In this powerful and deeply illuminating talk, Harvard scholar Jarvis R. Givens reframes Black History Month as a radical, community-built tradition whose meaning has been misunderstood and narrowed over time. Drawing from his forthcoming book I’ll Make Me A World (February 2026), Givens takes audiences on a sweeping journey from the commemoration’s origins in 1926 as “Negro History Week” to its role today as both a celebration and a flashpoint in America’s cultural battles. Through archival research, family stories, and the lived wisdom of Black educators, he uncovers the intellectual and everyday labor that sustained Black history as a liberatory force—one rooted not only in iconic figures but also in the ordinary “workadays” who preserved memory, shaped resistance, and expanded possibilities for future generations. As contemporary conflicts over curriculum, censorship, and representation escalate, Givens reveals how these struggles echo a century-long fight over who controls knowledge and whose stories are recognized as truth. With clarity and conviction, he challenges audiences to reclaim the deeper purpose of Black History Month and imagine a future in which Black historical memory remains a vital source of power, truth, and possibility.

In this urgent and eye-opening talk, Harvard professor Jarvis R. Givens reframes the history of U.S. education through the intertwined experiences of Black, Native, and white communities—revealing how our public schools were built on a foundation far more complex and inequitable than the myth of “the great equalizer” suggests. Drawing from his groundbreaking book American Grammar, Givens traces how profits from slavery, the seizure of Native lands, and state-sanctioned assimilation policies directly underwrote the schooling of white children while shaping a system structured around white possession and white benefit. He shows how today’s battles over book bans, free speech, and the teaching of race, gender, and sexuality are not new culture wars, but the latest chapter in a centuries-long struggle over who controls knowledge and whose stories are allowed to be told. With clarity and depth, Givens equips audiences with a more honest language for understanding the structural roots of educational inequity—and offers a powerful framework for imagining a truly more egalitarian future for all learners.

Black students were forced to live and learn on the Black side of the color line for centuries, through the time of slavery, Emancipation and the Jim Crow era. For just as long—even through to today—Black students have been seen as a problem and a seemingly troubled population in America's public imagination. Through multiple accounts from the 19th and 20th centuries, Professor Jarvis Givens offers a powerful counter-narrative to challenge such dated and prejudiced storylines. He details the educational lives of writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Ralph Ellison; political leaders like Mary McLeod Bethune, Malcolm X and Angela Davis; and Black students whose names are largely unknown but who left their marks nonetheless. Black students are more than the sum of their suffering. By peeling back the layers of history, Givens unveils a distinct student body: Black learners shaped not only by their shared vulnerability but also by their triumphs, fortitude and collective strivings.

Drawing on his extensive research and expertise, Professor Jarvis Givens explores hidden stories of Black education through the discovery and preservation of nearly forgotten historical sources and archives. Through these materials, he offers a new perspective on the American educational system, its challenges and its possibilities. By shining a light on the untold stories and overlooked contributions of Black educators and students, Givens provides a vision for reimagining American education and promoting greater understanding, empathy and justice in our schools and society.

Black education was a subversive act from its inception. African Americans pursued education through clandestine means, often in defiance of law and custom—even under the threat of violence. They developed what Professor Jarvis Givens calls a tradition of "fugitive pedagogy"—a theory and practice of Black education in America. The enslaved learned to read in spite of widespread prohibitions. Newly emancipated people braved the dangers of integrating all-White schools and the hardships of building Black schools. Teachers developed covert instructional strategies and creative responses to the persistence of White opposition. From slavery through the Jim Crow era, Black people passed down this educational heritage. In this talk, Professor Givens shares the history of Black education and a fresh portrayal of one of the architects of the African American intellectual tradition—Carter G. Woodson—whose faith in the subversive power of education will inspire teachers and learners today.

Building on his expansive research on Black education from the period of slavery through the present, Professor Jarvis Givens explains why all students can benefit from a critical study of the Black educational past, which constitutes an integral part of American history. This painful yet inspiring story clarifies important realities about the dynamics of race and power in American schooling, offering lessons and strategies for all concerned with the pursuit of educational justice.