Day 6: Celebrating 29-Days Of Black History In Brooklyn
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by On Day 6 of Black History Month we recognize The East Educational and Cultural Center for People of African Descent.
The East was a remarkably empowering educational and cultural institution in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Its headquarters was located at 10 Claver Place between Putnam and Jefferson Avenues. The East designed, developed, and implemented over 25 much needed community programs and projects from 1969 through 1986. The powerful impact of this one organization, positively changed the lives of numerous people of African-descent nationally and internationally.
The East grew out of the African-American Student Association in collaboration with the African-American Teachers Association and a lot of grassroots struggle. “At the heart of the East was the Uhuru Sasa Shule (which means Freedom Now School in Swahili) an independent African-centered school whose curriculum and pedagogy were rooted in Kawaida philosophy (the best of African thought and practice) and concepts for self-reliance,” writes Kwasi Konadu in his book, A View from The East: Black Cultural Nationalism and Education in New York City.
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Some other activities developed by the East included: Black News publication, Akiba Mkuu bookstore, Black Experience in Sound, the East Kitchen, Teacher Training Institute, Evening School of Knowledge and the African Street Fair held at Boys and Girls High School and the surrounding streets of Bedford Stuyvesant. The African Street Fair has become the International African Arts Festival. And in 2001, the Festival relocated to Fort Greene’s Commodore Barry Park. This annual weekend experience with food, entertainment, vendors, and culture during the first week in July, continues to draw thousands of people worldwide.
Listen to East cofounder Jitu Weusi talk about the future of our school system back in 2009:
