Naima Robinson recently earned a Doctorate from Long Island University, her formal doctoral dissertation entitled “Avoidance and Denial: How High School Teachers Manage Discussions About Race and Racism.” An exploratory study grounded in Critical Race Theory and examining the racial literacy skills of high school teachers.  Additionally, Naima has an M.S. Ed in Education Leadership, an MS in Social Studies Education, and a BA in History.

Naima has been an educator for 12 years and is the daughter of an educator and a judge. She is a founder and director at Keep Your Change academic support program in North Amityville. KYC’s mission is to provide academic enrichment to an underserved population. KYC is a volunteer based non-profit that works with students in the local community ages 8-18. KYC supports students in writing fluency, reading comprehension, historical analysis, math application, and career readiness, with a focus on leadership and life skills. One of our students, for example, graduated from our program in 2018, with a modest high school GPA and below-average math and writing skills. We worked with him during the summer before he attended an HBCU - he recently was accepted to a program in bioethics at Yale University. Keep Your Change helps to mitigate the damage of the racist public education system on Long Island. A system that underserves our youth and fails to prepare them for life after school.  KYC provides these students with what they need to thrive in high school and beyond.

Naima has developed an extensive Black studies curriculum that she has been teaching at KYC for three years reaching over 100 local students. In her Black Studies class Students study history psychology, sociology, philosophy, and economics. They read Charles Mills The Racial Contract, Ivan Van Sertima’s They Came Before Columbus, and Joy DeGruy’s Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. Her students explore Blackness as a Global Social-Political Identity, race as a social construct, Reparations for the descendants of slaves, Ancient Kemet, Nubia and Kush, Nile Valley Civilization, Great Swahili kingdoms, Masa Musa, The Moors, Hannibal, the transatlantic slave trade, Slave revolts and revolutions, The Haitian Revolution, Slavery and capitalism, Genocide and colonialism, Black feminism, students personal experiences with Racial tensions, conflicts, and stereotypes, African cultural and ethnic groups, colorism, internalized racism, and white supremacy.

She has a background in History and Women's Studies and a primary interest in issues of race, class, and gender equality in education. Her work helps students discover and evaluate the world around them and engage critically in active civil responsibility to make our community a better place.