2026 Omega Dr. Carter G. Woodson Academy

In the current state of our society it is critical for reflecting on the dynamic mix of challenges, progress, and ongoing debates of our nation. At the academy we strive to engage students through learning radical traditions through history, arts, and skilled trades.

The Omega Dr. Carter G. Woodson Academy is coordinated by the Men of the Iota Phi Foundation. The academy has been named in honor of the work, life, and ideas of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Dr. Woodson was the Founder of the Association for the Study of Afro American Life and History, the Father of Black History.

Young scholars in Grades (5th - 9th) from the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are invited to participate in this unique (6-week) academic enrichment program.

“The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worthwhile, depresses and crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other people.” -Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Rooting our approach in Dr. Woodson’s desire to see people racialized as “Black” (“Black people”) aware of our history so that we might act in our best interests as an independent people, this year the Academy will focus on the Plumbing, Electric and Carpentry, Black Traditions, Traditional Black Art, Pan-African Politics To see a brief film on the Academy made by filmmaker Michael Jasper for the Game Changers Project, please click here.

Sessions will be held at Anderson Manor, 1423 Liverpool Street, Pittsburgh, PA from 10 AM to 1 PM on the following 6 days:

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Saturday, March 1, 2025

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Saturday, March 15, 2025

If you have any questions and/or concerns, contact our team at [email protected].

Brief History of The Academy

Motivated by the ideas of Dr. Woodson about the necessity of a different educational program if we were to have different results as a people, we sought to offer an educational program that assisted parents and institutions in preparing creative, thoughtful Black youth with a commitment to the Black community. The Academy is built on the work and ideas Dr. Carter G. Woodson laid out in his 1933 book The Mis-Education of the Negro. This work critiques college educated Black men for our lack of creativity and insight in taking on our community’s specific challenges and places the blame for this problem on our mis-education. Specifically, Dr. Woodson had this to say, “No systemic effort toward change has been possible, for, taught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature, and religion which have established the present code of morals, the Negro’s mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor.” Thus, The Academy is both an effort to support those families and institutions who recognize this issue and seek to prevent it from happening to the children and youth they love, as well to say that as college educated men ourselves, Iota Phi is not under this delusion and have something to bring to the community table of solutions.

How do we teach?

We start with the idea that school must be fun! Thus, the day begins with singing and stepping and we aim for all classes to have hands-on experiences, so that children are not forced to have another day of one of their biggest complaints of the current schooling process: boredom! The Academy teaches history, art & science using African American life, history, neighborhoods, in other words, African American culture, as the basis of the curriculum. We often bring in people from the community to supplement the lessons. We aspire to provide an opportunity for more young African Americans to think deeply about the history of America, the contribution that people of African descent have made to the world and Black people’s resistance to racism, and in doing so make their own contributions to building a better world free from racial oppression.

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Host or Publisher Iota Phi Chapter, Omega Psi Phi