Knowledge Can Be Humanizing: A Long Overdue Conversation with Sundiata Salaam

Sundiata Salaam is a people-centered educator with over a decade of experience who is dedicated to nurturing lifelong leaders who seek to transform the classroom and the world. Sundiata began his career teaching Eighth-grade English in Capitol Heights, MD. His interest in building supportive and holistic learning communities led him to Memphis, TN, serving as Freedom Prep’s founding Dean of Students in 2009. With an understanding that the curriculum is the entire environment of learning — from the teachers’ attitudes to the school’s values to the socio-emotional supports — Sundiata was a dean focused on high expectations for the entire school community. In 2014, he was promoted to Chief Schools Officer, and then moved into a Chief People Officer role two years later. Sundiata received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Master of Arts degree in Pan-African Studies from Syracuse University. In 2023 Salaam founded Ubuntu Leadership Institute, with a goal to create the atmosphere where future leaders are always asking themselves: “What impact am I having on the whole?” Our hope is that our future leaders have/develop a compassionate heart and a critical mind as the foundation for school leadership. For more information please visit the website at https://www.ubuntulead.org.