Six curriculum orientations predominate in African-American educational experience: functionalism, accommodation, liberalism, Black Nationalism, Afrocentrism, and social reconstruction. Tied to the history of slavery and oppression, these orientations will continue to develop separate from the mainstream. (SK)

Presents examples of Afrocentrism that encourage African and African-American inclusion in the curriculum. Examines work by three Afrocentrist educators who discuss capitalist, democratic, and liberationist Afrocentrism. Each asserts the need for the connection of Afrocentrism or African and African-American history to fight racism and promote…

Traces the historical origins of the controversy surrounding Afrocentric education versus education based on the traditional canon of the Western world to W. H. Ferris' work and his 1913 study "The African abroad or His Evolution in Western Civilization, Tracing His Development under Caucasian Milieu," which has relevance today. (SLD)

Asserts that K-12 schools and colleges have made strong efforts to diversify faculty and student bodies and to expand multicultural and global education. Examines the political and social values that underlie the debate about social values, multiculturalism, and the goals of education. Concludes that world studies explores a wider world than a…

An African centered curriculum has two parts. It is both a process that centers around the cultural heritage of African Americans, and the infusion of content that will stimulate and/or reinforce the growth and development of African and African-American mental and ethical traits. The scholars who are the main proponents of an African centered…

Introduces a special section containing three articles and six commentaries, which discuss the form that multicultural education should take and consider whether children are well-served by a unified curriculum for all or ethnocentric curricula for various ethnic groups. Provides several examples of a multicultural approach. (SLD)

States White, Eurocentric, normative orientation research on people of color has presented a deficit model of the Afro-American. Advocates new research theories and fewer static research methods. Considers an Afrocentric perspective to research, offering a framework for social research for Blacks rather than about them. (NL)

Reviews the debate concerning the impact of Afrocentric education and multicultural education on U.S. history instruction and course content. Responds to criticisms of Afrocentric education by historians Diane Ravitch and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Contends that multicultural education can help recognize divisions in U.S. society and show a…