EDUCATION WITHOUT SCHOOLS: WITNESSING BLACK LIBERATION THROUGH ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION SPACES AND PRACTICES

Abstract

This dissertation explores how Black families in the United States are reclaiming educational sovereignty by opting out of traditional school systems that often function as sites of antiblackness and dehumanization. Through three qualitative studies, I examine homeschooling, unschooling, and self-directed education as acts of resistance and care, rooted in Black radical traditions and guided by the pursuit of Black freedom. Across the studies, I engage theoretical frameworks including motherwork, marronage, and BlackCrit, while grounding the work in an understanding of antiblackness as both structural and ontological.The first study draws on interviews with Black homeschooling mothers, highlighting the multidimensional labor of motherwork in resisting state violence and nurturing Black children's liberation. The second study analyzes a podcast by a Black unschooling mother, positioning unschooling as a contemporary form of marronage—an intentional disengagement from the state in pursuit of autonomy, self-determination, and joy. The final case study examines a Black self-directed education community in Maryland, uncovering the tensions, joys, and healing practices involved in sustaining educational spaces centered on Black sovereignty. Together, these papers argue that traditional schools are incapable of fully honoring the possibilities inherent in Black children. Instead, Black families are creating alternative education spaces where their children can thrive. This work contributes to the growing body of research on Black educational resistance and raises critical questions about what it means to raise free people in a world not currently built for Black freedom.