Independent neighborhood schools in inner-city areas serve primarily minority students. They are in a position to assist American educators in understanding the best methods of teaching minorities who usually do not reach their full academic potential in public schools. Teachers in independent schools use culture and sometimes religion as a basis for motivational and management techniques. The students use their own indigenous images to shape their intellectual, emotional and creative development. In 1984 a training seminar using this cultural model was developed to provide these teachers with a better understanding and more strategies for teaching mathematics. This first of a two-volume series contains the lectures from the seminar. It gives the cultural and philosophical foundations for teaching mathematics to black youth. Volume I includes the following presentations: (1) Cultural Foundations for Teaching Black Children (Edwin J. Nichols); (2) Innovation and Motivation for Excellence (J. Arthur Jones); (3) African Contributions to Mathematics, Science and Technology (John Henrik Clarke); and (4) Managing Instruction in Mathematics for Elementary Schools (Bessie C. Howard). The final section is a series of notes reflecting teachers' comments on how they manage their classrooms. The volume concludes with a list of mathematics and materials. (VM)