Organized Africentric education has been an emerging discipline since the 1960s. Columbus City Schools made it a focus in the late 1990s. Now that it has a foothold in communities why is Africentric education so often considered the exclusive domain of the African American community and not a part of mainstream education?

How has the discipline emerged and why is it important for other areas of study and the larger community? What role do public school systems have in supporting Africentric education, especially at an early age? How have programs like the burgeoning connection between Columbus Afrocentric Early College and Columbus State Community College worked to strengthen on-going education? How does study within Africa and the African Diaspora contribute to these goals?

Featuring Simone Drake, Ph.D. (Hazel C. Youngberg Trustees Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University), Todd Walker, Ph.D. (Director of Columbus Africentric Early College), Robyn Lyons-Robinson, Ph.D. (Chair of the English Department at Columbus State Community College), and moderated by Marshall Shorts (Founder of Artfluential).

Recorded on February 13, 2019 at the Boat House at Confluence Park in Columbus, Ohio.