OKC institute brings Clara Luper's 'radical love' teaching approach to modern classrooms

As teachers head back to classes themselves, many are anxious about how they might tackle tough questions in the classroom, or how to give unseen students their voices.

For Clara Luper, developing a student's agency is the foundation of education.

Held last month in celebration of Luper's 100th birthday and the 65th anniversary of the Katz Diner sit-in, the Clara Luper Teacher Institute offered 40 Oklahoma City-area teachers a look into the history and methodology of her legacy in and out of the classroom.

Course instructors and participants recognized that teachers face an uphill struggle in managing the politics of education with preparing young people to enter that battleground.

But many like the Rev. Tamara Lebak, a Unitarian Universalist minister and founder of the Restorative Justice Institute, face the challenge head-on. She wants to remind those dedicated teachers that their work is valuable, meaningful and an important part of society.

"The classroom is where we learn how to be good citizens, and Clara Luper knew that," Lebak said.

When asked about her thoughts on education being a hot-button issue both nationally and in Oklahoma, Christina Kirk, an educator at Star-Spencer Mid-High School and institute participant, said that she strongly believes that education should not be a political issue.

Rather, she said, education should be a way teachers can prepare and encourage young people to face that world.

"It's a right that all kids are entitled to do," Kirk said. "The biggest thing is to make sure that we as the adults don't get in the way of education, we don't prohibit it, we don't filter it, we allow them to have a natural, organic love for education and teach them what they need to learn and getting them involved."

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Clara Luper's 'radical love' methodology

Jasmine Bivar-Tobie, a facilitator at the Restorative Justice Institute of Oklahoma and a teaching assistant at the Clara Luper Teacher Institute, said the goal of the institute was to show Oklahoma City educators ways to foster a sense of agency in students using Luper's methodology.

"(Luper's) methodology is labeled 'radical love.' Clara Luper did not just teach the students in her classroom. She taught the students outside of her classroom. She taught the people in the community. She didn't just love Black youth, she loved all youth," Bivar-Tobie said.

Teachers examined topics such as the history of Luper, the methodology and civic engagement of Luper, nonviolence as a change strategy, navigating difficult conversations, expecting excellence, student engagement and state standards and lesson building. Teachers worked closely with one another in groups, facilitating discussions about their own experiences and building communities that Lebak says are continuing outside of the Clara Luper Teacher Institute.

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Clara Luper's legacy an example of teachers helping students 'find their potential'

Born May 3, 1923, in Okfuskee County, Clara Shepard Luper was a teacher and civil rights leader.

In 1958, Luper, along with 13 children from the NAACP Youth Council, went to Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City. This drug store refused service to Black customers at the lunch counter, so Luper and the schoolchildren staged a peaceful protest by sitting at the counter and ordering 13 sodas.

They were refused service, but Luper and the children remained sitting, quiet and nonviolent. For hours throughout their protest, white customers jeered, harassed, threw food and drinks at them and called them derogatory names. The protesters returned for two more days until they were offered service, successfully concluding their protest.

The Katz Drug Story sit-in was one of the first of its kind to peacefully combat segregation, and Luper went on to become an icon in the Civil Rights Movement.

She was active in the NAACP and attended the association’s annual conference every year with a group young people in the Oklahoma City Youth Council. She also took a bus of students to the 1963 March on Washington, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Lebak said that when she thinks about Luper's legacy, she thinks about how she inspired her students to leverage their voices and their bodies to make a change when it was needed.

"Clara Luper was able to love her students in such a way that they were able to find their potential," Lebak said. "She asked them challenging questions, she had high expectations, she helped them to really feel comfortable in their own identity and helped them to recognize that they needed to be part of the decision-making process; that's really powerful."

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How will participants bring 'radical love' to their classrooms?

Bivar-Tobie said she saw positive responses from the participants, seeing many people who at first may have entered stand-offish, break down those barriers and enthusiastically engage with the program and everyone else involved.

"My goal as a human and also as a facilitator is to make sure that people don't feel alone, and that they have the space to share their experiences and learn other experiences from people so they can grow," Bivar-Tobie said.

Kirk said it's important at this time to learn the history and methodology of Luper because every child needs to feel seen in their community to be properly educated.

Kirk is a classroom teacher and a municipal court judge, so with one foot in education and the other in law, Luper's legacy bridges those two worlds, promoting civic education to students.

"(Luper) forged a pathway for those of us who came after her," Kirk said. "As long as her pedagogy and her radical love continues to permeate our school district, we're on a good path."

Kirk said she felt validated and confirmed by what she learned at the institute. As a teacher, Kirk said she loves her students in and out of the classroom, but she has grappled with whether she is crossing boundaries with her students by caring.

"Hearing from Clara Luper's students and hearing their respect and reverence for her after years and years of being out of her classroom confirmed that I'm doing the right thing ... (and) I'm on the right track."

Kirk said she's excited to start the next school year, and the kids in her classroom are gonna benefit from the application of "radical love."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Clara Luper Institute empowers Oklahoma teachers with 'radical love'