---
title: My Education Journey - ASCD
description: ASCD's influential Black authors and Faculty members share their experiences in the classroom and how Black history has shaped their lives and careers.
image: https://professional-development.ascd.org/hubfs/ASCDLogoInCircle.png
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## **My Education Journey: Elevating Black Voices**
Every student deserves an equitable education. That means that more Black educators must be recruited, supported, and elevated. ASCD asked influential Black authors and Faculty members to tell the story of their experiences in the classroom and how Black history has shaped their lives and careers.
## 
## Monique W. Morris (Monique Couvson)
*"We have to be unapologetically committed to creating learning spaces that are absolutely, unapologetically centered on the well-being of our students where there can be healing that takes place."* —Monique W. Morris (Monique Couvson), president and CEO, Grantmakers for Girls of Color and founder, National Black Women's Justice Institute
[Monique W. Morris (Monique Couvson)](https://www.ascd.org/people/monique-morris) talks about her journey from student to educator and advocate for Black girls. Schools can be a place of punishment and marginalization for Black girls. Joyful learning communities can build resilience as part of the resistance.
**Book by Monique W. Morris (Monique Couvson)**
- *[Cultivating Joyful Learning Spaces for Black Girls: Insights into Interrupting School Pushout](https://www.ascd.org/books/cultivating-joyful-learning-spaces-for-black-girls)*
## 
## Kimberly N. Parker
*"Whoever I’m teaching, I have an unfailing belief that they’re going to be successful."* —Kimberly N. Parker, director of the Crimson Summer Academy at Harvard University
[Kimberly N. Parker](https://www.ascd.org/people/kimberly-parker) grew up understanding the importance of reading and feeling empowered to choose what she read. Her career focuses on a crucial question: What can we do to make sure that every child has positive literary experiences? In this video, hear Parker discuss the importance of storytelling and humanizing discussion about tough topics.
**Book by Kimberly N. Parker**
- *[Literacy Is Liberation: Working Toward Justice Through Culturally Relevant Teaching](https://www.ascd.org/books/literacy-is-liberation)*
## Robyn Jackson
*"Education is really the only equalizer we have."* —Robyn Jackson, ASCD Author
When Robyn Jackson encountered teachers who didn't think she was capable of success, it was jarring. As a person who loved to learn, she became an educator in order to share that love with others and help every student see their potential to engage in rigorous learning. Here, author and presenter [Robyn Jackson](https://www.ascd.org/people/robyn-jackson) shares her dedication to breaking down barriers facing Black and brown students.
**Books by Robyn Jackson**
- [*Stop Leading, Start Building! Turn Your School into a Success Story with the People and Resources You Already Have*](https://www.ascd.org/books/stop-leading-start-building)
- [*Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, 2nd Edition*](https://www.ascd.org/books/never-work-harder-than-your-students-and-other-principles-of-great-teaching-2nd-edition)
- [*Never Underestimate Your Teachers: Instructional Leadership for Excellence in Every Classroom*](https://www.ascd.org/books/never-underestimate-your-teachers)
- [*How to Motivate Reluctant Learners*](https://www.ascd.org/books/how-to-motivate-reluctant-learners)
- [*How to Plan Rigorous Instruction*](https://www.ascd.org/books/how-to-plan-rigorous-instruction)
- [*How to Support Struggling Students*](https://www.ascd.org/books/how-to-support-struggling-students)
- [*Real Engagement: How do I help my students become motivated, confident, and self-directed learners?*](https://www.ascd.org/books/real-engagement)
## 
## Avis Williams
*"Knowing what education has done for me is one of the reasons that I wanted to become an educational leader."* —Avis Williams, Superintendent of Selma City Schools and ASCD Board Member
To [Avis Williams](https://www.ascd.org/people/avis-williams), equity is making sure that all students have what they need—and that's more than what's in a textbook or a lesson plan. Equity means addressing students' emotional needs, too. In this video, hear Williams speak about her own education, what inspires her, and how showing vulnerability makes teachers and leaders stronger.
## 
## Jill Harrison Berg
*"Always be thinking about humanity as that fundamental foundation that allows us to connect heart-to-heart."* —Jill Harrison Berg, ASCD Author
Education has been a crucial value to [Jill Harrison Berg's](https://www.ascd.org/people/jill-harrison-berg) family since at least the 1860s, when her great-great-grandmother started a school to teach others to read. But U.S. schooling wasn't designed for today's diverse population. Watch this video to hear about Berg's exploration of her own ancestry and how incorporating storytelling traditions from other cultures can help effect positive change in education.
**Books by Jill Harrison Berg**
- *[Uprooting Instructional Inequity: The Power of Inquiry-Based Professional Learning](https://www.ascd.org/books/uprooting-instructional-inequity)*
- *[Leading In Sync: Teacher Leaders and Principals Working Together for Student Learning](https://www.ascd.org/books/leading-in-sync)*
## 
## Kwame Simmons
*"Where are your gifts most needed? That's where you should plant your feet, define your reality."* —Kwame Simmons, ASCD Faculty Member
Kwame Simmons's father told him to always look at the world through his own cultural lens. From this advice and his own experience in education, Simmons believes that hiring Black men as educators transforms the learning trajectory for *all* kids. In this video, hear [Kwame Simmons](https://www.ascd.org/people/kwame-simmons) discuss using your skills to make the world a better place.
## 
## Vernita Mayfield
*"Given the number of things that we've been able to overcome, we are a group of people who just never give up."* —Vernita Mayfield, ASCD Author
When [Vernita Mayfield](https://www.ascd.org/people/vernita-mayfield) began her teaching career in Compton, she felt grateful for the Black teachers who took her under their wing. Moving to a less diverse area and having to dispel assumptions other educators held, however, strengthened her resolve to raise awareness about implicit bias. In this video, Mayfield speaks about her work with educators who are unaware of their bias and how it can negatively affect interactions with both students and colleagues.
**Book by Vernita Mayfield**
- *[Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege](https://www.ascd.org/books/cultural-competence-now)*
## 
## Gabriel Benn
*"I like the way that it felt to be able to take ownership and responsibility of teaching young people that look like me."* —Gabriel Benn, ASCD Faculty member
[Gabriel Benn](https://www.ascd.org/people/gabriel-benn) sees himself as an accountability partner to his students. Inspired by science fiction author Octavia Butler's writing out her career plans on the back of a notebook and making them happen, he began to understand the magic of creating a new reality through work and focus. In this video, listen to Benn speak about the importance of storytelling and representation.
## Mark Anthony Gooden
*"A lot of my work centers on identity. It helps us understand not only the breadth of our story, but the depth of it."* —Mark Anthony Gooden, ASCD Author
The stories of Black people are too often forgotten or relegated to the past. For [Mark Anthony Gooden](https://www.ascd.org/people/mark-anthony-gooden), education is both an opportunity and an obligation. Hear this professor and author's views on the importance of identity, racial reflective exercises, and connecting with students in multicultural environments.
**Book by Mark Anthony Gooden**
- [*Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership*](https://www.ascd.org/books/five-practices-for-equity-focused-school-leadership)
## 
## Tiffany Anderson
*"There are very few professions where you actually get to save a life, to be responsible for inspiring, changing, and motivating a generation. Education does just that."* —Tiffany Anderson, ASCD Faculty Member
As a student, Tiffany Anderson recognized the difference in education quality between the private school she attended and the schools in her home district. She knew from that moment that she was meant to be an educator—and called to serve the underserved. This educator and [ASCD Faculty member](https://www.ascd.org/people/tiffany-anderson) shares her story about walking in her purpose to dismantle systems of oppression.
**More from Tiffany Anderson**
- [*Don't Count Me Out*](https://ascd.wistia.com/medias/0qykio6dx8) documentary
## 
## Robert Jackson
*"I love doing implicit bias training because it's an opportunity for everybody, including myself, to see things from a different perspective."* —Robert Jackson, ASCD Author
[Robert Jackson's](https://www.ascd.org/people/robert-jackson) early experiences didn't just inspire him to become an educator—it also motivated him to help teachers understand how to better reach Black and brown students. His advice to educators? Have conversations with colleagues who don't look like you.
**Book by Robert Jackson**
- *[Becoming the Educator They Need: Strategies, Mindsets, and Beliefs for Supporting Male Black and Latino Students](https://www.ascd.org/books/becoming-the-educator-they-need)*
## 
## Baruti Kafele
*"Black history propelled me, but simultaneously it saved my life."* —Baruti Kafele, ASCD Author
Baruti Kafele's trajectory changed forever when he read *To Kill a Black Man*, a book about the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. As a longtime educator, presenter, and author, [Kafele](https://www.ascd.org/people/baruti-kafele) instills the importance and relevance of Black history into his work.
**Books by Baruti Kafele**
- *[The Assistant Principal 50](https://www.ascd.org/books/the-assistant-principal-50)*
- *[The Aspiring Principal 50](https://www.ascd.org/books/the-aspiring-principal-50)*
- *[Is My School Better Because I Lead It?](https://www.ascd.org/books/is-my-school-a-better-school-because-i-lead-it)*
- *[The Teacher 50](https://www.ascd.org/books/the-teacher-50)*
- *[The Principal 50](https://www.ascd.org/books/the-principal-50)*
- *[Closing the Attitude Gap](https://www.ascd.org/books/closing-the-attitude-gap)*
- *[Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life](https://www.ascd.org/books/motivating-black-males-to-achieve-in-school-and-in-life)*
- ***[The Equity and Social Justice Education 50](https://www.ascd.org/books/the-equity-and-social-justice-education-50)***
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