Beyond Beats, Rhymes, & Beyoncé

Abstract

For more than 25 years I have been studying the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students. My rationale for this inquiry came from my early days in graduate school where it seemed everything I read discussed the near impossibility of teaching poor, Black children. I read studies that suggested that poor, Black families were dysfunctional and incapable of raising healthy, happy children able to achieve in school classrooms. I read other studies that suggested that poor, Black communities were so chaotic that it was impossible for them to produce productive citizens who would contribute positively to the economic and political body politic of the society. Some of the more " enlightened " studies I read argued that no matter what we did, schools were unable to overcome the huge " cultural deficits " that existed in poor, Black communities. Indeed, the notions of " cultural deficit " and " cultural deprivation " took hold in the scholarly community and became the explanation for Black school failure. The " remedy " became cultural " compensation " and by the mid-1960s we witnessed the birth of a range of compensatory education programs such as Head Start and Follow Through. The rationale that undergirds these programs was if school personnel could " get a hold " of poor, Black children earlier (i.e., get them away from their mothers, families, and communities), they might have a chance to undo all of the negative influences of the students' home and community lives. We began seeing a rash of studies that argued Black mothers did not talk to their babies enough and when they did, they did not say the " right " things. Other studies pointed to a lack of toys in the home of poor Black babies and toddlers, and that lack apparently signaled limited opportunities for intellectual stimulation. A counter study by Hale-Benson (1986) argued that when Black researchers went into the homes of Black families they observed plenty of toys, but those toys were typically in a playpen or toy box while the babies were being constantly held by the adults and other older children in the household. Their conclusion was that this interaction helped Black children to be more people-oriented rather than object-oriented. Finally, by the 1980s some scholars began talking about a notion of " cultural difference " (rather than cultural deficits) to suggest that there were some fundamental differences between students' home cultures and that of the schools. However, identifying cultural differences rarely produced curricular or instructional strategies G. LADSON-BILLINGS 84 that could improve achievement. Instead, a new set of stereotypes often emerged suggesting the students were so " different " that it was difficult for " mainstream " teachers to reach them. All of these characterizations of poor, Black children irritated me in a very particular way, primarily because I grew up in an urban community as a " poor, Black child. " Yet, I was succeeding in graduate school in one of the nation's most prestigious institutions of higher education, AND I could attribute much of my success to the nurture of my community, a number of elementary teachers, and a spectacular education in a Historically Black College/University. It was difficult for me to accept that I was so unusual, so special, so unique that this could only happen to me. I was convinced that there were teachers who understood how to reach and teach poor, Black students without destroying their basic humanity—their sense of Blackness. ORIGINS OF CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY