Re-Envisioning Our Lives through Literature (ROLL) Program

The Re-Envisioning Our Lives through Literature (ROLL) is an in-school youth literary program offered no-cost to participating schools through the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York. It is uniquely designed to provide young scholars with opportunities to read books written by authors of African descent. The Center for Black Literature's culturally responsive teaching approach engages students, provides social-emotional competence, and advances students' growth in the Core Curriculum standards for reading, language, writing, and oratory skills.

To ensure that we expose scholars to African American authors, we choose a different genre of fiction or non-fiction each year. Classroom teachers pair with teaching artists and collaborate on using the creative and literary arts to establish a curriculum that inspires students to write and express themselves. They create creative non-fiction, poems, short stories, and skits that are based on the wide array of writing produced by Black authors.

Each June, students participate in a culminating event that showcases the work that they have generated from their participation in ROLL. Faculty, school administrators, peers, and family members attend the closing program in celebration of students' work. ROLL students also contribute their literary and visual work to an anthology that chronicles their experiences in the program.