Friday, Nov. 17, the Office of Research and Faculty Development at the College of William and Mary School of Education hosted associate professor of school psychology Dr. Janise Parker to present a Zoom lecture. Parker’s lecture, “Learning from the Past, Reflecting on the Present and Planning for a Just Future,” was part of the Faculty Research Brown Bag series.
Associate Dean of the School of Education and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Leandra Parris introduced Parker.
“Dr. Parker takes a healing approach to understanding the intersection of history and current practices to inform services that help communities, particularly those experiencing marginalization, to thrive and grow,” Parris said.
Parker has previously earned awards for her work in the field of school psychology, particularly for her efforts to create support systems for marginalized school psychologists to navigate their careers.
“Parker continues to flourish at W&M developing programs and building opportunities for others,” Stephanie McGuire ’12, M.A.Ed. ’13, Ph.D. ’23 wrote in a press-release. “Both the Presidential Award for Exceptional Service to Children in School Psychology and the NASP Faculty Champion Award reflects Parker’s courage and commitment to serve her students, school psychologists, faculty and her community.”
Parker’s most recent project, known as Project HEAL, stands for “History Evoking Action and Liberation.” The project presents Parker’s work completed in collaboration with the Bray School Lab, consisting of six modules centered on a theme found while analyzing the use of instructional materials for children in the Bray School. Parker labeled two components of these instructional materials.
“One, literacy development, reading and spelling, but then there was also this sense of installing a sense of morality, piety, obedience emphasizing God’s providential and social order. And so they approached that through religious indoctrination,” Parker said.
According to Parker, the purpose of the course relates to the historical nature of oppression and racism. Participants in the course are encouraged to engage critical reflection by understanding the root causes of social oppression and be inspired to move forward as a collective towards a brighter future.
“We know when we think about this whole premise of the good, the bad and the ugly religious indoctrination, especially around this idea of obedience and, kind of, developing social order, we know that in many ways, it is rooted in racism,” Parker said. “Historical racism in the way we view certain goods, in this case, Black individuals, Black children and Black families in the country.”
“We can choose as a collective, as a society to heal and find a path for moving forward,” Parker said. “So how do we do that? One, it is about enlightening others, meaning we have to acknowledge and be willing to acknowledge the historical nature of oppression and racism. But we also acknowledge the wisdom of people of color, of our ancestors’ messages, lessons that they taught to help us identify how we can build upon that and find a path forward.”
Parker defines racism as a form of prejudice that assumes members of a racial category have similar, distinctive characteristics for which they are treated as inferior to others, as well as negative reactions to members of that group. On a broader scale, Parker views racism as a public health crisis responsible for impacts on physical, mental, behavioral, emotional and spiritual health.
To work as a collective society against racism, Parker identifies three core tenets of healing-centered practices: enlighten, educate and empower.
“We can choose as a collective, as a society to heal and find a path for moving forward,” Parker said. “So how do we do that? One, it is about enlightening others, meaning we have to acknowledge and be willing to acknowledge the historical nature of oppression and racism. But we also acknowledge the wisdom of people of color, of our ancestors’ messages, lessons that they taught to help us identify how we can build upon that and find a path forward.”
The project gives public access to educational materials that they may not have previously had access to. Through empowering the community with access to these materials, the project aims to target oppression with tools and strategies.
Parker noted that education is often influenced by the broader political and ideological systems, linking this observation to the information collected through research that had been used to instruct children at the Bray School.
“Overall, when it came to those that were enslaved, including children, there was language in their instructional material that really kind of viewed enslaved people as being poor people, having a low station in life, viewing them as being brought from the land of darkness and ignorance that is their motherland,” Parker said. “There was also language where enslaved individuals, including the way enslaved children, were viewed as barbarians, stubborn, wicked, heathens and ignorant.”
The derogatory names Parker found in educational materials exhibited the information enslaved people were taught as a result of oppression and discrimination.
Parker mentioned efforts by enslaved peoples to resist efforts by enslavers who promoted division between groups. She specifically mentioned the importance of enslaved peoples creation of communal spaces, such as brush arbors, in helping them come together for collective support.
“And so when I think about that piece and the fact that it didn’t matter the differences because, in that moment, it was about, ‘How do we come together as a collective to try to heal, to try to experience what we could, to maintain our humanity?’ They found the way to move past prejudicial bullying. I say to myself again, if our ancestors found a way to come together because they knew that togetherness was just that important, can’t we do it too?” Parker said.
In the 21st century, Parker identified a persistence of prejudice, assumptions and discriminatory treatment towards Black youth. According to Parker, the use of derogatory language, just as it had been used during periods of enslavement, has continued into the 21st century. Parker views this continuation as a result of similar justifications to the use of such language and discriminatory treatment used during slavery.
“If we take ourselves back to the justification that was used during slavery: language differences, immigration status, intellectual capacity, or presumed intellectual capacity and morality,” Parker said. “In so many ways, we have not changed as a collective. And we also know, because religion was deeply embedded in all of this, that those youth, even today in the 21st century who do not identify as Christian, are also subjected to harsh treatment in the school setting. This idea of this ideology, this justification of who is worthy of humanity and who is not continues to enter into our schools in the 21st century.”
For those attending the Bray School, Parker recognized deliberate attempts to impart euro-centric narratives to children through content in educational materials.
“There was a deliberate attempt to strip parents, particularly those who understood who they were as African people, descendants of African people, their heritage and so forth,” Parker said. “There was a deliberate attempt to minimize, to discredit and erase their rights, to pass that on to their children due to the institution of slavery. And so the idea was that through these formal educational structures that were white-dominated and white-led books were consulted extensively. They controlled what Black children, what enslaved children would be exposed to.”
Based on educational material found from the Bray School, the goal of education in this period was rooted in attempts to expose children to Christianity.
“The ultimate goal of education in that particular time period was, one, to Christianize them slightly, particularly for those who opposed it from a religious indoctrination standpoint,” Parker said. “But the goal was also to perpetuate compliance to an oppressive system, because if you erase one’s knowledge, one’s pride of who they are, then they are more likely to teach children, to raise children who will not question the systems of oppression of which they are abetted, who will be more likely to comply and kind of come into this ‘common way of thinking.’”
Parker identified a continuation in the 21st century of similar attempts to control information through the inclusion of primarily European knowledge and concepts in educational settings.
According to Parker, implications of the mistreatment of these children in the school setting results in lower academic performance, impaired social connections and negative physical and mental health.
“Remember, the idea was that we didn’t want to empower these children,” Parker said. “We didn’t want to raise children who questioned the system. And so when we honor culture in the classroom, we create a space for our children to think critically about what’s happening in the world around them. And I would argue we create children who are willing to work as a collective to help us move towards a just future.”
To combat discrimination and mistreatment in educational spaces, Parker values the use of cooperative learning, bringing individuals and groups together in spaces to promote learning and understanding of cultural differences. She considers the ultimate goal of combating the perpetuation of discriminatory treatment to be collective learning and listening through bringing together children in candid settings, rather than in a space led solely by educators and teachers.
“The ultimate goal, when we think about bringing kids together, helping them learn from one another, listening to the stories with an open mind, open heart and engaging in extended contact to get to know one another,” Parker said. “The ultimate goal is to help our youth engage in perspective-taking. Again, to understand that everyone in this world won’t look like me, won’t think like me. But again, there are ways that we can still come together in those spaces. We can create those communal spaces, those bush arbors, if you will, and so build empathy for one another.”
By creating a welcoming environment in a student-centered classroom, Parker recognizes an increased likelihood of academic success and a willingness to honor cultural differences, fostering critical consciousness.
“Remember, the idea was that we didn’t want to empower these children,” Parker said. “We didn’t want to raise children who questioned the system. And so when we honor culture in the classroom, we create a space for our children to think critically about what’s happening in the world around them. And I would argue we create children who are willing to work as a collective to help us move towards a just future.”
Through promoting policies and practices to address issues of low-quality education and limited healthcare access and advocating for equitable treatment, Parker sees an opportunity to improve opportunities for empowerment. She reaffirmed the importance of the framework of radical healing.
“That’s just our willingness to say that we will not succumb to the negative harms of oppression, that we will choose to heal,” Parker said. “We will choose to thrive. And we can do that amongst each other and with our children through what we call freedom dreams. That’s giving them the space to dream of a future that is removed of oppression and a future where we are coming together. Because in our dreams we are more inspired to do something. We can teach them to internalize pride in who they are.”
