This 1976 article, from The Black Panther, describes the third graduation of the Oakland Community School. The eight graduates were described as “truly Black and Beautiful,” alluding to the Black Power movement, and the title quote of the article is “I want to help my people be free.” Other elements of the article such as the childrens’ visit to the San Quentin prison and their dreams of pursuing “revolutionary” careers link Oakland Community School to the Black Panther Party and the movement for Black liberation.
The article also emphasizes the sadness students felt at leaving the school’s warm and loving culture and the profound pride and joy expressed by the community. Most of all, the article describes the love that both the students and the community felt for the school. It poses the question “How many Black and poor children in America actually love the schools they attend?”
The phrase “The World is Child’s Classroom” — the school’s motto which spoke to the school’s practice of experiential learning — was inscribed on rings the graduating students received.
It’s instructive to compare the 1976 and 1977 articles about the respective OCS graduation ceremonies. The 1976 article references the Black Power Movement, the Black Panthers, Black liberation, the importance of community-oriented careers, and a field trip to San Quentin Prison. By contrast, the 1977 article only mentions the Black Engineers Conference and a field trip to the Afro-American Cultural and Historical Society in San Francisco, and the students’ career goals seem more mainstream. The cause for these differences is unclear–perhaps the article was simply written by a different author, or perhaps the editors of The Black Panther felt that the 1977 article should be more brief. However, the shift in focus could also be posited as evidence of a re-orientation and possible de-radicalization of the Oakland Community School.
