What Dr. Carter G. Woodson Taught Me About Building a Culturally Responsive Theatre Program

Ms. A
Jul 10
4 min read

Updated: Jul 25

A reflection on liberatory education, identity, and the power of culturally responsive theatre

“When you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions.”— Dr. Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro

What Carter G. Woodson Taught Me about building a drama program

When I first encountered the work of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, it was during my junior year of college in the fall of 2016. I was assigned The Mis-Education of the Negro in a class that promised to challenge conventional thinking. What I didn’t expect was how deeply this book would confront the very foundation of my own educational experience.

Until then, I hadn’t fully realized how much I had internalized white-centered narratives. Growing up Afro-Latina in Brooklyn, New York, I absorbed messages—both subtle and overt—that whiteness was the standard. Like so many students of color in the American education system, I had been taught to see value in everything but myself: European history, white authors, classical theatre.

My own cultural identity? Barely mentioned. Seldom celebrated.

Woodson’s critique of systemic miseducation hit hard: “The Negro is taught to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin, and the Teuton and to despise the African.” I saw myself in those words. And more importantly, I saw the cost of a curriculum that omits the stories, histories, and voices of students who look like me.

Reimagining Theatre as a Tool for Liberation

Theatre has always held transformative power, but too often, the stage becomes another place of exclusion. In many school settings, theatre education leans heavily into Eurocentric works and storytelling traditions. This not only alienates students of color, but it also reinforces the idea that their stories don’t belong.

Woodson taught me that education should be a means of liberation, not assimilation. That powerful realization became the foundation of my work as an educator and artist.

A Moment That Changed Everything

I often think back to that day in class when I first heard Dr. Woodson’s words and began scribbling notes in the pages of The Mis-Education of the Negro. My professor said something that shifted everything:

“If you want to change the system, you must create the content students are learning.” Dr. Thomassina Hassler

That’s when it clicked. Most curriculum publishers are white. Most textbooks omit or sanitize the lived experiences of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. If I wanted to see change, I had to become the change. I had to write the curriculum. Tell the stories. Distribute the truth.

Here’s a snapshot of those notes—messy, urgent, full of questions and possibilities:

What started as classroom brainstorming became a calling. That moment of clarity, captured in blue ink on the first page of Woodson’s book, remains a compass for my work today.

In 2019, I founded PEAK Theatre Arts to address the lack of access to high-quality, culturally responsive theatre programming in my community. But more than that, I wanted to answer Dr. Woodson’s call to decolonize education, using my passion and love for the arts.

My original notes in Miseducation of a Negro

Spotlight: A Culturally Responsive Theatre Program

As a direct response to the educational gaps I experienced and the call for justice Woodson issued nearly a century ago, I created the Spotlight: a culturally responsive theatre curriculum that centers the voices of BIPOC and Latinx youth.

Rather than asking students to conform to a narrow artistic mold, Spotlight invites them to tell their own stories. Through devised theatre, story drama, and script development, students explore their identities, cultures, and communities. They don’t just perform, they lead, create, and reflect.

Spotlight is built around universal themes like resilience, identity, and belonging, but told from diverse perspectives that have been historically excluded from theatre spaces. It’s a space where students not only see themselves reflected but are empowered to define themselves.

Why It Matters Now More Than Ever

In today’s climate of increasing educational censorship and pushback against DEI initiatives, culturally responsive theatre education is not a luxury; it’s a necessity. When young people are told their stories are inappropriate, divisive, or unimportant, they internalize a message that directly contradicts everything Dr. Woodson fought for.

At PEAK Theatre Arts, we remain committed to creating safe and brave spaces where all students can explore their full humanity. Where storytelling becomes a bridge—not a battleground—for empathy, creativity, and connection.

Continuing the Work

I still carry Woodson’s words with me as both a warning and a call to action. I continue to unlearn the lies I was taught and embrace the truth of my heritage. That inner work fuels my outward mission: to ensure the next generation doesn’t wait until adulthood to discover the value of their voice.

The work of decolonizing theatre education is ongoing, but it is possible. And it begins by remembering that when students see themselves on stage, they also begin to see themselves in the world.