It’s not enough to succeed if your community is struggling. You have to try to pull people up with you. I am so proud to announce the launch of the 1619 Freedom School in my hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, labeled in 2018 the worst place in U.S. to be Black. 1619freedomschool.org.
I used many lessons learned from years of reporting on segregated, high-poverty schools to found the 1619 Freedom School, a free, after-school program that infuses intensive literacy instruction with a Black history curriculum. Our motto: Liberation Through Literacy. 
Our curriculum, custom-designed by educators from Georgetown and the University of Missouri will be made available as free and open source for anyone who wants to teach it beginning in 2022.
The 1619 Freedom School is not affiliated with the 1619 Project but its Black History literacy curriculum is particularly important now when states, including Iowa where it’s located, are trying to ban the teaching of histories that center that Black experience.
Every student in our program will get a take-home library to keep. If you’re interested in supporting, you can donate to our Liberation Libraries. I am hopeful and grateful. 1619freedomschool.org/donate
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