THE POLITICS OF TEACHING HISTORY: AFROCENTRICITY AS A MODALITY FOR THE NEW JERSEY AMISTAD LAW – THE PEDAGOGIES OF LOCATION, AGENCY AND VOICE IN PRAXIS ______________________________________________________ A Dissertation submitted to The Temple University Graduate Board _____________________________________________________ in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY _____________________________________________________ by STEPHANIE NICHOLE JAMES HARRIS May 2017 Examining Committee Members: Nilgun Anadolu-Okur, PhD., Advisory Chair, Department of Africology and African American Studies Molefi K. Asante, PhD., Department of Africology and African American Studies Amari Johnson, PhD., Department of Africology of African American Studies Leslie Wilson, PhD. External Member, Department of History, Montclair State University 4 ABSTRACT This study examines how legislated policy, the New Jersey Amistad Bill, and the subsequently created Amistad Commission, shifted the mandated educational landscape in regard to the teaching of social studies in the state of New Jersey—by legislative edict and enforcement, within every class in the state. Through a century of debates, reforms, and legislations, there has been a demand to include the contributions, achievements, and perspectives of people of the African Diaspora that deconstruct the European narrative of history. It is my belief that the formation of an educational public policy that is reflective of the Afrocentric paradigm in its interpretation and operation, such as the Amistad law, with subsequent policy manifestations that result in curriculum development and legalized institutionalization in classrooms across the country is central to creating the curriculum that will neutralize mis-education and will help American students to obtain an understanding of African American agency and the development of our collective history. The Amistad Commission, created by legal mandate in the state of New Jersey in 2002, is groundbreaking because it is a legal decree in educational policymaking that codifies the full infusion and inclusion of African American historical content into New Jersey’s K-12 Social Studies curriculum and statewide Social Studies standards. This infusion, directed by the executive leadership team, is a statewide overhaul and redirection for Social Studies and the Humanities in all grades in every district throughout the state. The Commission’s choice of the Afrocentric theoretical construct— a cultural-intellectual framework that centers the African historical, social, economic, spiritual and political experience as pertains to any intellectual experience involving Africans and people of African descent—as its organizing ethos and central ideology was central in framing the resulting curriculum products and programmatic directives. This study’s conclusive premise in utilization of the Afrocentricity construct is evidenced in the Amistad curriculum’s Afrocentric tenets: de- iv marginalization of African historical contribution and agency; the importance of voice and first person narrative when transcribing history, and how shifting of —as in, correcting—the entire Eurocentric structure is important. Rather than an additive prescription of historical tokenisms, or a contributive prescription that does not allow for a centralized locality from within the culture, Afrocentricity allows for a cultural ideology when applicable to the Amistad law. Thus the use of Afrocentricity in the implementation of the Amistad law transforms the entire narrative of American history in the state of New Jersey, one of the original thirteen colonies. The study seeks to remedy the void of research as to how the incorporation of the particular theoretical framework of Afrocentricity impacted the decision guiding the policy directives, programmatic and the curriculum outcomes within the implementation of the New Jersey Amistad Commission mandate. The case study asserts that the Afrocentric theory was put into praxis when operationalizing the New Jersey Amistad law and the work of the Amistad Commission. It chronicles the history of similar mandates focused on the incorporation of African American history in American classrooms that led to the Amistad law. It also enumerates the Amistad law’s subsequent operationalization and curriculum development efforts elucidating practical application of the Afrocentric theory. It has direct implications for teacher education, practicing teachers, and policymakers interested in understanding how Afrocentricity and its tenets are paramount in curriculum development efforts, especially as it pertains to New Jersey, New York, and Illinois. These three states have passed legislations that have attempted to proactively remedy their educational policies. The disparities in knowledge and education about African diaspora people in our Social Studies classrooms are targeted by these states. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS "O ye Daughters of Africa! What have ye done to immortalize your names beyond the grave? What examples have ye set before the rising generation? O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! awake! arise! no longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves, Show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties" by Maria Stewart, Productions of Mrs. Maria W Stewart (1835) The insatiable personal yearning to study and understand African American history comes from my mother, a Philadelphia public school educator who poured responses and ideas into me when I sought answers about our various powerful cultural legacies. She planted seeds with countless visits to the African American Museum in Philadelphia as well as with biographies and works of African- American nonfiction and fiction that lined my bookshelves. Questions about my future career aspirations began to crystalize during my undergraduate matriculation at University of Maryland College Park and was solidified at Temple University. The above Maria Stewart reading spoke to my soul. Her words became and remain my inspiration and wake-up call. Their power was solidified as I choose a career in K-12 educational policy that focused on the inclusion and promotion of African American history in our nation’s classroom. In my career I have had shining exemplar of distinguished African American female intelligentsia; many female academicians and scholars that have stirred and inspired me to pursue a career within African American Studies. I would like to thank them for their influence and encouragement; Dr. Shirley Wilson Logan, Nellie Pharr, Dr. Sharon Harley, Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Dr. Saundra Collins, Dr. Lillie Johnson Edwards, Dr. Sandra Lewis, Dr. Rochelle Hendricks, Deborah Johnson, Nona Martin, Elaine Wideman Vaughn, Dr. Joyce Wilson Harley, Dr. LaToya K. Bailey, Jeanette Bland, Carolynne Carter, Joyce Watson, Professor Ruby Peters, Iman Al-Aqqudus, Glender Terrell, Shara Floyd, Tashanna Williams, Maryam Al-Aqqudus, and most especially Dr. Nilgun Anadolu Okur (who has honored me by working with me intimately as my Major Advisor), continued to push me towards being my best vi self and honoring my Ancestors by encouraging me to become a voice for the living, the dead, and those yet to be born in my daily life and work. I have been blessed to add to that list strong men of academic rigor and drive such as Dr. Molefi Asante, Dr. Terry Kershaw, Dr. Abu Abarry, Dr. Leslie Wilson, Dr. Colin Palmer, James Harris, New Jersey State Assemblyman William D. Payne, Calvin Bland, George Peters, Frederick Carter, William Watson, Dr. Anthony Wright, Anthony Bland, and Trevor K. Melton. I will forever be indebted for the gift of my parent’s belief in me. I am the daughter, and niece of a family of Educators yet I never envisioned it as a remote career aspiration for me. I didn’t see it as one of my gifting’s; until I entered the classroom and stood in front of students for the first time. My spirit lifted, and it still does at every opportunity to teach African American history. My parents, Dr. Frank Stanley James and Mrs. Sandra Carter James have, without ceasing, lovingly invested tremendously in me since the day I took my first breath. They have been unwavering in their support and encouragement in my pursuit of my Ph.D. Without them, none of this would be possible. I give honor to all cherished my aunts and uncles, treasured extended family, and esteemed friends for it was they who encouraged and nurtured my academic curiosity as a child and cheered me along through my adulthood as I arrived at this academic juncture. I am saddened that I cannot share this time with my paternal or maternal grandparents and great-grandparents, as well as those that stood in the gap for them in my life in their absence; their rejoicing takes place out of my line of sight, in the Realm of the Ancestors. So I speak their names to demand their presence: Reverend Clarence E. Richardson, Beulah Richardson and Gustena V. Richardson, Gerald and Texas Louisiana Edwards, Samuel and Eva B. James, Israel and Mary Ida Carter, Josephine and Hazel Peters. To my beloved sister Sonia Norrelle James Pennington along with my brother-in-love, Damon Pennington: there are no words. It was you Sonia, who showed me my wingspan, and told me and showed me I could fly. To my “sister” Nicole Y. Evans, who knows my vii soul, you have covered me when I was weary and celebrated with me and for me since we were girls. I thank you for that immensely. To my children, Joel Christopher Carter Wilson and Jordan Xavier Carter