Freedom School Staff and Mentors with their students

Freedom Schools is a movement that captures the history of our country, the talent of young adults, the heart of our children, and the excitement of our greater Indianapolis community.

This year, the IU Indianapolis Freedom School site focused on the theme “Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams.” In honor of the 60th anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, which our program originated in, our site wanted to ensure that our scholars were living up to the dreams of those who came before us and led the way for us to achieve today.

In classroom spaces that were transformed into exciting, vibrant, and safe learning environments reflecting outer space, Toy Story, Avatar: The Last Airbender, traveling, and superheroes, scholars dived into a rich multicultural curriculum facilitated by their Servant Leader Interns. Through reflective texts, engaging activities, and thought-provoking conversations, scholars learned more about themselves, their families, their communities, their country, and the world. They challenged the status quo, believing in their full brilliance and capability to be change-makers.

Scholars learned to love their skin color in books like The Proudest Color by Shelia Modir, Jeffrey Kashou, and The Me I Choose to Be by Natasha Tarpley. In Good Enough to Eat: A Kid’s Guide to Food and Nutrition by Lizzy Rockwell, scholars created public service announcements to raise awareness about healthy eating. In Vote for Our Future! by Margaret McNamara, scholars created raps, poems, and songs to explain the importance of voting. With Hear My Voice/Escucha Mi Voz by Warren Binford, scholars learned about migration and detention facilities from actual children’s experiences at the southern U.S. border. Guided by their Servant Leader Intern, scholars discussed real-life topics to expand their knowledge alongside their peers. At the end of each week, scholars were able to take home a book they had read in the program to expand the knowledge of their families and build their at-home libraries.

Freedom School students giving their final presentation

To show our scholars that they are Our Ancestors’ Wildest dreams, community members from various occupations were invited to visit our site as read aloud guests during our morning meeting called Harambee (Kiswahili for “Let’s Pull Together”). Our scholars got to see the value of reading from people in roles they dream of becoming and who look like them. This year, our scholars connected with lawyers, librarians, IU Indianapolis professors, State Representatives, nurses, chefs, entrepreneurs, and even the Pike Superintendent. At Freedom School, our staff not only told our scholars that they could become whatever they dreamed, but we also showed them through the visitors we had throughout the summer.

Other notable community members include Rebecca Robinson, a member of the Eighteen Art Collective who created the "Black Lives Matter" street mural on Indiana Avenue in August 2020. Robinson breathed new life into our scholars' passion for art through her engaging art activity for them and their families. MSD Pike Fire Department visited our site to teach the importance of fire safety by allowing scholars to have a conversation with a firefighter, tour a fire truck, and complete a fire safety obstacle course. Learning was brought to life this summer through our curriculum and community members who visited our program. But our summer experience also extended outside the building.

The IU Indianapolis Freedom School, along with other Children's Defense Fund Freedom School sites across the country, participated in the National Day of Social Action. This year, our nationwide social action topic was book banning. Our site organized for our scholars to learn about this topic through activities guest speakers and a field trip to the Indiana Statehouse.

Student Mentor, Amber Dukes, holds a sign during a Freedom School presentation

At the Statehouse, my scholars learned about judicial procedure, read banned books within the building, and met with State Representatives and Senators. Many think that youth are not ready to tackle difficult subjects for fear that they can't understand them or that it is not age-appropriate. However, after five weeks in the Freedom School program, scholars held a proactive conversation on the state of book banning across the country and here in Indiana. Some of my favorite questions raised were:

Freedom School students at the Indiana Statehouse

Freedom School is equipping the next generation to be knowledge seeking and civically engaged. Freedom School is teaching youth that when someone says they can't, they know that they CAN. You can recognize a child who has been through a Freedom School program because they have something inside so strong that no one will ever take away.

A graduating Freedom School scholar reflected on her three year Freedom School experience saying, "Freedom School has helped me grow as a leader. I want to support other scholars in following their dreams and help them make a difference in their world, self, family, community, and country. I want to help them believe in themselves as they grow up to make a difference."

A Freedom School Parent shared feedback with us on the program's impact on their scholars: "Freedom School has been an excellent experience for our kids. They received cultural, academic, social, and emotional learning that will carry well into their teens and adulthood! Thank you for giving our children an opportunity to speak truth to power."

Freedom Schools is not just a summer program. It is a transformative movement, igniting the potential of our young scholars and shaping the future of our communities.

Freedom School students, staff and mentors outside of the Indiana Statehouse with books