Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools

Review Source: Rethinking Schools
Book Author: Collective the Education for Liberation

Lessons in Liber­ation successfully sets out to answer a critical question: What does aboli­tionist education look like in practice? Lessons in Libera­tion pulls together a stunning mix of background articles and teaching ideas, all aimed at being useful for educators and community activists interested in doing the work of abolitionist education.

The book is broken down into three main sections that focus on understanding abolitionist education, how to put it into practice, and, importantly, how to work on building healing spaces. As the strug­gle over racial justice in the curriculum rages in our schools, Lessons in Liberation is a beautiful and timely resource for justice-oriented educators.

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Lessons in Liberation by Collective the Education for Liberation
Published by AK Press on September 28, 2021
Genres: Education
Pages: 376
Reading Level: Teachers and Parents
ISBN: 9781849354363
Review Source: Rethinking Schools

Publisher's Synopsis: Born from sustained organizing, and rooted in Black and women of color feminisms, disability justice, and other movements, abolition calls for an end to our reliance on imprisonment, policing and surveillance, and to imagine a safer future for our communities.

Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators offers entry points to build critical and intentional bridges between educational practice and the growing movement for abolition. Designed for educators, parents, and young people, this toolkit shines a light on innovative abolitionist projects, particularly in pre-K-12 learning contexts.

Sections are dedicated to entry points into Prison Industrial Complex abolition and education; the application of the lessons and principles of abolition; and stories about growing abolition outside of school settings. Topics addressed throughout include student organizing, immigrant justice in the face of ICE, approaches to sex education, arts-based curriculum, and building abolitionist skills and thinking in lesson plans.

The result of patient and urgent work, and more than five years in the making, Lessons in Liberation invites educators into the work of abolition.

Contributors include Black Organizing Project, Chicago Women's Health Center, Mariame Kaba and Project NIA, Bettina L. Love, the MILPA Collective, and artists from the Justseeds Collective, among others.