Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman, a scholar who is now working on a book about Black homeschooling, said many Black parents fear that some traditional public schools will exact a mental and psychological toll on their children. 

'When we talk about being in spaces where our histories are continuously distorted or ignored, where a child cannot see themselves or their ancestors in the retellings of stories on how things have been created or develop, that is an assault on your mental state," Ali-Coleman said. 'Home schooling is a safe space'."

-Moriah Balingit and Kate Rabinowitz, The Washington Post-July 27, 2021, Homeschooling exploded among Black, Asian and Latino students. But, it wasn't just the pandemic.

Read the Article Here

Covid-19 was the publicist for homeschooling,” says Khadijah Ali-Coleman, a longtime homeschooling parent and a researcher who studies African American homeschool students. In April 2020, Ali-Coleman and researcher Cheryl Fields-Smith co-founded the Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars network to connect researchers and the handful of Black homeschool families they had met through their research. But what began as a small Facebook group climbed to over 1,000 members, including many families new to homeschooling.


-Pia Ceres, Wired Magazine-June 3, 2021, They Rage-Quit the School System—and They're Not Going Back 

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Even before the pandemic, concerns about racially hostile environments contributed to large numbers of Black parents turning to homeschooling, said Khadijah Ali-Coleman, co-director of Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars. There has since been a surge in homeschooling among Black families. 


"'Racism in schools plays a huge, huge role in a family’s choice to do homeschooling,' Ali-Coleman said. 'That racism can manifest in a lot of different ways, from a teacher who criminalizes every behavior to not recognizing how curriculums exclude the experiences of Black people to not presenting Black children with the same opportunities such as accelerated classes as white children.

-Christine Fernando, The Associated Press-May 4, 2021, Some Black Parents Say Homeschooling Gives Racism a Reprieve

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Dr. Khadijah Ali-Coleman, a mother and  multi-disciplinary artist, co-founded Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars to share best practices that serve Black homeschooling families. 

-The Final Call - August 25, 2020, Looking beyond politics for Black survival 
Read the article here.

Khadijah Ali-Coleman, co-director of Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars, has noted an increase in Black parents choosing to homeschool their children rather than sending them off to school.

“Racism in schools plays a huge, huge role in a family's choice to do homeschooling...that racism can manifest in a lot of different ways-- from the teacher who criminalizes every behavior to not recognizing how curriculum exclude the experiences of Black people."

-Jeroslyn Johnson- May 2021, Black Parents Credit Remote Learning for Easing Issues of Racism
Read the article here
 

media work as a producer, host and director

The Black Writer's Studio

Dr. Khadijah Ali-Coleman is the host of the Black Writer's Studio podcast. She is the executive director of the Hurston Wright Foundation. The podcast highlights writers of the African diaspora. Each new episode is released on Sundays via YouTube, Anchor.FM and Spotify.

Contemporary Perspectives on Black Homeschooling

The Contemporary Perspectives on Black Homeschooling podcast is hosted by Dr. Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman. This podcast can be listened to on Spotify, Apple, Google Play and other podcast spaces. Learn more about BFHES at http://www.BlackFamilyHomeschooling.org

Who Is Liberated Muse?

A short film about the arts collective Liberated Muse Arts Group. Khadijah Ali-Coleman founded Liberated Muse in 2008.


 

Using the stage name, Khadijah Moon, Khadijah Ali-Coleman has appeared on numerous stages showcasing her talents as a versatile singer with incredible depth and musical instinct. She has appeared on renowned stages such as the Apollo Theater in New York and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with her arts collective, Liberated Muse and as a solo artist.  As a spoken word artist, she was featured for two years as a poetry host at Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC and has edited three volumes of the Liberated Muse anthology series featuring writers and visual artists from around the world. As a poet, singer and playwright, she has served as the Creative Director of the arts collective Liberated Muse Arts Group which she founded in 2008.

In 2016, Khadijah compiled her music into a one-woman show called Song of a Space Cadet, presented by Artscape, the nation's second largest arts festival. The production featured music, poetry and monologues to share her memoir of how she rebounded from personal and national tragedy to create powerful art.
Soon after, she released a CD of the music from the show titled Song of a Space Cadet. 
 

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Theatre Reviews

A playwright, Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman has had more than a dozen of her plays presented publicly in venues throughout the country, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Theater Alliance, and Baltimore Theater Project. She was selected as a Theater Alliance Quadrant Playwright in 2019, working on a commissioned play that was presented as a film by Theater Alliance in 2021.

Original music from the stage musical WHEN WE WERE GODDESSES, book written by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman and song lyrics by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman & Angela Ballard with music composed and performed by Ben Dawson, Jr. Vocal performances by Lyn Halstead, Khadijah Ali-Coleman, Colie Aziza and Anonamas

Original music from the stage musical RUNNING: AMOK written by Khadijah Ali-Coleman. Book/lyrics by Khadijah Ali-Coleman, Music composed (and performed) by Gary Young. See playlist for vocalist names.
Running: AMOK debuted in the 2010 Capital Fringe Fest and was featured in a successful five-day run in 2011, presented by the DC Black Theater Festival (DCBTF) in May preceding the DCBTF summer festival.
 

Executive Produced by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman
All music composed, produced and engineered by Ben Dawson, Jr.
Co-produced by Colette Williams, Angela Ballard, and Lyn Artope
All song and spoken word lyrics written by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman EXCEPT the following:

"The Awakening" written by Lyn Artope, music composed by Ben Dawson, Jr.

"Us" written by Angela Ballard, music composed by Ben Dawson, Jr.
"Baltimore" written by Randy Newman, used with permission. New music composition by Ben Dawson, Jr.

"Mardi Gras" written by Colette Williams, music composed by Ben Dawson, Jr.

"In My Song" is written by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman with an excerpt of Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal Woman" included.

Vocal performances by Lyn Halstead, Khadijah Ali-Coleman, Colie Aziza and Anonamas