Strength. Power. Beautiful manifestation. These are the three themes that 60 Black and Brown high school seniors highlighted as part of a poster project that illuminates and affirms their identities. The “My Brother’s Teacher” project, created by Thrive Chicago’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) initiative, and spurred by a partnership with Public Narrative, engaged three nationally recognized social justice illustrators to create original artwork. The posters serve multiple purposes, beautifying space at three high schools while reframing narratives about boys and young men of color (BYMOC).
The project is part of a new Intro to Urban Education course this year at Butler College Prep, Dyett High School for the Arts, and Johnson College Prep. The goal of the course is to launch students on a pathway toward becoming the next generation of educators, with a significant portion of the class built on the idea that “the best educators know themselves.” The multi-sector MBK Chicago Action Team designed the curriculum in partnership with students, college professors, and mentorship organizations to help spark interest in the teaching profession, while affirming students’ history, identity, and lived experience. Other pillars include the history of education in America, mentorship, career readiness, and pedagogy.
Course instructors sparked the idea for the poster project, and students have informed its themes and development while providing feedback to renowned illustrators Devon Blow, Carmelle Kendall, and Teddy Phillips, aka Stat The Artist, who came on board thanks to Leslie Beller’s Pop Cultures Collective. The final posters will be shared this month and made available to schools and the students themselves.
Thrive stewards the local implementation of My Brother’s Keeper, an initiative started by President Barack Obama in 2014 to address persistent opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color (BYMOC) and to ensure all youth can reach their full potential. MBK Chicago has led the development of a holistic educator pipeline strategy with the goals of helping BYMOC identify their purpose in life through the Intro to Urban Education course and to help our city cultivate a new pipeline of educators. Black and LatinX men only make up 2% of the teaching force nationally, and, in Chicago Public Schools, only 3.8% of teachers are Black men. Additionally, research links BYMOC achievement to the presence of high-quality educators of color, particularly males.
