On Objects and Voices: Material Culture and Oral History in the Case of Shule Ya Kujitambua

Council of Independent Black Institutions

Founded in 1972, CIBI is a foundation that utilizes African-centered learning approaches in the education of African-American children. The council was created by a group of educators during the African American Teachers Association Conference. During the 1970s the council became a national, and ultimately international, organization. The majority of students that CIBI serves are in elementary education, though they span the ages of prekindergarten through secondary schooling. Schools founded under the CIBI organization are not direct alternatives to public education, rather they aim to fill a need to comprehensively educate African American students. Lomotey explains that “African Americans working within IBIs see themselves as a part of a worldwide community of African people." In her monograph, “Race, Class, and Power in School Restructuring”, Pauline Lipman writes that:

“CIBI was formed to enable educators of African descent to share information, materials, and curriculum and to have material unity that would support the development of independent schools as alternatives to public education.”


The council had direct distribution efforts to schools, including a semiannual newsletter entitled FUNDISHA! (translated into english as TEACH!), a book called Positive African Images for Children, and direct support for curriculum development and financial outreach.



 

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