Niomi Jenkins Freedom School
Niomi Jenkins Freedom School, a Black Transgender Organizing School, launched its second cohort in 2025, and third overall. Freedom Schools are historically an alternative educational program organized by Black youth through the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Taking this historical organizing tactic turned strategy of Black Power, we understand that we, especially as Black, Black and Trans people, often fall twice into the discrimination and receive what SNCC analyzed as “sharecropper” education.
“This is a sacred time for Black people to meet in an all Black space. As we lean on our ancestors to be Our Guide. Harriet Tubman will lead us in these dark days and nights.” – Janetta Johnson
So, we repurpose education for our community. Not just talking about performative representation of the Black Trans community, but a place where we include Black Ancestors and Trancestors, which is made in mind to empower us in this collective fight: For Us, By Us.
This school serves as a new cornerstone of TGIJP’s power-building strategy to build a sustainable movement that cultivates an intergenerational network of Black Trans people collectivizing our knowledge and building economic power where we have historically been excluded from. This is a model to create structures not based on scarcity, but abundance.
This year’s theme for Freedom School is Wellness and Sustainability.
The curriculum is focused on political education and wellness. When we meet on Tuesday, that day acts as a political education day, so that we can start the week discussing political events. It’s important to our facilitators that every student understands how the system is failing us and can identify community-based solutions that leave them feeling empowered. On Thursday, the facilitator covers wellness-related topics to further help students navigate re-entering society.
Many of the students have expressed issues regarding friendship, dynamics, romantic relationships, and various issues in their personal lives, which we intersectionally know as “the personal to be political.” Thursday is usually a day when they can discuss new coping mechanisms and give them the lens to navigate various areas of their personal life with better tools and approaches.
Topics Include:
Electoral Justice
Capital Campaign – Co-Ownership
Political/Popular Education
Trans Reproductive Justice
Disability Justice
Integenerational
Mental Wellness and Healing Justice
Abolition/PIC 101 – Prison Correspondence, Anti-Cop Narratives
Life Skills Training – Job, Cooking, Sex Work
