Toward Liberation Educational Practices Rooted in Activism, Healing and Love

An essential guide for frontline educators to address systemic racial oppression, repair harm, and foster safe, inclusive learning spaces for their students


For educators and readers of Bettina Love’s We Want to Do More Than Survive, with a foreword by Leigh Patel, author of No Study Without Struggle

Toward Liberation is the timely and practical guide that pioneers new pathways for educators to repair harm and foster transformative learning spaces. This road map for liberatory pedagogy is replete with resources, tools, and strategies drawn from Jamilah Pitts's experiences as a young Black girl, a Black student, a teacher, a former school leader, and a consultant with schools across the country.

Educators will want to mark up and keep their copy of Toward Liberation at their desks for easy reference. In its pages, they will find

• Real-life examples and student writing from Pitts’s classroom
• Explorative questions for teachers to consider in their equity work
• Constructive charts that map out manifestations of harm
• Activities to engage students in liberatory learning
• Healing and self-care strategies for teachers—particularly Black women educators

Pitts infuses her writing with an extensive knowledge base of the education system, honed over years as a teacher, a coach, a dean, an assistant principal, and a national education consultant. The tenets of this book—rooted in truthtelling, activism, healing, wellness, self-care, and, ultimately, love— both inform and are inspired by the healing work Pitts does with educators to this day. In doing this work, she helps to reimagine the role of the critical teacher.

Toward Liberation equips teachers with the tools they need to carve a path toward liberatory educational practices, ensuring that students are afforded the full range of their humanity and their experience, in and out of the classroom.

Jamilah Pitts is an educator, social entrepreneur, writer, and yoga teacher whose work centers the liberation, healing, and holistic development of communities of color. Jamilah has worked and served in various roles and spaces to promote racial justice and healing. She is the Founder and CEO of Jamilah Pitts Consulting and she is also the Founder of  She, Imprints. Jamilah has served as a teacher, coach, dean, and as an assistant principal. She has worked in domestic and international educational spaces, including Massachusetts, New York, the Dominican Republic, China and India.