Covenant Curriculum Expected to Inspire Learning, Social Action
By Ronald Roach
While The Covenant With Black America has sparked a publishing phenomenon, a group of scholars and activists affiliated with Tavis Smiley are hoping that its popularity will motivate Blacks to achieve an awareness of democratic action that will result in meaningful social activism. The movement involves more than just a book; it has also inspired the Covenant Curriculum. Available for download at the Covenant’s Web site, <www.covenantwithblackamerica.com>, the curriculum’s standard and advanced versions provide a structured reading list of classic texts and scholarly commentary.
Historical works from W.E.B. Du Bois, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells and Herman Melville, among others, are included in the curriculum, along with excerpts from contemporary writers and intellectuals like Toni Morrison, Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley and Dr. Nell Painter. The curriculum expands upon the 10 action areas (health care, criminal justice, education and others) outlined in The Covenant, and is meant to ground its participants in the African-American experience.
The Covenant Curriculum, devised by Princeton University professors Cornel West and Eddie Glaude Jr. at Smiley’s request, was timed to coordinate with the State of the Black Union 2006 meeting in February. During that meeting, which was broadcast by C-SPAN, Smiley announced The Covenant. According to Glaude, an estimated 2 million people visited the Web site that day.
“It was an amazing moment in African-American political life and history,” he says. “In one fell swoop, 2 million people hit the Web site and proceeded to download all sorts of materials.”
Glaude, a professor of religion and African-American studies, says ideas
for the curriculum sprang from his collaboration with West during a joint course on the Black intellectual tradition. West had participated in the State of the Black Union 2005, and was working with Smiley on improving the program for 2006. What they came up with, among other things, was an online curriculum. Since the announcement, Glaude has
been promoting the curriculum and participating in Smiley’s Covenant Tour.
