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Shule Ya Uhuru: The "Modern Strivers" And D.C.'S Eastern High School Freedom Annex, Ari Pomerantz , '12

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This research paper examines the organizing work of “The Modern Strivers”, a group of black high-school students from Washington D.C.’s Eastern Public High School, between the years of 1967-1969. Following in the legacy of the Black Freedom Struggle’s democratic organizing tradition and harnessing the creativity and intellectual exuberance of the late 1960’s surging Black Nationalism, the Strivers designed and established their own semi-autonomous Freedom School, while continuing to fight for relevant curricula and greater black community control at Eastern High. The Strivers’ organizing demonstrates that youth of color were key thinkers and actors within the Black Power movement of Washington, …