Tools to build Confidence and Self-Reliance (pt.1)

For over 30 years, I have taught Pan-African Studies to hundreds of African youth in Black communities throughout Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Delaware, and New Jersey.

- Khabyr Hadas

In the last (10) years, I have stood in the front of classrooms to teach the discipline of Social Studies, World History, and African/African-American History at some of the most prominent African-centered charter schools in Philadelphia. While teaching at Sankofa Freedom Academy, Imhotep Institute Charter School, and Harambee Institute for Science and Technology, I have learned a great deal from the students. I have found that many of my students who have excelled actually had basic tools in their homes that helped them to become more aware, confident, and independent in their thinking. Serving as the (UNIA-ACL) Minister of Education (2008-2013) also enabled me to take note of this observance, which at the time motivated me and the Educational Department to develop international curriculums that procured basic logistical and cultural paradigms that would ultimately cultivate the innate Black genius in our beautiful children. Many successful Black families have set up certain learning tools in their homes that reinforce African culture and the continuity of Black history. I found that some of the same tools that my beloved parents had set up for my brother and me were some of the same tools that are used today by Black families.