Black History Month 2025

Throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st, psychologist and child development expert Dr. Edmund Gordon brought greater attention to the importance of early childhood in preparing children for academic and social-emotional success. He recognized that children may display divergent learning styles, and he advocated for personalized and supplementary educational support early on for children whose development may not be at the level of their peers.

Under President Lyndon Johnson, Gordon was the first director of the Head Start Research Office. While working on Head Start, Gordon was concerned that traditional IQ tests — whose results tend to remain static over time — failed to evaluate whether children were making improvements towards kindergarten readiness. That concern led to the use and development of evaluations that examined competence at individual tasks and activities that serve as the building blocks for later learning.

Gordon also showed particular concern for improving the educational environment for Black children. Gordon was born and grew up in North Carolina when segregation was entrenched in law, and he saw, both then and now, that many Black children have been disadvantaged in their access to education. As a young scholar, Gordon got to know civil rights icon W. E. B. DuBois, who was more than a half a century older. Gordon has credited DuBois with being a major influence on his work, and Gordon was able to purchase and preserve the site of the Massachusetts home where DuBois spent his earliest years, a site that is now a National Historic Landmark.

Gordon has written 25 books and more than 400 scholarly articles, and he served as a professor at both Columbia University’s Teachers College and at Yale University. As of the beginning of February 2025, he is still living at the age of 103.

The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and the Schoenbaum Family Center celebrate the Black contributions and rich culture that are interwoven into our day-to-day work in early childhood education. From early trailblazers in the field to today’s researchers who strive to ensure opportunities are available for all students, and from Black authors who reflect Black experiences to the school libraries and community programs that promote these works, we recognize and celebrate all Black History — both in the past and in the making.

Black History Month also reminds us of our commitment to promoting opportunity across early childhood research, practice, and policy. This happens through examining and understanding where inequities exist, actively working to change them, and by including a variety of viewpoints that bring insights and challenge presumptions. Central to this are culturally competent practices happening daily across our centers, whether in conversations with a parent and a teacher during drop-off at our A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning, by examining research for possible cultural bias, or through the professional development opportunities offered to our staff. Black History Month is indeed a celebration but also a clarion call to embrace education and self-awareness.

– President Barack Obama in a February 2016 message