The Collective Unconscious: An Opportunity for New Thoughts on the Existence of Independent Black Institutions and Black Achievement Theories‪.‬

Introduction In this theoretical paper we employ the usage of the psychological theory of the collective unconsciousness to understand the educational phenomena of: the existence and persistence of Independent Black Institutions (IBIs) (1) for over a period of 10,000 years. Thus we aim to draw specific attention to the epoch of the enslavement of Africans in the US and reexamine: a) why groups of individuals would risk their lives to learn to read, write and to build IBIs, although the engagement in the aforementioned activities were punishable by death (Cornelius, 1991; Douglass, 1968) and; b) why a people with minuscule material and economic resources and political capital would systematically create self-supporting educational enterprises (Anderson 1988; Butchart 1980; Elders & Chanoff 1996). Accordingly, our discussion is not limited to the aforementioned eras, however, as the overriding goal of our work is to construct a continuous line of history and experiences that conveys a particular educational disposition and practice of African peoples from ancient times to present.