ABSTRACT
Once the Civil War ended and Reconstruction was underway, the number of schools established for the education of both White and Black children exploded, and the “gap” persisted in areas of the United States where the literacy education of Black children was systematically disrupted. Despite the ways in which gatekeepers of literacy in the United States have built systems and created policies that oppress communities of individuals unprotected by Whiteness, these communities and individuals have engaged in powerful campaigns throughout history that actively resist these efforts—even when their very lives were/are at stake. Social justice educator Bobbie Harro developed her “Cycle of Socialization” in order to represent how the process of socialization begins, how it affects our lives, how it’s perpetuated by systems and institutions, and what happens when we disrupt the cycle in an attempt to create change.
