Schooling The Movement The Activism Of Southern Black Educators From Reconstruction Through The Civil Rights Era

A fresh examination of an underexplored aspect of the civil rights movement-teacher activism Drawing on oral history interviews and archival research, Schooling the Movement examines the pedagogical activism and vital contributions of Black teachers throughout the Black freedom struggle. By illuminating teachers' activism during the long civil rights movement, the editors and contributors connect the past with the present, contextualizing teachers longstanding role as advocates for social justice. Schooling the Movement moves beyond the prevailing understanding that activism was defined solely by litigation and direct-action forms of protest. The authors in this volume broaden our conceptions of what it meant to actively take part in or contribute to the civil rights movement.

A fresh examination of teacher activism during the civil rights movement Southern Black educators were central contributors and activists in the civil rights movement. They contributed to the movement through their classrooms, schools, universities, and communities. Drawing on oral history interviews and archival research, Schooling the Movement examines the pedagogical activism and vital contributions of Black teachers throughout the Black freedom struggle. By illuminating teachers' activism during the long civil rights movement, the editors and contributors connect the past with the present, contextualizing teachers' longstanding role as advocates for social justice. Schooling the Movement moves beyond the prevailing understanding that activism was defined solely by litigation and direct-action forms of protest. The contributors broaden our conceptions of what it meant to actively take part in or contribute to the civil rights movement.

The story of activist youth in America is usually framed around the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and college campuses, focusing primarily on college students in the 1960s and 1970s. But a remarkably effective tradition of Black high school student activism in the civil rights era has gone understudied. In 1951, students at R. R. Moton High School in rural Virginia led a student walkout and contacted the law firm of Hill, Martin, and Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, to file one of the five pivotal court cases that comprised the Brown v. Board of Education decision. In 1960, twenty-four Burke High School students in Charleston, South Carolina, organized the first direct action, nonviolent protest in the city at the downtown S. H. Kress department store. Months later in the small town of McComb, Mississippi, an entire high school walked out in protest of the conviction of a student who sat-in on a local Woolworth lunch counter in 1961, guiding the agenda for the historic Freedom Summer campaign of 1964. A New Kind of Youth brings high school activism into greater focus, illustrating how Black youth supported liberatory social and political movements and inspired their elders across the South.

A stirring testament to the realities of Black teaching and learning in the United States and to Black educators' visions for the future

In antebellum America, Black children, even those of tax-paying Blacks in most states could not attend White public schools or in some states any schools. Nevertheless, with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Blacks assumed they would receive all inalienable rights granted to them as American freedmen. For most, the right to a proper public education for their children was paramount. Nevertheless, White educators often neglected or poorly implemented Black schools, especially secondary schools. With their reluctance to provide schools for Blacks, African American communities organized and petitioned school districts to develop Black schools on par with those for Whites. In the book, Black Cultural Capital: Activism that Spurred African American High Schools, authors describe the role of the Black community in the development of high schools. Their narratives reveal White educators’ unwillingness to implement state laws requiring the education of all children. Their lack of engagement galvanized Blacks to petition boards to adhere to the law. Additionally, they forced school districts to hire Black teachers and provide facilities for Black children equal to those of White children. The fruits of their labor enabled Black children to attend suitable facilities, as well as learn from Black teachers who attended outstanding White and Black colleges and universities. Furthermore, stories of the high schools illustrate how communities sprouted up around them during their heydays as well as, for some, their demise as laws and court decisions eradicated Jim Crow and enabled all Americans to live and learn where they desired. ENDORSEMENTS: "Throughout America, the freedom dreams of Black people and the intellectual currents that guided them were first unleashed within one-room schoolhouses, dilapidated shacks, and church basements that were converted into laboratories of discovery and dissent. In short – Black spaces matter and have always mattered in the struggle for Black liberation. The authors of Black Cultural Capital have delivered one of the most comprehensive collection of essays to date that highlight the monumental legacy and rich history of America’s first Black high schools. Utilizing a vast array of sources, the authors have created an intimate portrait of the struggle to carve out historic spaces that educated and affirmed Black youth while simultaneously countering pernicious systems of white supremacy that sought to undermine them at every step. This volume of essays is a must have for any serious scholar or student of the Black freedom struggle in America." — Jelani M. Favors, North Carolina A&T State University "This is a long-awaited, quintessential contribution to our still-incomplete knowledge and understanding of the unique but intertwined histories of Black education and secondary schools in the United States. The narratives are incisive, enlightening, and inspiring. A welcome advancement to the historical foundations of education." — Tondra L. Loder-Jackson, The University of Alabama at Birmingham "At a time when there is a deservingly greater appreciation for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), we must also remember that K-12 Black high schools played a pivotal role in anchoring communities and creating a sense of place and freedom for Black people. In this edited book, Black Cultural Capital: Activism that Spurred African American High Schools, Drs. Vanessa B. Garry, E. Paulette Isaac-Savage, and Sha-Lai L. Williams produced a timely and much-needed book about the significant role Black high schools have historically--and continue to play--in Black communities and the Black freedom struggle. With detailed historical case studies of Black high schools throughout the United States, the various authors illuminate how these schools served as pillars in Black communities." — Jerome Morris, The University of Missouri - St. Louis

America’s schools are constantly in the news today for safety concerns, contested curricula, teacher quality, test scores, and a variety of other topics. Although most people spend at least 12 years in school systems, they know little of the history or evolution of American schooling. The collection of papers assembled in this book are divided into three categories which greatly impacted American schooling: people, policy, and practices. This work seeks to shed light on what has occurred in curriculum history in the past so as to help readers develop a deeper understanding of how our system of schooling arrived at its current state. The first section of the book examines the stories of people who had an influence on schooling and education. The second section focuses on the curricula and programs that were utilized in schools and districts throughout the country. The final chapter of the book looks at decisions that had long-ranging impact on educational policies. The chapters of this book offer a glimpse into the history of American schooling and those people, policies, and practices that influenced its development. It is the editors’ hope that the work will spark interest in scholars and students of educational history to examine other past, as well as present, stories of educators to expand our understanding of the saga that is the American schooling experience.

Teacher attrition is endemic in education, creating teacher quantity and quality gaps across schools that are often stratified by region and racialized nuance (Cowan et al., 2016; Scafidi et al., 2017). This reality is starkly reflected in South Carolina. Not too long ago, on May 1, 2019, a sea of approximately 10,000 people, dressed in red, convened at the state capital in downtown Columbia, SC (Bowers, 2019b). This statewide teacher walkout was assembled to call for the improvement of teachers' working conditions and the learning conditions of their students. The gathering was the largest display of teacher activism in the history of South Carolina and reflected a trend in a larger wave of teacher walkouts that have rippled across the nation over the last five years. The crowd comprised teachers from across South Carolina, who walked out of their classrooms for the gathering, as well as numerous students, parents, university faculty, and other community members that rallied with teachers in solidarity. Undergirding this walkout and others that took hold across the country is a perennial and pervasive pattern of unfavorable teacher working conditions that have contributed to what some are calling a teacher shortage “crisis” (Chuck, 2019). We have focused our work specifically on the illustrative case of South Carolina, given the extreme teacher staffing challenges the state is facing. Across numerous metrics, the South Carolina teacher shortage has reached critical levels, influenced by teacher recruitment and retention challenges. For instance, the number of teacher education program completers has declined annually, dropping from 2,060 in 2014-15 to 1,642 in the 2018-19 school year. Meanwhile, the number of teachers leaving the teaching field has increased from 4,108.1 to 5,341.3 across that same period (CERRA, 2019). These trends are likely to continue as COVID-19 has put additional pressure on the already fragile teacher labor market. Some of the hardest-to-staff districts are often located in communities with the highest diversity and poverty. To prosper and progress, reformers and public stakeholders must have a vested interest in maintaining full classrooms and strengthening the teaching workforce. An important element of progress towards tackling these longstanding challenges is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the problem. While teacher shortages are occurring nationwide (Garcia & Weiss, 2019), how they manifest regionally is directly influenced by its localized historical context and the evolution of the teaching profession's reputation within a state. Thus, the impetus of this book is to use South Carolina as an illustrative example to discuss the context and evolution that has shaped the status of the teaching profession that has led to a boiling point of mass teacher shortages and the rise of historic teacher walkouts.

Examines the role of African American educators in the Birmingham civil rights movement. Schoolhouse Activists examines the role that African American educators played in the Birmingham, Alabama, civil rights movement from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Drawing on multiple perspectives from education, history, and sociology, Tondra L. Loder-Jackson revisits longstanding debates about whether these educators were friends or foes of the civil rights movement. She also uses Black feminist thought and the life course perspective to illuminate the unique and often clandestine brand of activism that these teachers cultivated. The book will serve as a resource for current educators and their students grappling with contemporary struggles for educational justice. Tondra L. Loder-Jackson is Associate Professor of Educational Foundations at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.