Curriculum Development
The Middle Passage Project promotes curriculum development in African American history and culture, at both at the K-12 and college levels, including the development of interactive and transportable curricular materials. Highly qualified consultants work with local schools to address minority achievement concerns; college students partner with minority youth to form a “community of scholars.” We also host programs for museum educators.
Our performance project, Crossing a Deep River: A Ritual Drama in Three Movements, overlaps with projects in education and curriculum development, especially in the areas of African and African American Studies and Theater. Each production of Crossing a Deep River integrates workshops in acting and directing, a community forum, and African Odyssey, a photographic exhibition/installation featuring sites of memory relevant to this topic.
The community forums address issues relevant to the black community. An obvious focus will be topics related to performance issues and techniques, the slave trade, and/or the creative process. However, individual communities involved in expanding the project will determine locally relevant forum topics. For example, one community might choose to discuss issues of minority academic achievement. Another might wish to focus on the myriad health care issues confronting minority communities. Such flexibility and adaptability contemporizes the historical approach and extends its effect.
