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About Us

Overview

The Souls of Black Folk and the Foundations of African American Studies is a two-week residential institute from June 22-July 3, 2025 for 25 high school teachers. It is designed to support teachers of grades 9-12 with an expressed interest in preparing to offer the new Advanced Placement African American Studies course or expanding their content knowledge and pedagogy in African American Studies more generally. This institute builds upon our team’s experience offering a series of successful day-long teacher’s workshops on African American Studies for local K-12 teachers in Western Massachusetts.

Participants in the Souls of Black Folk Institute will first explore the interdisciplinary contours and antiracist pedagogies of African American Studies through W. E. B. Du Bois’ book The Souls of Black Folk. A pioneer in what is today known as African American Studies, Du Bois innovated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Black life through his seminal 1903 text.

Alongside a close reading of Souls that situates it in the broader arc of Du Bois’ life, this institute will also provide participants with an introduction to the fundamentals of antiracist education to equip them to best teach African American Studies to young adults of diverse backgrounds.

The souls of black folk book cover

Exploring W. E. B. Du Bois

Midway through the institute, an excursion to and guided tour of the W. E. B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite in Great Barrington, MA will help to further immerse participants in the history of the discipline. Building on this engagement with Du Bois, this institute will offer a broad and thorough review of the recommended primary and secondary sources for the new AP course, while also assisting participants through presentations, workshops, and mentoring opportunities to work together in developing their own course plans. Overall, The Souls of Black Folk and the Foundations of African American Studies seeks to address the subject and curricular needs of those who want to incorporate more African American Studies content in their teaching or who plan to teach this new Advanced Placement course, but lack formal training in the discipline, by pursuing the sort of collective knowledge production and rigorous interdisciplinarity that is at the heart of African American Studies. The institute will be led by Toussaint Losier, project director and associate professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies; co-project directors Yolanda Covington-Ward, chair and professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies, and A Yemisi Jimoh, professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies; and Keisha Green, K-12 Educator for the grant and associate professor of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies in the College of Education.