“I owe a debt to those who came before me,” says Miles Dean. “I feel I can repay it by educating and inspiring children about the rich history of their African American ancestry. My mission is to teach.”

Miles is a visionary whose creative approach to education has consistently resulted in his students achieving transformational academic and personal success. After attending Howard University and Bloomfield College, Miles served as a group home director and a counselor, guiding troubled and disadvantaged youth to envision and begin better lives. For the past 20 years, he has taught in New Jersey’s public schools, where his ability to motivate students ranks him as one of Newark’s more accomplished classroom instructors, with his students’ state test scores averaging above 70%.

Miles also brings his innovative style of teaching to the equestrian world. A licensed riding instructor, Miles partnered with Rutgers University’s Cooperative Extension Program in the early 1990s to organize New Jersey’s first African American 4-H club. In 1993, he co-founded the Black Heritage Riders, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides educational equestrian programs blending history, horsemanship, and hands-on learning in riding performances, community workshops, and camps for inner city youth.

The Modern African American Pioneer Expedition grew out of Miles’ desire to engage students in a real-life adventure and provide them with an opportunity to discover and experience African American history.

“I am not the kind of teacher who is content to just point you in the right direction,” concludes Miles. “I say, ‘Follow me, and I’ll lead you.’”




About Sankofa

Sankofa is an 11-year-old buckskin Arabian-Saddlebred stallion. His name, in the Ghanaian language, means “to return to get it.”
That name took on special meaning during the Modern African Pioneer Expedition, as Sankofa carried Miles and an Internet audience of thousands through both time and space to rediscover and reclaim African American contributions to American history.

Sankofa has been Miles’ trusty companion since the horse was just three months old, and he took each of the journey’s challenges easily in stride. “My ancestors have been partners to human beings since we first met,” explains Sankofa in his ‘blog’ on the Black Heritage Riders website. “We have had an impact on every culture that we have come in contact with. The only reason why most people don’t understand this importance is because horses did not write the history books.”

Endorsements

"Young African American kids fortunate to see Dean might just go to bed with new possibilities in their heads. A black man on a horse in the 21st century might just be a good omen. Miles Dean is aware his journey is different …His desire to connect to the Black experience seems to be rooted in his passion to remind us that America can be America again." - E. Etherlbert Miller, Director (and literary activist), African American Resource Center, Howard University


"There are two trends of thought that explain what manner of man Miles Dean is. One says that...the universe will give you nothing without sacrifice and the other is...there is no greater gift that a person can give than of themselves.” - Kamau Khalfani, Producer, Under the Learning Tree Radio Show