The Schools We Need: Lessons Learned from Harlem is led by Mellon Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research Faculty Leader Terri N. Watson (The City College ofNew York, School of Education, Department of Leadership and Human Development). A Harlem Native, Dr. Watson's research examines effective school leadership and is aimed to improve the educational outcomes and life chances of historically excluded and underserved students and families.

The recent calls to desegregate New York City’s public schools reify the fact that equity, social justice, and access to meaningful schooling continue to be a significant problem for Black and Hispanic children and their families. The Schools We Need: Lessons Learned from Harlem, was inspired by nine mothers who, in 1958, successfully desegregated several public schools located on Manhattan’s upper west side. They also challenged deficit paradigms of Black motherhood and communities of Color. The Schools We Need will offer a series of ‘living room conversations’ that centers the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of Harlem’s long-standing activist-residents. The ultimate goal of this project is to highlight the ways in which the institution of Black motherhood has transformed public education and to foster agency, community, and discourse around New York City’s desegregation efforts.

Events, Articles, Research & Scholarship:

Honoring Dr. E. Babette Edwards: Harlem’s “Othermother”Celebration & Spring Colloquium

Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 5:00 PM – 07:00 PM Shepard Hall, Room 350, The City College of New York, 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031. Please register below.

Click here to Register and attend this event.

The guest of honor Dr. E. Babette Edwards will be joined by organizer Terri N. Watson (The City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center), and distinguished educators, Sean L. Davenport (Superintendent of District #5. "Harlem's School District"), Marta Gutman (Dean of the Spitzer School of Architecture at CCNY, CUNY),Heather Lewis (author of New York City Public Schools From Brownsville to Bloomberg: The Community Control Movement and its Legacy), and Nan Eileen Mead (Education Policy Advocate, Teachers College, Columbia University), and Basil Smikle, (Director of the Public Policy Program and the Roosevelt House Institute for Public Policy at Hunter College, CUNY). Click here for more information about this event.

CREATING RACIALLY JUST SCHOOLS SPEAKER SERIES

Join us for a conversation series with award-winning educators and leaders in conversation with Urban Education Ph.D students for the Creating Racially Just Schools speaker series as part of a class taught at The Graduate Center, CUNY by Terri N. Watson.

Conversation Mon, Feb 28, 2022, 04:30 PM – 05:30 PM
Creating Racially Just Schools: Dr. Nadia Lopez

Conversation Mon, Mar 7, 2022, 04:30 PM – 05:30 PM
Creating Racially Just Schools: Dr. Linda C. Tillman

Conversation Mon, Mar 28, 2022, 4:30 PM –

Creating Racially Just Schools: Dr. Adrienne Dixson

Conversation Mon, May 2, 2022, 04:30 PM – 05:30 PM

Creating Racially Just Schools: Dr. Valerie Kinloch

Conversation Mon, May 9, 2022, 04:30 PM – 05:30 PM

Creating Racially Just Schools: Dr. April Baker-Bell

Creating the Beloved Community with Dr. Terri Watson
Wed, Sep 16, 2020, at 7:30 PM

Please join the Ph.D. Program in Urban Education for the launch of their Fall 2020 Colloquium Speaker Series.This year's Colloquium is guided by a focus on the global Black Lives Matter movement and an inquiry into Restorative Justice practices within our program community. The Urban Education program at The Graduate Center, CUNY is honored to welcome Dr. Terri Watson as the first guest lecturer. Dr. Watson's talk, entitled, "Creating the Beloved Community" will orient, enrich, and inspire the conversations that will continue in Urban Education and beyond this semester. Click here for more information and to register for this free event. This event will be ASL interpreted.

#SaySomething - The Importance of Black Women Teachers for Black Girls

In this interview "The Importance of Black Women Teachers for Black Girls," Dr. Terri N. Watson and Dr. Gina Charles discuss the vital role that Black women teachers play for Black girls, including the formative influence of their early relationship as junior high school teacher and student as well as a wider conversation about how Black women teachers provide "mirrors and windows," through which Black girls can see themselves in leadership roles and flourish in their educations, career paths, and lives.

A Love Letter to Babette Edwards: Harlem’s “Othermother”

Read "A Love Letter to Babette Edwards: Harlem's Othermother" on the Gotham Center for New York City, in which Dr. Terri Watson explores the life and education activism of Dr. Babette Edwards, a parent activist, educational advocate and community leader (a noted pioneer in the movement for community control), who steadfastly believes in Harlem’s children and has spent a lifetime fighting for them and their education.

"Importantly, Edwards’ efforts on behalf of Harlem’s children reinforces Black women's inherent value and sense of humanity in spaces that have historically "mis-educated" children of color. My conversations with Dr. Edwards as well as what I’ve learned from her dissertation, archives, and on-going work in Harlem’s public schools affirm this truth.

The life and life work of Dr. Babette Edwards reminds us that Harlem’s children deserve the very best teachers, school leaders, and educational opportunities. As an education researcher and one of Harlem’s daughters, I am grateful for Dr. Edwards’ contributions to Harlem and its public schools. History often reminds us of the lessons we have yet to learn and as Dr. Edwards reminded me, "We have to keep on keeping on!" Thank you for your light, Dr. Edwards, I love you! Harlem loves you!"

-Dr Terri Watson

More About Terri N. Watson

• Click here to visit and explore Dr. Watson's Google Scholar page.
  

• Click here to visit Dr. Watson's Faculty Profile page at The City College of New York.
  

• Follow Dr. Watson on Twitter at @terrinwatson

Terri N. Watson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership and Human Development at The City College of New York. A Harlem native, her research examines effective school leadership and is aimed to improve the educational outcomes and life chances of historically excluded and underserved students and families. Dr. Watson is the guest editor for a special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration and History (Taylor & Francis Group) titled, A Seat at the Table: Examining the Impact, Ingenuity, and Leadership Practices of Black Woman and Girls in PK – 20 Contexts (Publication Date: Summer 2020).

Dr. Watson’s scholarship may be found in the following journals and books: the Journal of the Center for Policy Analysis & Research (Inaugural Edition), Urban Education, The Journal of Negro Education, the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, The School Community Journal, Leadership and Policy in Schools, and in the books, Whiteucation: Privilege, Power, and Prejudice in School and Society (Routledge), Racially and Ethnically Diverse Women Leading Education: A World View (Emerald Publishing), and Educational Leadership and Music: Lessons for Tomorrow’s School Leaders (Information Age Publishing).