When we speak about education and equity, Gloria Ladson-Billings stands as a trailblazer, a beacon whose influence reverberates through the work of Overcoming Racism. As we at Overcoming Racism, celebrate the release of our founder's new book FREEDOM TEACHING, we want to recognize the profound impact Ladson-Billings has had on shaping educational practices in the United States.
Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, the first Black woman to achieve tenured professorship in UW–Madison’s School of Education, has been a driving force in introducing and developing the concept of culturally relevant pedagogy. Her groundbreaking 1994 book, "The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children," not only coined the term but laid the foundation for a transformative approach to education that goes beyond achievement metrics.
In a 2019 interview By The 74 Dr. Ladson-Billings explained: “A hallmark for me of a culturally relevant teacher is someone who understands that we’re operating in a fundamentally inequitable system — they take that as a given. And that the teacher’s role is not merely to help kids fit into an unfair system, but rather to give them the skills, the knowledge and the dispositions to change the inequity. The idea is not to get more people at the top of an unfair pyramid; the idea is to say the pyramid is the wrong structure. How can we really create a circle, if you will, that includes everybody?”
Additionally, Dr. Ladson-Billings' has committed to uplifting others. During her tenure at UW–Madison she mentored 53 doctoral students, notably including 21 African American women.
At Overcoming Racism, We not only encourage our school partners to use culturally relevant teaching but we put it into practice in our workshops as well to get far better results. In line with Dr. Ladson-Billings teachings we highly customize our workshops to the local context of the school systems and educators we are working with to ensure our workshops are culturally relevant.
We celebrate Dr. Ladson-Billings every day and we are honored to spotlight her legacy that continues to shape the path toward equity, justice, and inclusivity in classrooms across the nation.