"Building a Living Archive" on Black Philly History | Midday Break Room w/ Tiffany Bacon - 3.31.26

Njemele Anderson, also known as “Sistah Njemele” in African-centered education spaces, is a teacher at SLA Beeber. She has been an educator for over 25 years, with a formal teaching experience spanning 20 years in public and charter school settings. Antoine Stroman is a teacher at Bodine High School. Additionally, he has been working as a developer of curriculum, including projects with PhilWP, Temple University, and WHYY. Dr. Bonnee Breese Bentum is an itinerant gifted teacher at The School District of Philadelphia. She is an award-winning educator, speaker, and advocate with 24+ years in the School District of Philadelphia. Jenee Lee is a teacher at the KIPP School at Whittier. Her current work with the Philadelphia Writing Project centers on building a living archive of Black educators and unsung heroes in North Philadelphia. They’re from “Building a Living Archive”, a Spencer Foundation-funded research-practice partnership among the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP), The Colored Girls Museum (TCGM), and the School District of Philadelphia. The students of all these teachers have completed some powerful work in regard to the upcoming semiquincentennial. Their students have completed works in reclaiming and rewriting Black Philadelphian histories through oral history, poetry, digital storytelling, GIS mapping, and public exhibition. They all join the show to talk about the context behind the work their students have been doing.