LaShanda Lawrence, Stephanie Flores-Koulish, Ph.D.

The Need for a Black Awareness Club in a Predominantly White Independent School

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This project aims to create a middle school curriculum for a Black Awareness Club (BAC) for the Black students and their allies at St. Paul’s School for Boys. The curriculum is a roadmap to help raise awareness about the contributions of Black Americans, promote their agency within the school, and help students recognize the absence or prominence of Black voices in their classes so that they may advocate for themselves and others. Like other alliance or awareness groups, the BAC will be “a safe space…a resource…and…part of a broader school effort to educate and raise awareness” in its community (Mayo, 2015, p. 82). Moreover, creating a curriculum for the BAC will ensure that there is a consistent meeting time and a demonstrated commitment to building a strong school culture of acceptance.

The following are research questions that will help formulate the basis for this curriculum writing project, and each will be elaborated upon in separate sections below:

• Why do middle school students need a Black Awareness Club (BAC)?
• How does a BAC benefit students who identify as Black or African American?
• How can the BAC be an engaging club students want to attend?
• Why are allies a necessary component of the BAC?