The incomparable, amazing educator and author Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, author of Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy, visits Daily Border Crossings and gets candid, discussing everything from food and family to 19th century Black women who inspired her work to Taboo and Spades! She discusses her book including how she came up with the title, why the book -- which is grounded in the teachings from Black women in Black literary societies from long ago -- is for all students. Gholdy has made such waves, she’s now working with music super producer Pharrell Williams & shares about that. 

You may have heard about her style of pedagogy or even heard her thoughts on critical race theory —some of which she shares on this episode — but what do you know about her? What drives her? What was life like growing up and who were the special ppl who poured into her so wonderfully that they created the beautiful human she became who now pours into so many? What did she say about Jazmine Sullivan's speech at the Soul Train Awards & hear how she connects that to the long history of Black excellence & Black education. Black excellence and education are the foundation of her book — why does she think her book has been such a success and more importantly, what advice does she have for aspiring authors? Speaking of her book, a number of teachers and schools and districts are using her framework, while many schools, when it comes to antiracist and inclusive and culturally responsive teaching, say they prefer to wait for teacher buy-in to do so. Wait for Gholdys strong views on buy in and why it’s extremely problematic, harmful, and a shameful thing to do. Finally, Gholdy joins me for the new Point Counter Point, where guests get 30 seconds to discuss each item in a list of topics -- and we learn if she's a Taboo or Spades person! All that and more on this episode of Daily Border Crossings -- produced and hosted by Samantha Fletcher, music by Miles J Beats, on socials as @milesjbeats.