Communiversities

In the late 1960s and 1970s, a coalition of Chicago high school students, community activists, scholars, teachers and professors (through the Black Congress) launched the Communiversity (Aviles et al., 2019). The communiversity model launched in Chicago gained traction throughout communities across the U.S. as a tool to bring collectives of people together to both critically read and rewrite their worlds. During the summer of 2023, Drs. Aja Reynolds, Asif Wilson and Rachel McMillian partnered with local organizations to (re)launch Communiversity sites in three U.S. cities. Watch a recap video of all three Communiversity sites.

In Chicago ten families came together across six weeks to explore restorative justice, social movements, and leather crafting. Watch a video about the Chicago Communiversity.

In Cincinnati, 6 exonerees gathered to engage in curriculum deliberation—the process through which educators, students, families, and community members decide what is most worth knowing in schooling and education. Watch a video about the Cincinnati Communiversity.

In Detroit, youth from D.A.Y.U.M. (Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan) came together to explore abolition, education, and Black life. As a result of their project, they created an Abolition Zine (with an amazing playlist). Watch a video about the Detroit Communiversity. 

This project was supported by the Humanities Without Walls consortium and funded by the Mellon Foundation.