“I never studied Black literature. I never knew about Ida B. Wells like I did Shakespeare. I never studied June Jordan like I did Edgar Allen Poe.”
The bias of the New York City public school curriculum is best captured by recent graduate Jace Valentine’s 2019 comments to WYNC.
According to a 2019 study, while only 15% of NYC students are white, 84% of the authors taught in writing classes are, and students are speaking up about the lack of representation in the classroom and how it negatively impacts their ability to learn.
The overwhelming whiteness of the canon, both at the collegiate and primary levels, has long been a source of tension in this country. From Toni Morrison’s debates with Harold Bloom, to protests demanding NYC public schools diversify curriculum, to the broader conversation about the critical role of amplifying Black voices nationally, Black readers and writers have fought
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