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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Makayla “Mak” Mallon, currently pursuing her graduate degree in African American Literature, has spent this summer as a Servant Leader Intern for the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools® hosted on SIUE’s campus. Mallon graduated SIUE with a bachelor’s in history (’24) and also co-founded the student organization Black Literary Analysis Club (BLAC). “I was also privileged enough to work as a graduate assistant in the Redmond Center,” said Mallon. Here she shares her summer 2025 experience working with Freedom School scholars her own words. 

I am a Servant Leader Intern (SLI). As an SLI, I facilitate Integrated Reading Curriculum, which is rooted in activism and literature. So, we read selected books that follow along with Freedom School’s “I can make a difference” weekly themes. Once we have read with our scholars, we facilitate fun activities to break down the content we have read, and make connections with the text, our scholars’ lives, and the world around us.  

At first, I wanted to join because I love Black history and literature and am deeply concerned with the world we live in today. Freedom School is built on literacy and advocacy, so it felt like a really great way to blend all the things I love and enjoy.  

I am a second year SLI, and I wanted to come back because of the growth and relationships that I have built with my scholars from last year. It was such a transformative experience for me. I had never been in a teaching role before. So, to be able to have such a hands-on experience, while also seeing how the work we do directly impacts our scholars was so fulfilling. My goal was to impart a love for history to my scholars last year, which my scholars took to. Their reading scores also improved. So, seeing how excited they were and the growth they experienced made it easy to come back.  

This summer is a little different. We have three sites instead of one. In that way, it’s really cool to see the unique environment that each site has created. However, I have noticed that our scholars are much more engaged in what is happening in our world this year. Last year, we talked about a few current events, but this year, scholars are especially interested in thinking critically about what is happening around them. So, I feel grateful to experience the scholar’s curiosity in that way.  

This opportunity means so much to me. Freedom School is rooted in Freedom Summer which took place in Mississippi in 1964. To know that my elders created Freedom Summer to educate people on voting and see the resilience they had to continue this work despite the violence and danger that they experienced is so empowering to me. Seeing people like Marian Wright Edelman take inspiration from this and create a program to empower our youth to use their voices and understand the importance of literacy to liberation is not something that I take lightly. We always say that Freedom School is a movement, and I think this is just the continuation of the work that my ancestors and elders, such as Ella Baker, Charles Cobb, and so many other men, women, and children have done. We couldn’t have Freedom School without Freedom Summer, and for that, the history of this program is something that I hold dearly.    

One thing that I’ve briefly mentioned above is the community aspect of Freedom School. Activists and educators who were participating in Freedom Summer were not just teaching young people about voters’ registration, but they were teaching elders, and children, as well. They were also teaching about Black history, our rights, and more! This was a multi-generational, multi-gendered, multi-faceted movement. In that, it was very much community centered, and Freedom School really embodies that. It isn’t just about scholars or literature and activism. It is also about family and community members learning, having fun, and being in community with each other.  

We have Family Engagement nights where we have dinner, dance, and learn together. When we go on field trips, family members are welcome to join. We also invite community members to be read aloud guests for our scholars at Harambee, our time in the morning, as a site. We are focused on imparting literacy and advocacy to our scholars, but family and community are also vital to the work we do.  

Before Freedom School, I was only vaguely aware that I wanted to do something in the public education sphere. However, working with my scholars at Freedom School has clarified my mission, which is to bring African and African American literature and history to our youth, and make it exciting! I plan on earning a PhD in the Africana studies realm, but with this, I am already thinking about ways that I can make this sort of education more accessible for youth and community members. 

I don’t know that I’ve had a lot of experiences where I’ve been able to be so hands on with scholars and families as it relates to Black literature, history, and activism, as I have with Freedom School. In that way, Freedom School is a unique experience at SIUE. 
 
PHOTO:  Makayla “Mak” Mallon (’24), SIUE graduate student in African American Literature, currently a Servant Leader Intern for the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools® hosted at SIUE