Donning child-sized toques 鈥� the tall, white, pleated hats worn by chefs 鈥� Winter, 9, DeVonte, 8, and Stormy, 7, took charge of the kitchen, perfecting their knife skills by slicing bell peppers and stirring the roux until it reached a golden brown.

By the end of the course, they鈥檇 made traditional Southern greens, black-eyed peas, smothered chicken and other dishes that trace back to African culture. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e already talking about making the cornbread for Thanksgiving,鈥� said Foster.

The culinary-themed Black history lesson, called Soul Food Summer Camp, was a local twist on one of the popular courses available from Reconstruction 鈥� an online enrichment platform celebrating Black Americans鈥� contributions and heritage.

In a year when classroom discussions about race and discrimination have bitterly divided school boards and statehouses, topics such as the essential role of corn in the diet of Black slaves may seem conspicuously noncontroversial. But fostering Black children鈥檚 鈥減ositive identity development鈥� in the way Hebrew and Chinese schools do for children in other communities is exactly what Kaya Henderson had in mind when she launched Reconstruction a year ago. As former chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, she wants to counter a narrative that Black families don鈥檛 value education.

Roughly 15,000 students are expected to sign up this fall for Reconstruction, a for-profit company that delivers live enrichment classes on Black history and culture over Zoom to students across the country. Black parents browsing its offerings find courses 鈥渦napologetically鈥� designed for them and their children. 鈥淪horties鈥� (4- to 11-year-olds), 鈥淵oungins鈥� (12- to 14-year-olds) and 鈥淕en Z鈥� youth cover Black entrepreneurship and cultural knowledge. Students can design apps for nonprofits working to support the Black community or study speeches and sermons of famous Black orators. Parents began asking for their own courses, so there鈥檚 a Read and Rap Book Club for 鈥済rown folks.鈥�

Henderson鈥檚 decision to market directly to families and nonprofit organizations has allowed Reconstruction to bypass school district politics.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to be at the whim of state legislators,鈥� said Henderson, who credits the program鈥檚 more celebratory approach to Black history for keeping it under the radar. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not out here talking about white people being awful. We鈥檙e giving young people positive examples, and that keeps us a little bit out of the fray.鈥�

But that doesn鈥檛 mean the curriculum ignores America鈥檚 painful racial history. For example, several courses include lessons on the once-thriving commercial district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as Black Wall Street, and the 1921 massacre in which a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses there.

鈥楢 place of belonging鈥�

The mission to give students a more comprehensive story begins with the program鈥檚 name: Reconstruction, the period following the Civil War when Confederate states rejoined the Union and former slaves got their first taste of freedom. It鈥檚 鈥渁 lesser known part of American history when African Americans were thriving politically, economically, educationally,鈥� Henderson said. 鈥淲e wanted to challenge folks who don’t know that part of our history to explore it. And we wanted to remind our students that they come from a rich tradition of Black excellence in America that they have a responsibility to uphold.鈥�

A former Teach for America executive director in D.C., Henderson served under former Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who was for closing low-performing schools and instituting a tough teacher evaluation system. With mayoral control of schools, Henderson continued those reforms during her some critics argued her strategies didn鈥檛 do enough to close racial achievement gaps. after she resigned, the city鈥檚 Board of Ethics and Government Accountability her for granting the requests of colleagues to place their children in preferred schools rather than submitting them to the district鈥檚 competitive lottery system.

When it came to designing Reconstruction, her experience helming the 51,000 student district was instructional. It helped fuel a desire to sidestep a K-12 bureaucracy that hasn鈥檛 always done right by African-Americans.

Black students, she said, often have negative experiences in school, and Henderson wanted Reconstruction to be 鈥渁 place of belonging, joy and love.鈥� She also didn鈥檛 want to conform to 50 different sets of state standards 鈥� particularly in light of on lessons or materials that could make students feel uncomfortable or guilty because of their race or gender. Reconstruction launched about five months before states began considering legislation to outlaw so-called critical race theory 鈥� a loose umbrella of topics from Black history to culturally responsive teaching.

Reconstruction courses have no more than 10 students, and there aren鈥檛 any end-of-course tests. That doesn鈥檛 mean the lessons go easy on academics, Henderson said. The reading and math courses can add up to a full year鈥檚 curriculum.

鈥淭o me, the rigor is paramount, but I鈥檓 not trying to replace school,鈥� said Henderson.

Reconstruction鈥檚 business model also gives Henderson control over who she hires as 鈥渞econstructors鈥濃�� the team of young educators who teach the courses.

鈥淭here have been enough hot mic episodes over the years to show that everyone who鈥檚 teaching children doesn鈥檛 always believe in Black children,鈥� Henderson said.

In March, for instance, a resigned after making comments on a Zoom call about Black parents teaching their children to make excuses for their behavior. A mother recorded the teacher, who was apparently unaware the call was ongoing.

Henderson and co-founder Roland Fryer, a Harvard economics professor, initially discussed whether Reconstruction should be a school curriculum or offered outside the traditional system. Fryer, Henderson said, leaned toward integrating the concept into schools.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want [children] to be taught that there鈥檚 slavery, Jim Crow and then you. I want for the history to be full and for them to be empowered,鈥� Fryer said during a recent two-part interview on the Ian Rowe, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Those episodes aired the same week that Fryer at Harvard after completing a two-year probation and training on 鈥渁ppropriate boundaries.鈥� In 2019, the university placed him on administrative leave after an investigation showed he had violated sexual harassment policies and engaged in 鈥渦nwelcome鈥� conduct, such as talking about sex and telling sexual jokes in the Education Innovation Lab he ran. He denied accusations of harassment and retaliation, but later apologized in into whether Fryer retaliated against an accuser closed when a female employee withdrew her complaint.

The university shut down the lab, where Fryer 鈥� who, at 30, became the youngest Black professor to earn tenure at Harvard 鈥� led notable research on the effectiveness of charter schools and racial disparities in education and policing.

As he faced disciplinary action at Harvard, Fryer co-founded Equal Opportunity Ventures in 2019 to support Reconstruction and other startups that focus on closing racial disparities and expanding economic opportunity. He serves as chair of Reconstruction鈥檚 board of directors, but Henderson said he is not involved in daily operations. She added that she鈥檚 never received any questions or concerns from parents or organizations about his involvement.

In an email to 社区黑料, Fryer declined to comment on the probation or his work developing Reconstruction during that time. But he said, 鈥淚 am delighted to be back teaching at Harvard, and currently have a class of nearly 200 students eager to learn about how companies like Reconstruction can both change the world around us and be a sustainable business.鈥�

鈥楥ulturally relevant perspectives鈥�

That business model is primarily aimed at parents, who pay $100 for each 10-session course. But nonprofits, such as the Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh, are making the program available to students for free.

The traditional education system has also taken notice.

In the Baltimore City Public Schools last year, 140 students from 17 schools took an afterschool program featuring Reconstruction鈥檚 course on the movement of Africans into the Americas and the Caribbean during the slave trade.

David Anderson, a junior in an advanced STEM program at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, said he learned about Manhattan鈥檚 Seneca Village, a pre-Civil War African American settlement that got pushed out to develop Central Park. The life of abolitionist Sojourner Truth also stuck with him.

鈥淪he was more under the radar than Harriet Tubman, but her job was just as important,鈥� Anderson said.

David鈥檚 mother, Annette Campbell Anderson, an educator and professor at Johns Hopkins University, was initially skeptical about the program, having been underwhelmed by the district鈥檚 previous afterschool offerings. But she was impressed by her son鈥檚 commitment to the course.

鈥淚 found myself needing to change our family dinner schedule on Tuesdays when he had class because he refused to leave the sessions early,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd if I served dinner early, he raced upstairs to be on time 鈥� for a Zoom session.鈥�

Reconstruction has won praise from those on opposite sides of the debate over critical race theory.

Sharif El-Mekki, CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development, said it鈥檚 important for Black children to have a space designed for them, even if it鈥檚 virtual.

鈥淥ut-of-school-time has always been one of the most-effective and least invested-in levers for achievement for Black children,鈥� said El-Mekki, whose daughters, Zaynab and Zakiyyah, participated in Reconstruction鈥檚 pilot and then took the cooking class.

The program provides Black children with a 鈥渉olistic, centering and respectful curriculum,鈥� he said, adding that students who participate in the program could become 鈥減owerful advocates鈥� for more culturally responsive teaching in their own schools.

Like other Black educators, El-Mekki has said the debates over critical race theory misrepresent what schools actually teach students but also ignore the persistent educational inequalities affecting Black and Hispanic students.

At a time when some states, such as California, Connecticut and , are expanding ethnic studies in the curriculum, he thinks Reconstruction is one way to re-engage Black students and others 鈥渢hat have been perpetually let down by the educational ecosystem.鈥�

鈥楢ll kids of all races鈥�

At the National Charter School Conference in June, El-Mekki and Rowe, from the American Enterprise Institute, strongly disagreed about the furor over critical race theory, but joined in their praise for Henderson鈥檚 program.

In a 鈥渟hout-out鈥� for Reconstruction, Rowe said: 鈥淚 think it’s good that we鈥檙e having more discussions about what should be the complete [story] 鈥� warts and all, oppression and resilience 鈥� that we鈥檙e teaching all kids of all races about what has transpired with African Americans in the United States.鈥�

The process isn鈥檛 always easy. White parents are among Reconstruction鈥檚 customers, Henderson said, but some have requested that their child not be the only non-Black student in a class. Others have even asked for all-white classes, a request that would have raised the spectre of segregation in the public school world she left behind.

Those requests don鈥檛 bother her.

Though there hasn鈥檛 yet been enough demand for an all-white class, Henderson said she鈥檇 鈥渁bsolutely consider it.鈥� Some parents tell her their kids don鈥檛 have a lot of experience interacting with Black children and worry they might say the wrong thing. The goal, she said, is to get the message out to as wide an audience as possible.

鈥淭his stuff is hard and we鈥檙e all going to make mistakes,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are designed for and by African Americans, but we need everyone to learn this history.鈥�

Lead Image: Winter Herbert (L-R), Stormy Foster and DeVonte Foster prepare a meal as part of Soul Food Summer Camp, a week-long virtual cooking course for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, students participating in Reconstruction. (Catapult Greater Pittsburgh)