did I learn? Yeah, history, theater and Hip Hop.

In addition to providing information about the number of uninsured children in America, the DFS also provided free health screenings. Each scholar that wanted to participate had access to a licensed medical professional authorized to provide physicals for children as a part of our food and nutrition program. While conducting the health screenings, the staff was alerted about a 9-year-old scholar with high blood pressure. The doctor was able to talk to the scholar’s parent about blood pres-sure and provide tips on how to address the issue. The doctor also spoke to each scholar about their vision, dietary habits, and physical activity, connecting health care and social justice.

The DFS intentionally integrated the CDF’s “I can and must make a difference in myself, my family, my community, my country, and my world” mantra alongside the social action project and the history of Hip Hop. One 12 year old male scholar described the types of differences he could make in his community:

Well I can help my community by like, doing community service even though [I] didn’t get in trouble for anything. Umm, trying to help kids, like young kids, kids that’s younger than me, tell ‘em not to be in gangs, and influence them not to pick up a gun and shoot people.

Here we see a shift in this scholar’s idea of community service away from a punitive action that one does because they “got in trouble” to a model that is about mentoring younger children to make positive choices. This scholar recognizes that in his com-munity, young kids need older children to be a positive influence, and he sees him-self serving in that role. This idea of making a difference in the community was common in many of the individual and collective Hip Hop songs written by the scholars at the DFS.

Clemons and Clemons (2013) reflect on the song “I am Hip Hop” in their piece entitled What the music said: Hip Hop as a transformative educational tool. The song was a collaboration between two Level III scholars—one male, one female—and their servant leader intern. They wrote this song in response to the question, “What is Hip Hop?” The group performed their song, “I Am Hip Hop” (Garcia et al. 2008, track 8) live at the end of the summer finale.

Verse 1—Servant Leader InternFreedom School whatEverybody whatCan I kick it?Yes you canWell a’ight Hip Hop lets take a standI can and must make a difference in mySelfFamily andCommunity

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Country andWorldThat’s right y’all together we stand anddivided we fallI am hip hop, I am on “theyes, yes, y’all and don’t stop”Don’t stop we do it,Hip Hop is ours so we got to make improvementsIt’s a whole lot going on now,It’s a whole lot of biting styles,And that ai’nt cool, cuz we don’t style bite inthe Freedom SchoolNaw, we too originalMake a difference we can make a change this instantIt’s all on us now, we gotta hold this downWe go’in “touch it, read it, learn it, teach it”,then tell your friends all about itSo they can come next year with you so wecan grow as a crew and stay trueStay youCuz I’m a stay meH-I-P H-O-P_____ spit rhymes so dopely

Chorus:I am Hip Hop I can make a difference (repeat 4xs)

Verse 2—Level III Scholar, MaleI am Hip Hop you should knowWearing fresh out shoes and baggy clothesMaking a change with a positive rapputting hip hop all over the mapCuz all these rappers talk about girlsbut this rapper is changing the worldHip Hop we ain’t doing it right all we talkabout is getting drunk all nightEverybody come to Freedom School with me____ on the check sound saying rhymes dopely

Verse 3—Level III Scholar, FemaleFreedom School is the place to beCome on y’all come party with meHip Hop, I will always beMaking a change in my communityIt’s recognition timeYou will seeSpreading my wings come fly with meI’m Hip Hop and so are youI made a difference, you made one tooYou made one tooYou made one too

Chorus:I am Hip Hop I can make a difference (repeat 4xs)(Clemons & Clemons pp. 66–68).

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This is another example of how students engaged in the process of writing lyrics, producing beats, and organizing live performances can create meaningful work. The scholars used Hip Hop as their lens to remix the CDF’s “I Can and Must Make a Difference” theme. Their translation of this concept into rap songs and poetry expanded the overall mission of the CDF. This extension of HHBE articulated a pedagogy of passion where the scholars and servant leader interns could dive into their artistic repertoire and tell their own stories. Central to this legitimizing experi-ence is the claiming of a Hip Hop identity for both the scholars and Servant Leader Interns (teachers). The lyrical content of the co-created song demonstrates the multi-generational power of Hip Hop as a culture. The Servant Leader Intern’s “Hip Hop is ours so we got to make improvements,” to the “I am Hip Hop you should know” and “Hip Hop I will always be” of the scholars, reflects an identity connec-tion with Hip Hop.

In addition to claiming a Hip Hop identity, many scholars also discussed Hip Hop as way to express identity. One 12 year old female scholar said:

Hip Hop is great to express yourself in different ways. Like you can rap… either you can rap it, you can dance it out, or you can just sing it in the way about your life and what the differences are between your life and what’s Hip Hop… I think they should have it in regu-lar school too because if we learn about it here and we learn about it in there, then we’ll know more and like… cuz it does have something to do with the things that we learn in regular school, like history.

A 12-year-old male scholar sitting next to her cosigned on her reflection:

Basically what she said is, how you express yourself. And singing and dancing. You know, or some kind of art. And like, how you, well, it’s really hard to express yourself. Well it’s a way to express yourself without violence. Well basically Hip Hop is history. And we bring Hip Hop back to life.

An 11-year-old scholar agreed that Hip Hop should be offered in school:

It would help some people if they do have more Hip Hop in um, school, and might help them want to learn, want to learn about it. And, they might want to start even, well learning about, learning how to participate in school.

Another scholar reflected on Hip Hop in his public school:

But the closest we ever get to Hip Hop is literature, and poems and stuff. That’s the closest we ever get. I think we should talk about Hip Hop in school because, maybe arts might not, arts might get canceled again, and we won’t have nothing else to do. And we should, like, represent Hip Hop in a good way, not in a bad way, talk mess about it

Here, these scholars build a case for why Hip Hop should also be incorporated into the curriculum of public schools. They connect various elements of Hip Hop to self expression (and multiple means of expression and engagement) with the content areas of history and English. They also recognize that the benefits of Hip Hop in terms of self expression and connection with the arts are also easily disposable and cut.

Just as the scholars identified themselves as Hip Hop, the parents self identified as products of the Hip Hop generation. Hip Hop history, and its connection to the country’s social, political, and economic landscape, served as a bridge between scholars and parents. Parents were able to talk about the music of their youth with

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their children, as the scholars learned about “old school” Hip Hop in their courses. One 12 year old female scholar remarked:

I learned how to express myself in Hip Hop and stuff. We learned about different things, different people I haven’t even heard about or heard their music before. Like DJ Kool Herc.

Perhaps more significant, however, than the bridge between the old school and new school, is the impact of HHBE on the sense of self and identity in the scholars. A mother reflects:

My son is kind of shy and to himself. By the end of the program I think he was more outgo-ing, and he seemed more confident. And he seems to have more…he just felt better about himself. Not that he had low self esteem, but he was kind of the quiet one and he kept back, he held back. And he interacted more, you know, he made various friends. And it made him feel like he was significant in society, you know. And the people he was schooled with, he was just, he was a minority in his elementary school. And here he felt like “wow,” look at the all of African American males. You know I am powerful and I am somebody. I think that brought him out a lot, increased his confidence.

For this mother, the DFS, a culturally responsive schooling environment, provided her son the space to feel “significant in society” and feel that he is “powerful” and “somebody.” This testimony reflects the common critique that many Black families have of public schools. Too often the messages that Black males in particular receive in school are that they are not significant, and they do not matter. Being in the pres-ence of African American male scholars and teachers at the DFS increased his con-fidence and affirmed his existence as a scholar who could contribute to making his community a better place.

A father agreed, stating:

Kind of piggybacking off of what she said…I think this program is so great because it teaches these children about their selves. You know it teaches about African /African American culture, you know. Um and it builds value in that person, self pride, self worth. So when these kids go out here in the world, and they’re presented with other culture’s values, they question those values. You know, a lot of times our kids go out here with low self esteem and low knowledge of self and they just want to be a part of something. You guys teaching them more about themselves, it raises their esteem level to the point to where they know how to say “no”, you know to a lot of things that a lot of their parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents, were unable to say “no” to. You understand what I’m saying?

With these two parent testimonies, we also see a connection to what some Hip Hop artists and scholars call the fifth element of Hip Hop, a strong “knowledge of self” as a result of being exposed to the DFS curriculum. The parent and scholar voices in this section build upon what Hill and Petchauer (2013) conceptualized as the need for deeper aesthetic, epistemological, and theoretical engagement with Hip Hop as a holistic cultural movement that moves beyond “teachers and educational entrepreneurs who use live and recorded rhymes to promote the rote memorizations of facts or adherence to dress code policies” (p. 3). The parents’ reflections repre-sent the acknowledgement that the Hip Hop based education is more than just teach-ing mathematics lessons with catchy rhymes. The power of Hip Hop based education is in the cultural, social, and political connections scholars make with their teachers, each other, the community, and their own identity.

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45.8 Conclusion

The fusion of HHBE with the culturally responsive CDF integrated reading cur-riculum created a sense of belonging to the educational process for all summer participants. A major theme that emerged from the scholar-parent focus group was the presence of a true communal atmosphere within the DFS. In many of the scholars’ narratives, they indicated a lack of inclusion in the curriculum in tradi-tional school. They expressed how their personal viewpoints were not always val-ued which in turn produced a diminished desire and drive to excel. Through culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy, scholars and parents were able to find voice, and work in an educational space that affirmed their identity. This reflective and powerful element of voice (narrative) builds on what linguists and communication scholars describe as nommo. This African idea of nommo (the power of the word) generates the energy needed to deal with life’s twists and turns; sustains our spirits in the face of insurmountable odds and transforms psychologi-cal suffering into external denouncements (Keys 2008). This sentiment echoes what Hip Hop pioneer Afrikka Bambaataa suggests is the true essence and power of Hip Hop, “its capacity to empower young people to want to change their lives” (Watkins 2005, p. 22).

The songs the DFS scholars created articulate what Burnim and Maultsby (2006) call a sense of musical agency. Musical agency, as Burnim and Maultsby posit, seeks “to broaden our understanding of modes of resistance African Americans have utilized from the antebellum period to the present” (p. 5). The importance of allowing the young scholars to write, present, and reflect on their own terms brings on a characteristic where “regardless of where or when it is performed (the) music speaks to and for each generation—especially the generation that creates it (Taylor 1986, p. 22). The Durham Freedom School reminds us of the power of artistic rep-resentation, especially from the youth, because it is their voice.

Ladson-Billings (2014), in her reflection of her “[r]revolving pedagogical stance,” reminds us that many teachers express strong beliefs in the academic effi-cacy of their students, yet they rarely push students to consider critical perspec-tives on policies and practices that may have a direct impact on their lives and communities (p. 78). Reflecting on her experiences observing teachers in the field she writes, “There was no discussion on issues such as school choice, school clos-ing, rising incarceration rates, gun laws, or even everyday school climate questions like whether students should wear uniforms (which typically sparks spirited debate)” (p. 78). Hip Hop, according to Ladson-Billings, can offer “important opportunities for changing the way we think, learn, perceive, and perform in the world” (p. 78).

The DFS’s commitment to building upon the CDF’s mission of “I can and must make a difference in my self, family, community, country, and world via the medium of Hip Hop addresses Ladson-Billings’ critique and pushes policies and practices that may ultimately impact the scholars’ lives. When the DFS actualized its commit-ment to HHBE by connecting the CDF’s civil rights based educational approach

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with the elements of Hip Hop culture, it furthered what Jocelyn Wilson (2007) described as “Hip Hop community of practice” She writes,

Focusing inquiry and situating it based on what hip-hop participants “do”—that is, how they practice hip-hop in their day-to-day lives, and how what they do creates meaning and identity. How youth and youth influencers utilize the hip hop community of practice to define, curate, and use artifacts, language styles, kinship norms, schooling methods, episte-mologies of authenticity, and aesthetic practices to remix generational narratives about ide-ology, identity, race, class, and gender (p. 68).

The DFS, with its commitment to fully integrate Hip Hop culture into the curricu-lum and pedagogy, provided a community space of practice where scholars, teach-ers, and parents could engage and affirm identity while actively uplifting the community.

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