Pursuing Education Equity: From St. Louis to St. John. | Jessica Samuel | TEDxSaintThomas

What is educational equity and what is its relationship to history, culture, and race? Dr. Jessica S. Samuel shares her journey of getting students the resources they need to achieve in and beyond the classroom. Born on St. Croix and raised between the U.S. Virgin Islands. She studies race, education, colonialism, and the environment, including where they all might converge, in the United States and the Caribbean. Dr. Samuel’s recently completed dissertation, “Consuming America’s Paradise: Education and Conservation on St. John” examines the racialized confluence of public education struggles, National Park conservation objectives, and U.S imperialism on the island of St. John.
Prior to obtaining her Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University, Dr. Samuel taught high school English and Writing as a Teach for America corps member in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2018, after serving as an education policy fellow, she was appointed to the Racial Imbalance Advisory Council of the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Dr. Samuel holds a Master of Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis as well as a BA in African American Studies and Anthropology from Wesleyan University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx