Identity First: Planting the Seeds of Liberation for the Black Child
- Andrese Howard
- Nov 2
- 2 min read
Before a Black child ever reads a chapter, solves an equation, or writes a sentence, there is a deeper kind of learning already at work the learning of self. Identity is a child’s first curriculum. It shapes confidence, voice, imagination, and the belief that they are worthy of knowledge, joy, and belonging. When identity is nurtured, the Black child rises rooted and unshakeable. When it is ignored, dismissed, or distorted, the child learns to shrink, to question their own brilliance, and to internalize limits that were never theirs.
For too long, our children have been placed into systems that seek to manage them more than they seek to know them. But as Dr. Karida L. Brown reminds us in The Battle for the Black Mind, the fight for our children is not only political or academic it is psychological. It is spiritual. It is cultural. To educate the whole Black child, we must reclaim their identity as the starting point, not an afterthought.
The HILL Model positions identity as the foundation of learning. It invites us to ask: Who are you? Who do you come from? Who are you becoming? These are not soft questions they are liberation questions. Because when a Black child knows they descend from inventors, architects, scholars, farmers, storytellers, scientists, builders, and visionaries, their posture toward learning changes. They no longer enter classrooms wearing the burden of disproving stereotypes. They enter wearing the armor of truth.
Identity as Protection
Black children need identity because the world will try to name them before they ever name themselves. When identity is affirmed at home and school, children can recognize harmful narratives and resist internalizing them. They become more likely to advocate, question, and imagine beyond the limits society places on them.
Identity as Direction
Identity helps Black children see that their brilliance is not accidental—it is inherited. Learning becomes meaningful when it is connected to culture, lived experience, and purpose. When children see themselves in their curriculum, they see themselves in their future.
Identity as Liberation
To give a child identity is to give them freedom—freedom to explore, to create, to question, and to take up space. Identity tells a child: You are not here by mistake. You are here by design.
So how do we nurture identity daily?
Tell them the stories of who they come from
Surround them with books that mirror their truth
Speak life into their gifts out loud, often
Call them by their names and honor their language
Create rituals of belonging at home and school
Teach them that Blackness is not a problem to solve it is a legacy to live
If we want Black children to build and imagine futures filled with possibility, we must first make sure they know who they are. When we plant identity first, everything that grows from it skills, intellect, joy, and purpose becomes stronger.
Let us raise Black children who are whole, not just educated. Rooted, not just compliant. Liberated, not just instructed.
Below see downloadable resources for families and educators!
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