Jarvais J. Jackson
Dr. Jarvais J. Jackson is a former elementary teacher and current Assistant Professor of Elementary Literacy Education at Indiana University Indianapolis. His work is grounded in pro-Blackness, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and the educational wellness of Black students and teachers. Drawing on qualitative and community-based research, Dr. Jackson partners with schools and families to prepare educators who center Black children’s lived experiences and affirm their brilliance. His scholarship explores family engagement, African Diaspora Literacy, and school-university partnerships that move beyond transactional involvement toward shared power and co-creation.
As a scholar-practitioner, Dr. Jackson actively collaborates and publishes with classroom teachers as part of his research, ensuring their voices remain central in efforts to transform education. Before joining IUI, he served as a Program Director and Assistant Professor at Georgia Southern University, where he led innovative teacher preparation efforts and built strong partnerships with local schools. He also directed statewide equity-focused initiatives through the Center for the Education and Equity of African American Students (CEEAAS).
Dr. Jackson currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association for School-University Partnerships (NASUP). His work has been published by Teachers College Press, and in The Urban Review and The Reading Teacher, and presented at AERA, NCTE, and the Black Doctoral Network. Across his teaching, research, and service, he remains committed to sustaining liberatory educational spaces where Black children and their communities can thrive.
Books by Jarvais J. Jackson:
We STILL be lovin’ Black children.
Not sometimes.
Not conditionally.
Not when it is convenient.
We loved them in the past.
We love them now.
We will love them in the future.
In this expanded second edition, We (Still) Be Lovin’ Black Children:
African
Diaspora Literacy, A Divine Ancestral Charge, leading scholars, educators, and community leaders deepen the call to center African Diaspora Literacy as a foundation for healing, identity, and collective thriving. Across classrooms, homes, and communities in the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean, contributors offer practical strategies, critical questions, cultural frameworks, and affirming activities that protect Black children’s spirits while nurturing their brilliance.
At a time when Black histories are distorted, erased, or politicized, this book insists on truth-telling rooted in love. Grounded in African Indigenous Knowledge, Adinkra principles, intergenerational wisdom, and Pro-Black educational practices, authors demonstrate how literacy about the African diaspora is essential.
This edition includes new chapters, updated chapters, expanded global perspectives, new resources for families and educators, and timely guidance for confronting anti-Blackness in schools, media, and public discourse.
To love Black children is to teach them who they are.
To teach them who they are is to protect their souls and spirits.
To protect their souls and spirits is to secure our collective future.
This is a love book.
This is a liberation book.
This is an urgent book.
Perfect for courses such as: Foundations of Education; Black Education; African Studies; African American Studies; Introduction to Early Childhood Education;
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