Knowledge is {Black} Power

"From the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way I could." -Mary Mcleod BethuneThis episode establishes the very purpose of the Revolutionary Baddies Podcast. Education and critical thinking are increasing under attack in the United States. This looks like the divestment of public education and the dismantling of the Department of Education. This looks like the anti-literacy laws enforced against Black people in the 1700-1800’s, and the lack of media justice surrounding truthful journalism and false facts. However, throughout history Black people have prioritized, fought, and died for the right of education. The oldest Black institution for higher learning, Cheyney University, founded in 1837 by Black slavery abolitionists understood the power of education. Mary Mcleod Bethune, who started a school for Black girls in 1904 with only five students and grew to a large university and hospital in Daytona, Florida. She worked relentlessly against racism and impossible odds to provide quality education to Black children that would not receive otherwise. Brittany and Dee Dee recount their familiar connections to education and what it's meant to grow in families that prioritize education in traditional and non-traditional ways. Knowledge is power, and power means freedom and autonomy. Knowledge is the basis of everything we are fighting for, and the future requires us to know more about the community and world we’re fighting for. We cannot win without knowledge.Question for our listeners:What would our educational system look like if we learned the whole history?What do we imagine education being revolutionized?Links for the show: Season 2. Episode 5Why They Burned and Destroyed Black Schools During Jim CrowLiteracy By Any Means Necessary: The History of Anti-Literacy Laws in the USJohn Berry Meachum and the Floating Freedom SchoolMisEducation of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson How Ericka Huggins and the Black Panther Party Attempted to Liberate Black Women in AmericaBlack Men Are Vanishing From HBCU's. Here's WhyTeaching to Transgress: Education As The Practice of Freedom by bell hooksThe "Banking" Concept of EducationDr. Mary Mcleod BethuneThe Brotherhood of Sleeping Car PortersSend us Fan MailSupport the showInstagram & Threads: @revolutionarybaddiesYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@RevolutionaryBaddiesPatreon: patreon.com/RevolutionaryBaddies