Black literature is the canon.

We ground our framework on global Black literary studies and are consistently building a high school English canon centering that work. For us, Black literature is not a supplement, but rather the central site of literary and intellectual curiosity.   


The Unit of Three

Our instructional design is built around the Unit of Three:

  • Poetry : precision of language, cultural expression, and performance.

  • Short Fiction: intensity, economy, and comparative power.

  • Longer Fiction – breadth, complexity, and sustained inquiry.

Together, these three forms allow teachers and students to approach literature as layered, multifaceted, and alive from the lyric, to the compressed story, to the expansive novel. This approach is influenced by the Advanced Placement Literature unit design framework.

Film as Literature

We also treat film as literature. It is a visual text that engages narrative, character, theme, and cultural context. Film offers teachers and students another medium for exploring identity, power, and artistry, extending the canon into contemporary and interdisciplinary spaces.

The 60/30/10 Approach

This approach makes text selection intentional and balanced. It ensures that students encounter heritage and innovation, authority and imagination, while teachers gain a practical framework for curating literature that expands the canon and reflects the world students live in.

60 % Global Black Literary Studies

We choose literature from across the Black diaspora: Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States to engage students in a deep, expansive Black intellectual tradition. This body of work affirms identity, builds cultural literacy, and challenges students to see Black literature not as a sidebar, but as the canon itself.

30% Multicultural, Gender, and Global Voices

We integrate literature from other historically marginalized traditions, including Indigenous works, women’s and gender studies, LGBTQIA+ authors, and a range of ethnic and global perspectives. These texts extend dialogue across identities and geographies, helping students see how writers confront universal themes like love, power, justice, and migration from diverse standpoints.

10% Traditional Western Canon

We include selected works from the traditional canon, read intentionally and critically, in conversation with the other 90%. This ensures students encounter texts that have shaped academic discourse while also interrogating their place, limits, and influence. Teachers and students engage these works not as unquestioned authorities, but as one voice in a broader, more representative dialogue.

Why this matters.

When classrooms follow the Unit of Three within the 60/30/10 framework:

  • Students encounter literature as art, culture, and socio-political critique.

  • Teachers strengthen their literary praxis, moving beyond coverage to intentional exploration.

  • Diverse and canonical works are placed in dialogue, deepening critical literacy.

  • Student literacies expand: critical, cultural, creative, and verbal capacities grow together.