This book takes the reader through a complex and precarious journey to understand the multitude of educational experiences and perspectives of African Americans. Weaving through nearly four hundred years of history beginning in pre-colonial West Africa all the way to our current time will challenge the reader to consider the debates, aspirations, and risks that are inherent in all education. Using hip-hop theory as a metaphor, the book explores how fugitivity, abolition, and accommodation have framed the educational contexts of millions of black folks in the US. Absent the understanding of the history of the racialization of education, any broader exploration of education in the US is insufficient.