In a city where Black culture shapes the rhythm of daily life, the Detroit Public Schools Community District is confronting an outdated educational system that still centers whiteness in its core curriculum. Despite serving a student population that is 82% Black, Detroit’s K–12 standards have historically reflected a Eurocentric worldview by limiting Black history to mostly slavery and civil rights.
But inside of DPSCD, a deliberate effort is underway to change that. From a homegrown Detroit History curriculum to inclusive literature and civic engagement tools, the district is working to rewrite what relevance and representation look like in education.
A 2023 Education Trust study confirms that only 13% of the mandated K-12 curricula includes meaningful Black historical content outside of slavery and civil rights.
That statistic doesn’t just tell a story—it demands a response.
Inside the Detroit Public Schools Community District, the fight to reclaim cultural truth in the classroom is ongoing and deliberate. Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti says the district has taken intentional steps to confront historical erasure and build a curriculum that reflects the full humanity of Black students.
“Black history is American history and should be a part of every school district’s curriculum beyond slavery and the civil rights movement, regardless of the race and/or ethnicity of students,” he told Michigan Chronicle. “In DPSCD we have been intentional to go far beyond slavery and civil rights content through the development and implementation of our elementary grades Detroit History curriculum, novel selections at each grade level through our English and Language Arts courses, and supplemental social studies content.”
Dr. Vitti explained that the district doesn’t just drop materials in classrooms without critical review.
“We actively review our teaching materials for explicit and implicit biases with internal and external stakeholders. We also invite all community members to review our curriculum materials for feedback and suggestions. When reviewed, we believe most people will see we are exposing our students to themes, content, and materials that reflect our students and their history.”
For Leenet Campbell-Williams, the district’s Chief Academic Officer and head of social studies, this work is both personal and professional. She’s a DPSCD graduate herself.
“Recognizing that Detroit is a majority-Black city, we are committed to ensuring our students see themselves fully and affirmatively reflected in what they read and learn,” she said.
That commitment has reshaped how curriculum is written and taught.
“We redesigned our ELA and social studies curriculum to be both rooted and relevant. Rooted means it is anchored in rigorous standards. Relevant means it connects to the lived experiences of our students and their communities,” said Campbell-Williams.
That reimagining led to the creation of the Detroit History curriculum, which explores labor movements, the Great Migration, music traditions like Motown and techno, and the lives of local leaders including General Gordon Baker Jr. and Grace Lee Boggs.
“We paired this with the Citizen Manual resource, which teaches how local government works and how students can take civic action,” Campbell-Williams added. “Black history is no longer limited to one unit or one month. It is woven throughout all grades, so students see their identities and contributions as central to understanding the world.”
That weaving isn’t theoretical. It lives inside the pages of books. The district’s Detroit Perspectives Project revises and supplements core literacy materials to center stories of Black resistance, resilience, beauty, and brilliance. It includes texts like March: Book One, Kindred, Hidden Figures, and One Last Word—books that frame Black life with power, not pity.
Campbell-Williams said the effort is about creating students who not only read but also see. “We believe students thrive when curriculum nurtures their identity, builds academic confidence, and develops critical consciousness. Our approach is grounded in student-centered learning—ensuring every child is seen, challenged, and inspired.”
That work is especially urgent as national pressure mounts to strip curriculum of diversity. With political campaigns calling for the end of race-conscious education, and federal funding increasingly tied to compliance with those directives, districts like Detroit walk a tightrope. Still, Campbell-Williams says the district doesn’t bend to that pressure.
“Our responsibility is to prepare students for college, careers, and life. That means meeting high academic standards while reflecting the stories of our community. National conversations about curriculum do not change our focus: strong content aligned to standards and connected to where our students live.”
She pointed to the Detroit History curriculum’s dual alignment: it satisfies state requirements while grounding students in oral histories, archival materials, and primary sources specific to Detroit.
“Local control is a professional responsibility we take seriously to ensure students learn rigorous content in ways that resonate with their own experiences and leadership potential.”
That balancing act—between local leadership and national influence—reveals the power and fragility of school autonomy. Community voices have been a critical force behind many of DPSCD’s curricular changes.
“Parents, educators, and students pushed for more local history and diverse texts,” said Campbell-Williams. “Their advocacy helped us build a curriculum that is academically rigorous while reflecting the identities and aspirations of Detroit students.”
She credits this advocacy with making the Detroit Perspectives Project possible. “When the community speaks up for inclusive books and learning about local leaders, it makes our curriculum stronger, builds pride in students’ identities, and shows them they are not just learning history but that they are part of it.”
Tiffany Brockington, a Detroit native, HBCU alumna, PhD candidate, and higher education practitioner at Coppin State University, says this advocacy is essential because the default curriculum was never designed for Black success.
“The American educational system’s default curriculum is one that centers Eurocentric identities, values, and perspectives. This ‘standard’ lens is applied at every level, but it only harms students who are non-white and male.”
She points to the long-term impact this has on access to higher education. “A Eurocentric approach to college readiness and self-identity for Black students is harmful,” said Brockington. “The idea of college preparedness, access, college advising, and other pre-college programs are all means toward creating equity. But what happens when schools or programs don’t use a framework that speaks to or centers Black people in a positive manner? They continue to perpetuate the same system they claim to dismantle.”
Brockington is a product of a Detroit institution that did it differently. She attended the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse of Detroit, led by founding principal Mrs. Carmen N’Namdi.
“Some would argue that Nataki isn’t a ‘traditional’ Afrocentric school because Mrs. N’Namdi did not explicitly declare it as such,” she said. “But if applying Shockley’s approach and definition of Afrocentric education, then it does fit. It used Kwanzaa as a set of guiding principles and built a school culture around collective advancement.”
She says community-rooted, culturally affirming education cannot depend solely on school leaders. “If school leaders want to have a more affirming educational experience and they serve a predominantly Black student population, then they need to invest in the people who can provide Afrocentric educational experiences to their students.”
Her message to policymakers is simple: lean into the discomfort.
“Correcting a centuries-wide, multi-layered educational access gap will make you uncomfortable—and that’s not something to avoid. Black students have consistently been forced to adapt to curriculum and school culture that denies who they are. It’s time to shift that burden.”
How do Detroit’s students navigate a world that still considers their cultural knowledge elective—while their peers in wealthier, whiter districts are affirmed as standard?
They do it by code-switching between the truth they know and the narratives they’re told will help them pass a test. They carry the weight of local brilliance while being measured against rubrics that rarely see that brilliance as valid. They learn about ancient African civilizations in one classroom, then walk into another where only European thinkers are framed as the origin of science, democracy, or art. They master their city’s history, yet their understanding of struggle and triumph is treated as supplemental, while other students’ histories are treated as the foundation.
Detroit’s young people are expected to compete in systems that rarely center their experience, language, or knowledge. They’re told that learning about their own community is optional, while Western history is required. That disparity sends a clear message about whose knowledge is considered academic, and whose is seen as personal or cultural. And when a student’s identity is treated as extra credit—rather than core curriculum—their educational experience becomes a constant negotiation between affirmation and erasure.
Detroit has made strides. The district has redesigned its curriculum, invested in inclusive texts, and listened to community voices. But even as it moves with intentionality, it must still operate inside a national framework shaped by Eurocentric values. A framework that was never designed for Black children to see themselves as central, brilliant, and belonging.
That tension is not just educational—it’s political.
And while DPSCD can model what is possible, it cannot fully protect its students from a system that still defaults to whiteness as universal. State standards, college entrance exams, accreditation criteria, and federal policy all shape what is taught and valued. Without transformation at those levels, even the most culturally affirming curriculum in Detroit risks being sidelined in the metrics that determine access, funding, and recognition.
The real measure of success isn’t just how well Detroit’s students perform on standardized tests. It’s whether the systems around them evolve to recognize the legitimacy of their stories, the depth of their histories, and the power of their leadership. It’s whether Black children across this country are no longer asked to prove their value through frameworks that were never built to see them.
Because an education that affirms Black children in Detroit isn’t just good for Detroit—it’s a blueprint for justice across the nation.
This story is part of a three-part series examining Black children and white curriculums in K–12 education. This was Part 2. Part 3 will conclude with a focus on community-led solutions with a hyper-local lens.
Ebony JJ Curry can be reached at ecurry@michronicle.com.