Beta Lambda Chapter, the South Atlantic Region Chapter of Gamma Xi Phi, presents Hip-Hop: A Pedagogy of Reinvention. In conversation with Beta Lambda member Rashid Darden, Mr. Byron L. Williams discusses how educators of all age groups might infuse hip-hop into their lesson plans.

Byron L. Williams [https://www.linkedin.com/in/byronlwilliams/], a training specialist with the federal government, has extensive experience as an educator abroad and domestically. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, he served twice, first in Lesotho in the bottom of Africa and also in Ukraine, Eastern Europe. He later joined the U.S. Peace Corps as a staff member focusing on multicultural engagement and other underrepresented groups for the international service corps.

Though he focuses on governmental training today, Mr. Williams has found himself in educational roles with many nonprofit and charitable organizations, both in his home state of Nevada, and in his adopted home of Washington, DC, where is active in the community independently and as a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Whether teaching economics or language acquisition, Mr. Williams–a true hip-hop head–finds ways to incorporate the hip-hop tradition into his lessons. In this conversation, Mr. Williams not only gives practical advice, but discusses some of the complications of teaching through hip-hop as the world continues to evolve in its understanding of justice, misogyny, and homophobia.

Beta Lambda Chapter of Gamma Xi Phi includes artists in the southern United States who live in areas well outside of the radius of existing chapters in major cities.  In particular, Beta Lambda focuses its efforts on rural and under-resourced communities.

[Recorded Sunday, March 14, 2021, with Brother Rashid Darden of Conway, NC. With gratitude to Mr. Joseph Alexander for technical assistance.]