RE: Awele Makeba (awele.com) . Here's a letter to Awele from one of the SFFS participants in response to her experience of Awele's workshop at the SF Freedom School on July 28.
Dear Awele,
It was such a pleasure to meet you yesterday, and to participate in your amazing performance. You so deftly wove together history, performance, pedagogy, and critical thinking about social justice, all in a way that truly made the Civil Rights movement come alive. Your performance thoroughly captivated our audience of adults, but I could also see how it would be just as riveting and energizing for elementary, secondary, and also college students. I was impressed with how well-researched your performance was, and how it engaged the audience on so many levels: we learned not only about Claudette Colvin and the rich context of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts; we also learned about historical thinking, about performance pedagogy (teachers in the audience got many great ideas), and you pushed us to ponder the "big questions" as well (such as ... Who am I? What does it mean to be an American? How does our misconception of history make us blind to the present? What can one person do to make a difference? What is my role in fostering social change?). Thank you for the inspiration.
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