On the second day of summer camp, about two dozen students fill the pews in the sanctuary of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, the oldest African-American church in the West Grove, awaiting the start of their next activity.
Two projector screens read, “Introduction to Black History, Part II” as instructor Loretta Scippio-Whittle stands at the front of the room.
She begins her lesson about the Fessenden Academy in Ocala and Rosenwald School project – historic educational institutions established in the 19th and early 20th centuries to educate African American children – and the students copy notes from a small dry-erase board.
At the end of her lesson, Scippio-Whittle leaves them with a final – and perhaps lasting – message. “It is not where you are located, but what is located in you,” she says, urging the students to write it down.
Scippio-Whittle, Macedonia’s summer school camp director, is just one of the many instructors leading this year’s Freedom School.
The initiative combines the church’s summer reading program with a Black history curriculum to educate K-12 students about accomplishments of African Americans in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM).
The program was developed in collaboration with the Center for Ethics and Public Service (CEPS) at the University of Miami School of Law, and in partnership with the Coconut Grove Ecumenical Network and the Coconut Grove Ministerial Alliance.
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This year’s curriculum – drafted by CEPS program coordinator Anaïse Boucher-Browning – covers topics like slavery, the civil rights movement, Black women’s history and Pan-Africanism. Lessons are accompanied by YouTube videos, books, games and arts and crafts to keep students engaged with the material.
Kesha Merritt, senior program director at CEPS, describes how the center revised and improved the curriculum from its debut as a pilot project last summer, with input from church members like Scippio-Whittle and Carolyn Donaldson.
“We’re being very intentional this year with taking it up an entire notch,” Merritt said. “Every part of it is so well thought-out – and we’re still always thinking about what we can do to better stimulate the children and make it an experience.”
Merritt described the instructors’ efforts to prioritize self-confidence and mental well-being. Each lesson begins with positive affirmations – phrases like “I am capable” and “I believe in myself” – and ends with students drawing how they feel, allowing instructors to notice patterns in mood and attitude.
She also noted other changes new this year in the program’s structure – lessons consist of an ice breaker, a new vocabulary word and an “exit ticket” that tests the students’ understanding of the material.
Like Scippio-Whittle, many of the program’s instructors are veterans of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system. Donaldson, the church’s finance officer, said the program is flexible enough to accommodate each instructor’s individual teaching style.
“They have the curriculum book, but they also have freedom in how they express themselves,” she said.
Donaldson leads the program’s economics unit, focusing this year on Black Wall Street. Last year, students learned about topics like banking and entrepreneurship with real-world examples ranging from historical figures like Madam C.J. Walker to modern entrepreneurs like Rihanna.
“They can understand that there are people who look like them who have achieved those levels of success,” she said.
The students put their newly-acquired skills to practice with “Freedom Bucks,” a form of currency that rewards students for participating and answering questions correctly. Donaldson uses Freedom Bucks – which students can save or spend on snacks – to impart lessons about saving and leveraging money.
One student in particular stood out, Donaldson said, for saving more Freedom Bucks than any of her peers – ultimately earning a cash reimbursement, which Donaldson described as “the ultimate reward” for applying classroom learning to real-life scenarios.
In less than two years, Donaldson and other leaders of the Freedom School program have also noticed progress in students’ academic performance.
As an example, Donaldson pointed to Jelaine Richards, a student who placed first in the Miami Dade College Theodore Gibson Oratorical Competition. When she first enrolled in Freedom School, Jelaine struggled with reading comprehension and public speaking.
During a recent classroom session, however, her progress was evident in her eagerness to recite her award-winning speech to a Spotlight reporter and her newfound confidence in the classroom.
“We try to pull out those areas where the kids could excel if they are encouraged, promoted and in the right environment,” Donaldson said.
That kind of success has encouraged Macedonia and its backers to commit to a construction project that will add four new classrooms to the church property on Douglas Road.
The new classrooms will allow the program to grow, something supporters say is more important than ever, given the political pushback that has undercut DEI initiatives nationwide and forced schools and libraries to sanitize Black history and censor books.
While similar initiatives elsewhere have been targeted, Merritt said Macedonia’s Freedom School is insulated from outside political pressures.
“The cool part is we are privately funded,” Merritt noted. “It gives us a lot of breathing room. This is the one place we don’t really have to think about what we say.”
Parents are even encouraged to stay for the Freedom School lessons, as many Black adults were never taught Black history themselves. “I am sitting like a kid in a candy store like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know this,’” Merritt told the Spotlight.
Freedom School is likely one of the few opportunities students have to learn this material, she explained, making it especially important that the content of the curriculum is accurate and backed by research.
“There is no other place to learn it,” Merritt said. “Their parents weren’t taught it in the public school system. If it was not for a program like this, the opportunity to learn their history and heritage would not exist.”
This story was originally published in the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a WLRN News partner.
