Fela Barclift, known to many as Mama Fela, stands in the classroom area at Little Sun People on April 4, 2022. Barclift is the founder and director of the school and has been at the helm since she started it in the first floor of her home in Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn in 1980. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Little Sun People’s African dance and drumming teacher, Baba Fanzy, instructs students during African dance class at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn, N.Y. on April 14, 2022. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Nkosi Wright, a student in Little Sun People’s Ife Threes class, participates in an African dance activity at Restoration Plaza on April 14, 2022. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Students from Little Sun People’s Ife Threes class exit the school building on April 26, 2022. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Danielle Noel walks across Restoration Plaza to Little Sun People to drop off her daughter Naomi on the morning of March 24, 2022. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
A banner with the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is displayed at the entrance to the Little Sun People classroom area on Friday, March 26, 2021. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Students in Little Sun People’s Zulu Fouriors class listen as their teacher Mama Aaliyah reads to them on Thursday, April 29, 2021. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Students in Little Sun People’s Ife Threes class create artistic versions of themselves after participating in a lesson about the variety of Black hair textures on Thursday, April 29, 2021. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Mama Cmae helps Amari with his costume as he prepares for the Black History Month celebration at Little Sun People on March 24, 2022. Amari, along with other students in the Zulu Fouriors class dressed up as Black historical figures for their performance. Amari dressed as Muhammad Ali. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Korede Amole and her son Amari at Restoration Plaza on April 5, 2022. Korede enrolled Amari in Little Sun People at the age of two and says she has witnessed tremendous growth in his confidence and pride. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Korede Amole holds art created by her son Amari, a student in Little Sun People’s Zulu Fouriors class on April 5, 2022. Amole says the collage made her feel connected to Amari in his school environment when it was hung in his classroom during the previous school year. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
A Little Sun People student sleeps during nap time at the school on May 17, 2021. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Little Sun People teacher Aaliyah Barclift at Little Sun People on April 5, 2022. Barclift is the daughter of Little Sun People founder Fela Barclift and has taught at the school for 22 years. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Little Sun People students and teachers perform for a livestream audience during the school’s annual Black History Month celebration on March 5, 2021. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Isaiah Frazier and Chanelle Church embrace during the Parent’s Night Out social event held at Bed Vyne Brew in Brooklyn, NY on April 1, 2022. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Little Sun People teacher Ayoka Wise at Restoration Plaza on April 14, 2022. Wise, who has taught at the school since 1996, is the lead teacher for the Ife Threes class and the niece of the school’s founder Fela Barclift. Wise was also one of LSP’s earliest students when she attended as a child. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Little Sun People teacher Mama Ayoka delivers a lesson on Black hair texture to her Ife class on Thursday, April 29, 2021. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Mama Ayoka facilitates a lesson teaching students in Little Sun People’s Ife Threes class about the variety of Black hair textures. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Kamau Wright with his wife Mika Osoro-Wright and their children Nkosi (right) and Makena at Stroud Playground in Brooklyn, New York on April 16, 2022. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Omari Maynard with his children Anari (left) and Khari (center) as an artistic rendition of his late partner, Shamony Gibson hangs in the background in their home in Brooklyn, N.Y. on April 9, 2022. Gibson, the mother of the two children who both attend Little Sun People, passed away in 2019 due to a pulmonary embolism, just two weeks after giving birth to Khari. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Omari Maynard greets his children Khari (left) and Anari as he arrives to pick them up from school on April 5, 2022. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Omari Maynard and Isaiah Frazier talk during an art show organized by Maynard at Hundred Grand Barbershop in Brooklyn, N.Y. on April 10, 2022. The two men, both parents of Little Sun People students, formed a brotherly bond after Maynard’s partner passed away in 2019. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Sauda Anderson in her office at Battery Park Manhattan Alternative Learning Center in Manhattan, N.Y. on April 18, 2022. Anderson was one of the very first students at Little Sun People. She now serves as the principal of an alternative school in the Department of Education. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Esayah Edgehill, a graduate of Little Sun People and current student at Stuyvesant High School in New York, N.Y. on April 8, 2022. Esayah’s mother, Mary Ann Edgehill, serves on the board of Little Sun People and the members of the Edgehill family often serve as volunteers at the school. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Former Little Sun People student Silhe Smith, 12, holds a plaque with her LSP graduation photo in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Silhe now attends Leman Manhattan Prepatory school. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Silhe Smith outside of Léman Manhattan Preparatory School in Manhattan, N.Y. on April 25, 2022. Smith is currently in seventh grade and has attended Léman’s upper school since sixth grade. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Takiema Bunche Smith in her home in Brooklyn, N.Y. on April 22, 2022. Bunche Smith is the founder and President of Anahsa LLC, a consulting company that is currently working with Little Sun People to codify its curriculum. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Little Sun People board chair Kara Benton-Smith in Saratoga Park in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Benton-Smith is the parent of a current LSP student and an LSP alumna. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Omari Maynard, a parent of two Little Sun People students, unveils an artwork he made for Mama Fela during the school’s annual Kwanzaa Celebration on December 17, 2021. ©Henry Danner, 2022, All Rights Reserved
