Our staff
Sarah (they/them/theirs)
Director, Activists in Residence program
Sarah is a former educator as well as an organizer/activist who has worked in fostering and supporting community centered struggles for 10 years. Sarah is from the global and national south and finds inspiration and meaning in fighting alongside the communities they find themself in: queer people of color who are rowdy because they know they deserve more. It is the realization of the abolition freedom dream that keeps them connected and accountable to our collective liberation.
Keedra (they/she)
Keedra is a life-long learner and educator of more than 20 years born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has learned from various communities while teaching in cities across the country including Atlanta, NYC, and most recently in Chicago, where she organized with Assata's Daughters and learned about youth organizing from some of the fiercest organizers in the Midwest region. After teaching in various parts of Africa, she designed and implemented programs for U.S. born students to learn about Pan-Africanism and form relationships with children through visiting Africa. She is thrilled to bring her work back home to establish Abolitionist Freedom Schools with Abolitionist Teaching Network in the Bond Hill community and to build upon a rich legacy within the Black Radical Tradition.
Angela (she/her/hers)
Angela is a 4th year, first grade teacher at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. African American Immersion School and chairwoman of the Black Educators Caucus in Milwaukee, WI. She is an abolitionist educator who is passionate about creating educational spaces where Black children are thriving. She is devoted to providing education to create accessible, inclusive, and uplifting environments in coalition with families, students, and community. She has dedicated her time to advocating for equitable education at the local and state level. She is devoted to and is an active member of her union and serves as her schools building representative and serves as a member of the Human and Civil Rights committee at WEAC. She is also a contributing author in the Black Lives Matter at Schools book.
Meg (she/her/hers)
Business Manager
Meg is an educator, writer, and organizational consultant focused on the development, growth, and sustainability of justice-minded organizations. Meg's work is centered in Black feminist thought, and she is passionate about dismantling systems of oppression and collaboratively building new constructs that value, support, and center those who have been historically pushed to the margins.
ashley (she/her/hers)
ashley has had quite the life of performing and teaching and teaching performance. ashley has been celebrating her 20th year of teaching since the year started, and feels she's JUST getting to be at the top of her creating game with young people, family, and communities. ashley believes in young Black people, and hopes to live into the collective dreams, alongside community, of making schools the most joyful and loving place Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth can wonder, play, and learn. ashley has been through some very painful+joyful radical transformation as a Black person+educator and has been supporting other educators and community members in the same process of reclaiming themselves from white supremacy. What work, what JOY!
Jonathan (he/him/el)
Jonathan is an Atlanta-based Central American educator, researcher, and organizer. Dancing gives him joy and pupusas are his favorite food. He uses research, creative writing, teaching, and organizing to contribute to building the world that we all deserve to live in.
Mshairi (she/her/hers)
Mshairi is an Atlanta native (Kirkwood/Zone 6 to be exact). Mshairi identifies as a Black/Queer/Feminist/Nurturer/Liberator/Activist/Creative/Performer/Pre-K Enthusiast. She was educated at Georgia State University where she majored in African-American Studies. She has educated for Pre-K programs in Atlanta, New Orleans and Brooklyn. Mshairi is a member of The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and one of the leaders of The New African Scouts. She has done community work supporting the progression of Black people, anti-police brutality, anti-sex trafficking, sex worker rights, and the liberation of political prisoners. Mshairi has dreams of owning a community based school one day and will always continue to serve her community.
Adrienne (she/her/hers)
Activist in Residence, Lead Legal Fellow
Adrienne has worked for more than 15 years to create educational environments wherein the skills and talents of young people who have previously been incarcerated grow and where young people can thrive. Adrienne's a racial justice advocate, an organizational racial justice strategist, a math teacher, an experienced school leader and soon, a lawyer. Much of her commitment to abolition comes from being a parent and having learned from the gentle parenting community. She loves baseball and soccer and makes a mean chocolate babka.
Ashley (she/her/hers)
Director, Virtual Freedom School
Ashley is a writer, educational consultant and advocate for radical social studies teaching. She researches how Black history is taught and how Black kids express their civic identities. She teaches and supports out-of-school and summer school learning opportunities across the country, and celebrates her roles as mother, play cousin and mentor to young leaders.
SELECT MEMBERS OF Our board
Bettina (she/her/hers)
Chair, Board of Directors
Co-Founder
Bettina is an educator who teaches, writes, researches, and advocates at the intersection of racism, education, and abolition. She is the author of the book We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom.
Brandelyn (she/her/hers)
Secretary/Treasurer, Board of Directors
Co-Founder
Brandelyn is an educator who amplifies voices from the educational margins. She works with teachers and educational leaders in the greater Cincinnati area to transform schools into places which celebrate Blackness and joy.
Martha (she/her/hers)
Board Member
Martha, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University of Georgia, has worked for many years with educators and families in diverse multilingual settings, including U. S. Latino/a and immigrant communities, as well as rural and indigenous communities in México. Her focus has been on engaging with families and educators to promote equity in mathematics and science teaching and learning. Recently, she has worked with educators, parents, and children in schools in Turkey serving multilingual families with refugee status.
Cynthia (she/her/hers)
Board Member
Cynthia (Nana Mansa II of Mpeasem, Ghana) is an enstooled Queen Mother/Black feminist teacher educator/school builder/researcher/retreat leader whose life and work spans the US and Ghana, West Africa. She is the author of three books about the work of spirituality in teaching and learning for Black life and is currently working on her fourth book, We (Re)member: Black Women Teachers and the Spirit of Our Work.
Farima (she/her/hers)
Board Member
Farima is a professor of Teacher Education at the University of San Francisco (USF) in California and holds leadership roles in grassroots collectives such as the Teachers 4 Social Justice, the People’s Education Movement and the national Education for Liberation Network. She has over a decade of experience teaching at the elementary level as well as lecturing, supervising and supporting educators locally, nationally and internationally through her roles as a university professor, teacher supervisor, educational consultant and grassroots community organizer.
David (he/him/his)
Board Member
David is Professor of African-American Studies and Criminology, Law & Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His work with communities, students, and teachers manifests itself in his involvement with the Peoples Education Movement, a collection of classroom teachers, community members, students and university professors in Chicago, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to his duties and responsibilities as a professor at UIC, he also served as a volunteer social studies teacher at the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School for Social Justice from 2005-2018.