-
Title
-
EWP Dr Horsfords dissertation with interview protocols pg 223
-
Tag
-
Sonya Douglass Horsford, dissertation, Black superintendents, Brown V. Board, desegregation, standpoint theory, critical race theory, school choice, student achievement, Black communities, educational reform
-
Place
-
Virginia
-
Identifier
-
1032677
-
Is Version Of
-
1032677_EWP_DrHorsfordsdissertationwithinterviewprotocolspg223.pdf
-
Is Part Of
-
Uncategorized
-
Date Created
-
2024-01-07
-
Format
-
.pdf
-
Number
-
c5942ee4714b490447538bc086352517925b088942956d8b8cb982a0dd8266e4
-
Source
-
/Volumes/T7 Shield/EWP/Elements/EWP_Files/Access Files/Upload temp/1032677_EWP_DrHorsfordsdissertationwithinterviewprotocolspg223.pdf
-
Publisher
-
Digitized by Edwin Washington Project
-
Rights
-
Loudoun County Public Schools
-
Language
-
English
-
Replaces
-
/Volumes/T7 Shield/EWP/Elements/EWP_Files/source/Ingest Two/Arciero/Tonys_Files/History project/The Book/Dr Horsfords dissertation with interview protocols pg 223.pdf
-
extracted text
-
VESTIGES OF DESEGREGATION: BLACK SUPERINTENDENT REFLECTIONS
ON THE COMPLEX LEGACY OF BROWN V BOARD OF EDUCATION
by
Sonya Douglass Horsford
Bachelor o f Arts
Colorado State University
1997
Master o f Public Administration
University o f Nevada, Las Vegas
2002
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
o f the requirements for the
Doctor of Education Degree in Educational Leadership
Department of Educational Leadership
College of Education
Graduate College
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
May 2007
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
UMI Number: 3261080
Copyright 2007 by
Horsford, Sonya Douglass
All rights reserved.
INFORMATION TO USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy
submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and
photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper
alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized
copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.
®
UMI
UMI Microform 3261080
Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest Information and Learning Company
300 North Zeeb Road
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Copyright by Sonya Douglass Horsford 2007
All Rights Reserved
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
D issertation A pproval
The Graduate College
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
February
20______ t 20 07
The Dissertation prepared by
S o n y a D.
Horsford
E ntitled
Vestiges
_________O n T h e
of D e s e g r a g a t i o n :
Black Superintendent
C o m p l e x L e g a c y Of B r o w n V.
Reflections
B o a r d Of E d u c a t i o n
is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
______________D o c to r o f E d u c a tio n i n E d u c a t io n a l L e a d e r s h ip ________
Examination C o m m ittee Chair
E x a m i n a t i o n Coimkittee M e m b e r
Dean o f the Graduate College
ruination C om m iftee M em ber
.amination C om m ittee M e m b e r
Graduate College Faculty Representative
1017-52
11
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
ABSTRACT
Vestiges of Desegregation: Black Superintendent Reflections on
the Complex Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education
by
Sonya Douglass Horsford
Dr. Edith A. Rusch, Ph.D., Examination Committee Chair
Professor of Educational Leadership
University o f Nevada, Las Vegas
Research reflecting the diverse thoughts, experiences, and perspectives of the Black
school superintendent is scarce despite the noteworthy role Black leaders and educators
have demonstrated within and beyond the Black community. Although there is extensive
literature on the impacts of segregation, desegregation, and resegregation on Black
student achievement and the promise and failures o f school choice reform, my review of
related literature revealed an absence of voices belonging to those individuals who
possess the personal and professional experiences that may inform these very complex
issues— Black school superintendents.
This qualitative dissertation study documents and explores the reflections and
perspectives o f eight retired Black school superintendents on desegregation policy and its
perceived impact on the self-concept, education, and communities o f Black students. The
questions guiding this study are: (1) How do the standpoint and lived experiences of
Black school superintendents before, during, and after desegregation influence their
iii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
perspectives on public school choice and Black student achievement? (2) In what ways
can the standpoint, lived experiences, and perspectives of Black superintendents provide
insight to Black families concerning school choice and achievement? (3) In what ways do
the lived experiences of school desegregation provide insight for how Black educators
and families respond to school choice policy and policies designed to improve Black
student achievement? (4) How should the next generation of Black educators and
community leaders move forward to improve Black student achievement?
In-depth interviews, narratives, and counterstorytelling were used to illustrate and
examine the promises, both fulfilled and broken, of desegregation policies in the Black
community. Standpoint theory and critical race theory (CRT) framed the study, revealing
three counternarratives that challenge key assumptions located within mainstream
education discourse concerning desegregation and Black education: (2) all Black schools
are not inherently bad, (2) many problems attributed to Black education began with
desegregation, and (3) schools and school systems have never truly integrated.
This study is important because it can inform those concerned with the plight of all
students, and Black students in particular, about the personal and professional
experiences o f Black school superintendents, and give voice to their perspectives
concerning desegregation and race-conscious education policy. It is also adds to the
growing literature that applies a racial realist perspective of critical race theory to
education.
iv
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................. iii
D EDICA TIO N ........................................................................................................................... viii
PREFA CE..........................
ix
CHAPTER 1 IN TRO D U CTIO N ...............................................................................................1
B ackground............................................................................................................................4
Statement o f the Problem .....................................................................................................5
Purpose o f the Study.............................................................................................................6
Theoretical Framework........................................................................................................ 6
Research Questions............................................................................................................... 8
Limitations and Delimitations.............................................................................................8
Researcher’s P erspective................................................................................................... 10
Significance o f the Study................................................................................................... 10
Organization of the Study..................................................................................................11
Definitions............................................................................................................................ 13
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................15
Historical and Legal Context of Desegregation................................................................16
“Badge of Inferiority” vs. “ Separate but Equal” ........................................................18
Black Schools Under Segregation: Struggle, Hope, and Com m unity.................... 22
The “Mixed Legacy” of B row n....................................................................................23
Resegregation: Sleepwalking Back to Plessy............................................................. 31
Viability o f D esegregation................................................................................................ 32
The Case for Integrated Schools...................................................................................33
The Case for Separate Schools..................................................................................... 35
The Case for Culturally Relevant Schools..................................................................36
School Choice: Inequitable or Emancipatory?..................................................................37
School Choice and the Charter M ovem ent.................................................................39
Charter Schools, Equity, and Diversity....................................................................... 41
Charter Schools and Black Student Achievement..................................................... 43
Missing Perspective: The Black School Superintendent............................................... 45
On Desegregation, School Choice, and Black Student A chievem ent.................... 47
The Dual Nature of the Black Superintendent...........................................................49
v
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 3 M ETHODOLOGY...........................................................................................53
Research Design: A Qualitative S tu d y............................................................................54
Conceptual and Methodological Fram ew ork..................................................................55
Critical Race Theory and M ethodology...................................................................... 56
Standpoint Theory and Voice-of-Color Thesis...........................................................58
Participants.......................................................................................................................... 59
Participant Selection...................................................................................................... 60
Participant Profile...........................................................................................................63
Data Collection....................................................................................................................68
Role of Researcher......................................................................................................... 70
Data A nalysis......................................................................................................................71
Trustworthiness.................................................................................................................. 73
Constructing the (Counter)Narratives.............................................................................. 74
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS: LIVED EXPERIENCES IN SEGREGATED SCHOOLS...77
Social Context of “Growing up Negro” ...........................................................................78
Hometown Descriptions................................................................................................ 78
Going to School.............................................................................................................. 82
Walls and Other Barriers............................................................................................... 84
‘‘Knitting the Life Together”-. Perceived Factors Affecting Achievement in
Segregated Schools............................................................................................................. 88
Thread 1: Role of Parents.............................................................................................. 89
Thread 2: Role of Teachers...........................................................................................98
Thread 3: Self-Concept of Students........................................................................... 107
Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 113
CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS: REFLECTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES ON
DESEGREGATION..................................................................................................................115
Theme 1: “There is Nothing Wrong with Something Being A 11Black ”................... 117
Theme 2: “Sometimes You Feel Like the Problems Started with Desegregation ” .123
Dismantling o f the Black Com m unity.......................................................................127
Theme 3: “We've Never Truly Integrated” .................................................................. 139
Dismantling the Vestiges o f Desegregation............................................................. 145
Racial and Social Stratification in America’s Schools........................................... 146
Restoring the Black Child, Family, and C om m unity..............................................148
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................165
CHAPTER 6 ANALYSIS: CRITICAL RACE THEORY AS AN INTERPRETIVE
FRAM EW ORK.......................................................................................................................... 167
Centering Race in and Racism the Discourse o f Desegregation...............................168
Counterstorytelling and Voice-of-Color T h esis.......................................................171
Critique o f Liberalism: Debunking the Myths o f Colorblindness,
Meritocracy, and Neutrality o f the L aw ............................................................ 176
Whiteness as Property.................................................................................................. 180
Interest Convergence................................................................................................... 185
Permanence o f Racism................................................................................................. 191
vi
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 7 IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION: TOWARD A POLITICAL
RACE DISCOURSE IN EDUCATION................................................................................. 195
Assumptions, Findings, and New Understandings.......................................................196
Value in the Standpoint and Lived Experiences of Black Superintendents
197
Relationship between Racial Standpoints and Views on Race-Conscious
P olicies....................................................................................................................198
Reflections and Perspectives on Desegregation Policy: The Counternarrative.. 199
New Understandings....................................................................................................200
Review o f M ethodology................................................................................................. 201
Interviews, Counterstories, and the Reflexive Journal........................................... 202
Limitations of Methodology....................................................................................... 204
Im plications....................................................................................................................... 205
Implications for T heory.............................................................................................. 206
Implications for Practice............................................................................................. 209
Implications for Policy................................................................................................ 211
Implications for Future R esearch.............................................................................. 212
Conclusion.................................................................................................
214
AFTERW ORD.......................................................................................................................... 216
APPENDIX A LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS..................................................................218
APPENDIX B INFORMED C O N SEN T............................................................................220
APPENDIX C SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW PROTOCOL.............................. 223
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................226
VITA............................................................................................................................................ 237
vii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
DEDICATION
To my husband, Steven For always standing up for what is right.
To my children, Benjamin, Bryson, and Ella For teaching me how to laugh loud, love hard, and dream big.
To my parents, Kil Cha and Gilbert Douglass For all the sacrifices you made for my education.
This is for you.
viii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
PREFACE
At a very early age, my mother gave me a clear understanding of the unjust, yet
inescapable, reality of racism in America. My mother, a first-generation Korean
American, did not complete high school, but she placed a strong value on education as
the key to a good quality of life. In her imperfect yet commanding English, she would
constantly remind me that because my father, her husband, was Black, I was Black and
therefore required to work harder and better than others. It didn’t seem fair, but I
somehow knew it was a truth to be accepted, and I did so with a serious sense of personal
and social responsibility. I committed myself to making my parents proud and showing
the others that color did not matter.
Fortunately, good grades came easy to me. I enjoyed school and was always at the top
of my class. My elementary school principal recommended I skip the second grade, but
my parents decided against it because I was already one of the youngest among my peers.
Perhaps these personal realities helped to support my belief in the notions of meritocracy
and individual responsibility. My neighborhood grade school was fairly diverse, as were
my friends, but the majority of my classmates and teachers were White. This changed
drastically during my sixth grade year when I was bused from my fairly ethnically
diverse, but majority White, neighborhood to school in a largely Black area of town. As
an adult, I would understand this was part of my school district’s “sixth grade center
ix
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
plan,” an integral part of its larger desegregation plan, designed to create more racial
balance within schools throughout the county.
My anxiety about entering the sixth grade and trying to make new friends paled in
comparison to the sorrow I would feel on the last day of school. After creating much
desired friendships and sharing joyous memories, my newfound friends and I shared tears
and unfulfilled vows to keep in touch despite our distance. This was a very confusing
time for me. Why did I have to attend school in another neighborhood? What schools
were many o f my sixth grade friends going to attend the following year? Why was I
bused across town for only ] year when many of them would be bused throughout their
entire 4 years of high school? How did this desegregation plan affect our respective
educational opportunities and learning experiences? Our overall life chances?
Not until I became an adult and attended a local community panel discussion in
recognition o f the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board o f Education was 1 prepared to
critically reflect on my sixth grade experience. I was consumed for months by mixed
feelings o f anger for those African American students who suffered the burden of
desegregating the district’s schools because of where they happened to live, and shame
for not knowing more about the intricacies of this landmark decision. I committed myself
to reading the cases and exploring their implications to understand the not so distant
legacy of oppression and injustice as demonstrated in our nation’s system o f schooling.
Now as the mother of two young inquisitive boys, I have inherited the serious
obligation of acknowledging, and attempting to explicate, the same troubling and
seemingly unanswerable questions of race, identity, opportunity, and equality. I am
concerned with the future of public education, what it means for my children, and all
x
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
children in this country. Should they be in schools where integration and diversity are
valued, but the curriculum not culturally relevant? Is it better for them to attend
predominately Black schools where their teachers and classmates look like them, but do
not necessarily reflect the cultural differences and realities of racism that are part o f the
American experience? When they are treated differently because they are Black, how do I
explain racism, and nevertheless comfort them despite my own inability to understand it
and why it continues to exist?
This dissertation study is my attempt to explore these difficult questions about race
and racism and its impact on the education o f African Americans by reflecting on my
own experiences alongside the experiences, struggles, and dreams of those have come
before me. It is not my intention to offer a silver bullet for the problems associated with
and subscribed to the education of Black children. Rather, this work is an attempt to use
lessons from the past to inform, reframe, and reconsider the current debate on
desegregation and other race-based educational policies and their implications for the
education o f all students.
As with anything else in life, this project would not have been possible without those
individuals who encouraged, supported, and assisted me in this professional and personal
journey. First, I ’d like to thank my dissertation committee members: Edith Rusch, Robert
McCord, James Crawford, Laurence Parker, and Helen Harper, for their expertise and
support in the development and completion o f this research.
Very special thanks to the chair of this committee, Edith Rusch, for her leadership
and guidance through the dissertation process. As my chair, professor, advisor, mentor,
and friend, you have consistently treated me like a colleague-in-the-making, even when I
xi
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
was unsure o f what my professional future would hold. Your high standards and
expectations have made me a better writer and researcher, and your mentorship has
exposed me to opportunities that I never would have realized without your support. For
that I am truly grateful.
I must express my deepest appreciation for the superintendents who participated in
this study. Your willingness to devote time from your busy schedules, and trust me with
your life stories, means more than I can say. It was a privilege to share the company of
individuals who, as African Americans, have blazed trails in the field o f education, and it
is my hope that your personal and professional experiences as presented in this work will
inspire others as much they have inspired me.
Last, but never least, I want to thank my family for being God’s manifestation of
love, patience, mercy, grace, and joy in my life. Your faith pulled me through just when I
thought it would never end. To my dear son, Benjamin, thank you for compelling me to
write more quickly by repeatedly asking me when I would be finished with the computer.
To my baby boy, Bryson, thanks for the spontaneous hugs and kisses you granted while I
was stuck, sometimes motionless, in front of that same computer. To my daughter, Ella,
thank you for being due in March, as there was no more effective deadline than yours.
And to my dear husband, Steven, thank you for believing in me and gently ushering
me into retirement from my career as a professional student. I ’m so blessed to have a
partner and best friend who shares my values for faith, family, and community. W e’ve
only just begun.
xii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
More than 50 years after the landmark Brown v. Board o f Education decision, school
desegregation remains a complex issue in education. Laws, policies, and strategies
developed to “mix” the racial make-up o f schools has resulted in what Bell (2004)
characterizes as the “mixed legacy” of Brown, and that mixed legacy includes the
unfulfilled promise o f equal education for all students regardless of race, color, or creed
(Bell, 2004). Although some scholars believe the promise of Brown was not realized
because it overlooked the existence of race as a social construct (Bell, 2004; LadsonBillings & Tate, 1995), others contend the promise o f integration and racial equality
should not be abandoned, but rather pursued in the same spirit of Brown to combat the
current trend toward resegregation and racial isolation (Kozol, 2005; Orfield & Eaton,
1996; Wells, 1993).
That spirit o f the historic Brown decision is captured in the following as
acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954:
We consider that in the field of public education, the doctrine o f separate but equal
has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal . . . . To separate
them from others of similar age and qualification solely because o f their race
1
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
generates a feeling o f inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect
their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone.
After reading aloud that statement during a lecture in 2000, social psychologist Dr.
Kenneth Clark, a key expert witness in the Brown case who happens to be Black,
responded with the following:
Those were their words in 1954. Those are their words today, except today they are
presented as though they were part of a dream, rather than reality. In the years since
that statement was made, we have had copious examples of the harm inflicted upon
our children, and our society. For segregation not only damages Black children, but
also interferes with the growth and development of White children.
The complex issue of school desegregation and its implications for the education and
self-concept o f Black students, as well as their families and communities, garners varied
opinions based on various racial, economic, and political standpoints and perspectives.
Despite the significant role Black educators have historically played in the lives of Black
families and communities, particularly related to the schooling of Black children,
research reflecting the standpoint, lived experiences, and perspectives of the Black
educator is scarce (Morris, 2001; Murtadha & Watts, 2005; Walker, 2005). Even more
rare is the voice of the Black superintendent, which continues to be marginalized, if not
seemingly forgotten, in education research. The voices are particularly silent on issues
where they may be of great value— race, desegregation, equity, choice, and social justice.
Since the first dissertation study on Black superintendents published in 1971, there have
only been 16 dissertations on Black superintendents with 3 of those 16 delimited to the
study o f Black women (Alston, 1996; Banks, 1988; Caldman, 1989; Coates, 1980;
2
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dawkins, 2004; Edwards, M., 1974; Edwards, R. 1989; Hall, 1990; Henson-Governor,
1998; Jones, 1984; Jones-Mitchell, 1993; Marshall, 1987; McClain, 1974; Napier, 1984;
Sanders-Lawson, 2001; Williams, 1984). Collectively, the studies are quantitative and
qualitative in nature, examining the personal experiences, employment conditions, career
development, and patterns of success demonstrated by participants through biographical
information, statistical data, survey instruments, and in-depth interviews.
The first of these dissertations, Black Superintendents in Public School Districts:
Trends and Conditions (Moody, 1971) sought “to investigate the conditions of school
districts prior to the appointment o f a Black superintendent” (p. 11). Moody found that
the majority of Black superintendents inherit school districts with significant financial
deficits, growing majority non-White student populations, majority non-White school
boards, and an increasing non-White teaching staff. In 2004, Dawkins replicated
M oody’s study by examining Black superintendents in Michigan, and more than three
decades after M oody’s pioneering study, the findings were essentially the same.
Thus, the standpoint of Black school superintendents is presented in this study as a
way to explore and share the ways of knowing and understanding that may be unique to
individuals who are Black and have served as superintendents. As indicated in the
literature, a number of these experiences, such as double-consciousness, result from the
challenging conditions and barriers Black superintendents faced both prior to achieving
the superintendency, and during their terms of service (Dawkins, 2004; Moody, 1971;
Scott, 1980). These experiences also stem from their histories and encounters with racism
and oppression as Americans o f African heritage. As Delgado and Stefancic (2001) argue
in what they describe as a voice-of-color thesis, the “experiences and narratives o f people
3
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
o f color have inherent value” because they may be able to convey to their W hite peers,
situations or perspectives that Whites may not have otherwise known or been in a
position to understand. Although it is important to understand that the standpoint and
lived experiences of all Black superintendents cannot and should not be essentialized or
generalized to the broader population, shared perceptions and experiences, such as those
documented in the research and literature, are important to informing conversations
concerning equity, race, and racism in education.
Background
Declining student achievement scores, and the glaring disparity between poor and
minority students and their White peers, have caused many to argue that the public school
system is not able to ensure a quality education for all children (Hakim, Seidenstat, &
Bowman, 1994, Merrifield, 2001). In response, desegregation and public school choice
policies have been presented as saving graces for Black students trapped in lowperforming public schools (Chavous, 2004; Nathan, 1990; Rofes & Stulberg, 2004).
Although the discussion surrounding both desegregation and choice in public education is
vast and varied, one particular concern is the potential relationship between these efforts
and matters o f equity in light of America’s history o f segregation and discrimination in
education (Fuller, Elmore, & Orfield, 1996; Wells, 2002).
Critics of public school choice contend this type of reform perpetuates the unequal
education and racial separation o f students through “resegregation” or the quiet reversal
o f prior desegregation efforts (Fuller, Elmore, & Orfield, 1996; Levin, 2001: Orfield &
Eaton, 1996; Wells, 2002). Still others have reluctantly come to grips with the
4
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
unfortunate reality of de facto segregation within and among America’s public schools
and suggest the redirection of energies toward ensuring high quality and culturally
relevant educational programs for Black students (Faltz & Leake, 1996; Henderson,
Greenberg, Schneider, Uribe, & Verdugo, 1996; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Shujaa, 1996).
In light of the history of oppression, segregation, and inequality in American
education, it is important to view and discuss issues of educational policy through a lens
that acknowledges the prevalence o f race and racism in our nation’s institutions, in this
case, educational institutions. This view is critical to understanding the standpoint of
Blacks and their perceptions concerning desegregation and school choice policies and
their effect on the schooling experiences of Black children. Despite historical accounts of
substandard facilities and the stigma o f inferiority, the oral histories and personal
testimonies o f Black educators and students during segregation help to illustrate how
Black schools enjoyed a sense o f community and prepared students to “compete in the
desegregated world that did not yet exist” (Walker, 2001, p. 769). Through struggle and
oppression, students developed an appreciation for their culture, their teachers, and their
ability to overcome unjust circumstances (Dempsey & Noblit, 1993; Du Bois, 1903;
Shujaa, 1994, Walker, 1996). Thus, struggle was a form of education (Bennett, 1972).
Statement o f the Problem
The combination o f low-performing schools and educational inequity has contributed
to a sentiment among parents and policymakers that embraces greater choice in public
education. Brown v. Board o f Education (1954) personifies this “mixed legacy” o f an
unfulfilled promise for equal education for all students regardless of race, color, or creed
5
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
(Bell, 2004). Further, many scholars believe the promise of Brown was not realized
because it overlooked the existence of race as a social construct (Bell, 2004; LadsonBillings & Tate, 1995). Others contend the promise o f integration and racial equality
should not be abandoned, but rather, should be pursued in the same spirit of Brown to
combat the current trend toward resegregation and racial isolation (Orfield & Eaton,
1996; Wells, 1993).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative study is to document and explore the lived experiences
and perspectives of Black school superintendents concerning desegregation policy, public
school choice, and its perceived impact on the education of Black children. Narrative data
collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews were used to illustrate the promises,
both fulfilled and broken, of desegregation and school choice policies. Building on the
emergent themes in extant research and literature, I designed the study with the intention
and objective of informing future educational policy efforts and community-based
strategies for improving educational outcomes for Black and other historically
marginalized students. If the needs o f marginalized students can be served equally, the
promise o f Brown, a quality education for all children, can be fulfilled.
Theoretical Framework
This study documents the untold story of the struggle for quality education for Black
students as uniquely experienced by the Black school superintendent and uses the method
o f counterstorytelling, which Delgado & Stefancic (2000) define as “writing that aims to
cast doubt on the validity o f accepted premises or myths, especially ones held by the
6
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
majority” (p. 144). As evidenced by the paucity of research on the lived experiences of
Black superintendents, their voices continue to be marginalized, if not seemingly
“forgotten” in education research (Morris, 2001). Thus, the eight superintendents in this
study are retired, self-identified as Black or African American, and possess personal
recollections o f attending segregated schools and working in desegregated schools in
desegregated school environments.
Standpoint theory and critical race theory (CRT) frame and interpret the narratives
presented by the participants to provide insight into the ways the participating Black
educators perceive desegregation policies affecting the schooling experiences o f Black
children. Standpoint theory, which is a type o f critical theory in the feminist tradition,
seeks to improve the conditions of the marginalized and oppressed by empowering them
through the opportunity to present their own accounts and understanding o f the everyday
world that may prove more useful to them than representations by the dominant group
(Harding, 1991; Smith, 1974). It also lends credibility and value to the position of
marginalized groups, in this case Black school superintendents, and challenges what have
traditionally been accepted as objective truths (Collins, 1990).
These objective truths are also contested through a CRT framework, which as a
“discourse of liberation,” entreats the use o f narratives, stories, and chronicles as
effective and necessary methods of challenging the status quo and subverting the
prevailing mindset of the dominant group (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000; DeCuir & Dixson,
2004; Ladson-Billings, 2005; Lopez, 2003; Parker, Deyhle & Villenas, 1999). CRT is
employed both methodologically and epistemologically in this study to reveal the role of
race and racism in the everyday lives of people of color (Parker & Lynn, 2002).
7
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Research Questions
In order to document and explore the standpoint, narratives, lived experiences, and
perceptions o f Black school superintendents on desegregation, school choice, and Black
student achievement, the following questions guided the study:
1. How do the standpoint and lived experiences of Black school superintendents
before, during, and after desegregation influence their perspectives on public
school choice and Black student achievement?
2. In what ways can the standpoint, lived experiences, and perspectives o f Black
superintendents provide insight to Black families concerning school choice and
achievement?
3. In what ways do the lived experiences o f school desegregation provide insight for
how Black educators and families respond to school choice policy and policies
designed to improve Black student achievement?
4. How should the next generation o f Black educators and community leaders move
forward to improve Black student achievement?
Limitations and Delimitations
This study focused specifically on Black school superintendents to explore their
unique standpoint and lived experiences with segregation and desegregation. I chose to
delimit this study to this particular population because these perspectives are currently in
short supply in the education research literature, despite the rich history of Black
schooling documented in other disciplines such as legal studies, history, and sociology.
8
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The nature of the dissertation study, which often results in time constraints and limited
financial resources, informed my decision to select a total of eight participants for this
study. Although other racial, ethnic, and/or cultural groups may have and may continue to
share segregated schooling experiences similar to those of the participating
superintendents, those experiences will not be discussed in this study. Furthermore, there
is no assumption that the data collected in this study can be essentialized or expected to
reflect the experiences o f all Black school superintendents or all Black educators. Rather,
this exploratory study was designed to serve as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for
future research.
The retrospective nature of this study poses additional limitations due to its reliance
on narrative inquiry, participant reflection, and selective memory. Marshall and Rossman
(1999) caution that retrospective narratives “may suffer from selective recall, a focus on
subsets o f experience, filling in memory gaps through inference, and reinterpretation of
the past” (p. 123). Further, my standpoint as a Black woman presents the potentiality of
bias, which is openly acknowledged in narrative inquiry since the role of the researcher
includes “constructing the narrator’s reality, not just passively recording and reporting”
(Marshall & Rossman, 1999, p. 123). Thus, part of my analysis will require the
utilization o f my own standpoint in order to critically reexamine my own experiences and
construct meaning from them based on the narratives and lived experiences o f the study
participants.
9
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Researcher’s Perspective
As a Black woman, the Black standpoint is of import to me because it offers a
perspective and worldview that can be strikingly different from what is experienced and
understood by members of the White dominant culture (Collins, 1990; Delgado &
Stefancic, 2001). As noted in the preface, I believe my educational experiences were
shaped greatly by my being a Black woman and played a large role in my desire to
investigate this area o f study. I expect my identity also had implications for the style,
content, and manner in which the study participants shared and communicated with me
during the interview process. In fact, several o f the superintendents in the study explained
that somebody helped them get to where they are today, and so they felt an obligation to
support a young Black student in her academic and professional journey.
Significance o f the Study
This study is important because it can inform parents, community leaders, and those
concerned with the plight of Black students about the perceived implications and personal
experiences concerning school desegregation policy. It will also add to the growing
literature that applies a “racial realist” perspective of critical race theory to education the “view that racial progress is sporadic and that people of color are doomed to
experience only infrequent peaks followed by regressions” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000,
p. 154). By understanding that “racism is a means by which society allocates privilege
and status,” this article seeks to reframe the discourse concerning desegregation, school
choice, and other race-conscious education policies and their implications for our
society’s most vulnerable students and marginalized communities. Results may help
10
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
stakeholders determine whether or not they should support efforts to continue school
desegregation in its current form or find alternative methods for improving racial equity
and social justice in public education. It is also significant that this research process seeks
to interrogate the standpoint of a Black woman researcher who is exploring the
standpoint o f Black educators. My careful attention to this dynamic may provide insights
to other researchers who seek to study participants of similar or different racial
standpoints.
Organization of the Study
This study documents and explores the complex challenges and implications of
desegregation policy for Black children through the eyes and voices of Black
superintendents who attended racially segregated schools. Further, it attempts to critically
interpret these narratives and perceptions through a lens that situates race and racism at
the center o f how desegregation and school choice policies have been perceived by Black
educators to have an effect on the schooling and education of Black students.
The next chapter, Chapter 2 presents a review of related literature including (1) the
historical, legal, social, and cultural context of Black education, (2) the viability of school
desegregation and race-conscious education policies today, (3) the current debate
surrounding school choice and its implications for equity and student achievement, and
(4) the missing voice o f the Black school superintendent.
An overview o f the study’s research design, conceptual and methodological
framework, participants, methods o f data collection and analysis, and procedures for
constructing the participant narratives are presented in Chapter 3.
11
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
One version of the study’s findings are discussed in Chapter 4. It begins by providing
the social context o f segregated schooling and communities for the study participants,
followed by their lived experiences as students in these schools. It then focuses on the
role of parents, teachers, and students as perceived factors affecting achievement within a
segregated context and how these experiences shaped and informed the participants and
their work as educators.
In Chapter 5, a thematic analysis o f the study’s findings is discussed. More
specifically, this collection of narrative responses and vignettes reveal what appear to be
challenges to widely held assumptions in the mainstream literature concerning the
benefits o f desegregation policy for Black children, families, and communities.
Chapter 6 attempts to interpret the study’s findings utilizing a framework based on
the five tenets o f critical race theory: counter story tel ling, the critique of liberalism,
Whiteness as property, interest convergence, and the permanence of racism. It discusses
the ways in which the participants’ standpoints and experiences can be effectively
examined through a critical race perspective.
The study concludes with Chapter 7, which summarizes the findings and analysis and
outlines implications for theory, practice, policy, and future research. Most importantly, it
pursues the moral activist role o f critical race scholarship by identifying strategies that
can be utilized by parents, schools, and communities to promote a political race discourse
and social justice agenda in education. The following definitions are provided to assist
readers with the content of this study:
12
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Definitions
Afrocentrism: Paradigm in which the peoples of Africa and the African Diaspora and
their worldviews are central to the schooling process (Asante, 1991).
Color blindness: Belief that one should treat all persons equally, without regard to their
race (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
Counterstorytelling: Writing that aims to cast doubt on the validity of accepted premises
or myths, especially ones held by the majority (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
Critical race theory: Radical legal movement that seeks to transform the relationship
among race, racism, and power (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
Desegregation: Policy to integrate the races in schools or housing (Delgado & Stefancic,
2001 ).
Equity: Fair distribution of educational access, opportunities, and resources such as
public funds, qualified teachers, and educational facilities (Petrovich & Wells,
2005, p. 4).
Diversity: Policy founded on the belief that individuals of different races and ethnicities
can contribute to workplaces, schools, and other settings (Delgado & Stefancic,
2001 ).
Integration: Process of desegregating environments such as public schools or
neighborhoods (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
Race: Notion o f a distinct biological type of human being, usually based on skin color or
other physical characteristics (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
Racism: Any program or practice or discrimination, segregation, persecution, or
mistreatment based on membership in a race or ethnic group.
13
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Resegregation: (1) Quiet reversal o f prior desegregation efforts (Orfield & Eaton, 1996),
(2) Process by which students are separated into racially or ethnically isolated
groups within desegregated schools (Eyler, Cook, & Ward, 1996)
School choice: Any arrangement that allows parents to decide which o f two or more
publicly funded schools their children will attend (The National Working
Commission on Choice in K-12 Education, 2003).
Segregation: Separation of the races by official state action (Brown v. Board o f
Education, 1954).
Voice: Ability of a group, such as Blacks or women, to articulate experience in ways
unique to it (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
14
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
To effectively and responsibly examine the perceived impact of desegregation and
public school choice on Black student achievement, such discussion must be
contextualized with historical and legal analyses to understand what may be the
“contemporary manifestations of group advantage and disadvantage” (Matsuda et al.,
1993, p. 6). This chapter begins with an overview of the historical and legal context of
desegregation, including the major Supreme Court cases that sanctioned racial
segregation, declared it unequal, and most recently, contributed to what Orfield (1996)
has termed resegregation. Next I present the arguments that support and question the
viability of school desegregation efforts in light o f continued Black student
underachievement and offer the case for integrated schools, the case for separate schools,
and the case for culturally relevant instruction in both independent Black schools and
schools experiencing de facto segregation. Then I provide an overview of the public
school choice debate and how the current discourse demonstrates concerns for the choice
movement’s impact on equity and diversity. Finally, I introduce a review of the previous,
albeit scarce, body o f literature that gives voice to the experiences and perspectives of the
Black school superintendent.
15
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The limited supply of prior research regarding the Black superintendent demonstrates
the need for studies that examine the lived experiences and perceptions of these district
leaders. These perspectives have the potential to inform the current debates concerning
the viability of desegregation, the opportunities and risks associated with public school
choice, and the impact of both efforts on Black student achievement.
Navigating the modern-day debates centered on desegregation policies, the school
choice movement, and Black student achievement requires an initial examination of what
America established and embraced as a separate but equal dual system of education. The
legal context and social climate that sanctioned and enforced racial separation are critical
to understanding the dual education system of the past and the contemporary
manifestation o f a Black-White achievement gap that happens to be divided along the
same color line. This contextualization informs the complex role race has played and
continues to play in American public education (Carbado, 2002; DeCuir & Dixson, 2004;
Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Lopez, 2003; Lynn & Adams, 2002; Parker, Deyhle, &
Villenas, 1996; Tate, 2005), especially as it pertains to desegregation efforts, schools of
choice, and Black student achievement (Bell, 2004; Morris, 2001; Margonis & Parker,
1999; Saddler, 2005).
Historical and Legal Context of Desegregation
America’s historical subjugation o f people o f African descent through slavery,
limited citizenship, and government sanctioned segregation serves as a significant
prologue to the unique plight and lived experiences of Black Americans today (Bell,
1987; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Ogbu, 2003; Shujaa, 1994). Unfortunately, the public
16
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
education system was not exempt from the oppression and inequities experienced by
Black educators, parents, and children (Bell, 2004; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995;
Shujaa, 1994). A historical-legal review of the laws and policies concerning America’s
public school system underscores how the socially accepted construct o f Black inferiority
supported and sustained a racially separate and inequitable system (Bell, 2004; Brooks,
2004; Brown v. Board o f Education, 1954; Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896).
The illegality o f teaching a slave to read or write provides a context whereby Black
Americans have traditionally valued education because it existed beyond the grasp of
their forebears (Gadsden, 1994; Irons, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Fairclough (2001)
explained, “The efforts of the slave regime to prevent black literacy meant that blacks
early on associated education with liberation” (p. 3). Thus, for many generations, Black
America held fast to the belief that access to a quality education would help right the
wrongs of a racist past and equated education with opportunity and freedom. Gadsden
(1991) described the continuing challenges facing Black students despite the incremental,
yet inadequate, progression of schooling unique to this population.
For African American learners, in particular, literacy has been an especially tenuous
struggle, from outright denial during slavery, to limited access in the early 1900s, to
segregated schools with often outdated textbooks well into the 1960s to-m any might
argue— marginal acceptance o f their culture and capacity as learners even into the
1990s (p. 275).
Gadsden’s observation summarizes the legacy o f educational oppression, both physical
and psychological, which has historically disadvantaged the Black learner. From slavery
and restricted access to substandard schools and low expectations, Black students today
17
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
continue to experience the long-term effects o f the collective mistreatment suffered by
their forbears (Ogbu, 2003). In his study, Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb,
Ogbu (2003) explained that Black children “did not have to have been slaves to
internalize the beliefs about the mentality of the slaves; memories o f the collective
experience of the past influenced their thinking” (p. 80).
In addition to acknowledging the historical realities of slavery, subjugation, and
collective mistreatment of Black people in America, it is important to recognize the legal
context o f the role of race in U.S. jurisprudence and its implications for education policy.
The following overview of legal cases related to issues of racial inequality and racial
prejudice in education, from Roberts v. City o f Boston in 1849 to Brown in 1954, presents
what Alexander and Alexander (2001) describe as “an evolution o f judicial thinking in
overcoming discrimination, while preserving individual rights and freedoms” (p. 499).
‘‘Badge o f Inferiority” vs. “Separate-but-Equal ”
In making his case against the constitutionality of segregated schools in Brown v.
Board o f Education (1954), civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall emphasized the
harmful nature of this stigma of inferiority on Black children. Irons (2002) restated
M arshall’s argument in his book, Jim C row ’s Children:
What made the enforced separation o f black children from white most damaging . . .
was not tattered books or untrained teachers, but the stigma of inferiority that
segregation inflicted on black children. School officials could buy newer books and
hire better teachers for black children, but they could not erase feelings of inferiority
from their minds (p. 63).
18
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This argument was originally made in 1849 in Roberts v. City o f Boston. Mr. Roberts,
who was Black, sought to dispute the inequitable treatment his 5-year-old daughter
experienced by being forced to “walk through the streets of the city o f Boston past five
elementary schools for White children to reach the Smith Grammar School, which had
been established in 1920 for Blacks,” lacked adequate equipment, and was in poor
physical condition (Alexander & Alexander, 2001, p. 499). Roberts’ attorney, civil rights
leader and later U.S. Senator, Charles Sumner, argued that forcing Black children to
attend racially separate schools was to “brand a whole race with the stigma of inferiority
and degradation” (Roberts v. City o f Boston, 1848, 59 Mass. 198). However, Justice
Shaw of the Massachusetts court was not convinced, and “merely asserted that school
segregation was for the good of both races” and introduced the notion of “separate-butequal” in education, which would live on for more than 100 years (Alexander &
Alexander, 2001, p. 500).
In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified and stated: “Nor shall any State . . .
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” However, the
amendment had minimal effect beyond instances o f state-sanctioned discrimination.
Upon reflection of how the South began to develop “Jim Crow laws,” which were simply
the transformation of the private practice o f racial discrimination into state-sanctioned
law, Justice Powell acknowledged: “ [T]he Equal Protection Clause was virtually
strangled in its infancy by post-Civil W ar judicial reactionism.”
The most important action regarding segregation occurred in 1896 with Plessy v.
Ferguson, in which the justification for separate-but equal, as declared by the Roberts
court, became the standard to be applied to the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court
19
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
concluded, “If one race be inferior to the other socially, the constitution of the United
States cannot put them upon the same plane” (Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S., 1896).
However, in his lone dissenting opinion, Justice John M. Harlan declared, “ [I]n view of
the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant,
ruling class o f citizens . . . Our constitution is colorblind, and neither know nor tolerates
classes among its citizens.” Despite what Alexander and Alexander (2001) describe as
Harlan’s articulation of a “desirable moral standard for the nation,” the Supreme Court
“made the equal protection clause subject to custom and tradition in accordance with
legislative interpretation, no matter how blatantly and objectionably the law affected a
particular classification o f people” (p. 498, 500).
Although Plessy did not deal with education directly, the separate-but-equal
precedent was quickly applied to the field o f education. In 1899, the case o f Gumming v.
Board o f Education o f Richmond County, Georgia resulted in a decision by the U.S.
Supreme Court that abdicated the school board from the responsibility of accommodating
the needs o f Black children by declaring that “the matter of education and how it was
conducted . . . was solely a state concern” (Alexander & Alexander, 2001, p. 501). In
1908, the rationale for segregation in education was expanded in Berea College v.
Kentucky, in which the U.S. Supreme Court “upheld a state law that forbade any
institution as a corporation to provide instruction to both races at the same time unless the
classes were conducted at least 25 miles apart” (Alexander & Alexander, 2001, p. 501).
Although the cases o f Plessy, Cumming, and Berea College protected states in their
desire to require separate educational institutions and systems for Blacks and Whites, the
Court moved beyond the Black-White binary in Gong Lum v. Rice (1927), which “held
20
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
that states could segregate a Mongolian child from the Caucasian schools and compel her
to attend a school for black children, which became a common practice in the North and
the South (Alexander & Alexander, 2001, p. 501).
Not until the 1930s, when the National Association for the Advancement o f Colored
People (NAACP) began to question the widely accepted practice of legal segregation,
was the concept o f separate-but-equal challenged. In 1938, in the landmark desegregation
case known as Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, the Supreme Court determined a
Missouri law that refused Blacks from enrolling in the University of Missouri Law
School unconstitutional since there were no other schools in the state that Blacks could
attend. The decision was significant because it “represented a reassertion o f judicial
authority in construing the equal protection clause as a limitation on a previously
unfettered state action in education” (Alexander & Alexander, 2001, p. 501). It also
paved the way for another case involving a law school in 1950. In Sweait v. Painter, the
concept of separate-but-equal was further eroded when Chief Justice Fred Vinson
“virtually eliminated the use of separate law schools for blacks,” exposing what
Alexander and Alexander (2001) describe as “the obvious educational infirmity of the
separate-but-equal doctrine” (p. 502).
Despite the incremental progress that was being made in dismantling the notion of
separate-but-equal, which was previously accepted and perpetuated by courts across the
country, there was still no relief for those Black elementary and secondary students who
were forced to attend substandard schools with inadequate equipment and resources
(Alexander & Alexander, 2001, p. 502). It is important to note that despite the numerous
accounts and depictions of Black schools during segregation as substandard facilities
21
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
with unqualified teachers and meager resources (Irons, 2002), the oral histories and
personal testimonies o f Black educators and students during segregation help to illustrate
how Black schools enjoyed a sense of community and prepared students to “compete in
the desegregated world that did not yet exist” (Fairclough, 2004; Walker, 2001, p. 769).
Blacks Schools under Segregation: Struggle, Hope, and Community
Through struggle and oppression, students developed an appreciation for their culture,
their teachers, and their ability to overcome unjust circumstances (Dempsey & Noblit,
1993; Du Bois, 1903; Shujaa, 1994, Walker, 1996). Thus, struggle was a form of
education (Bennett, 1972). In articulating the distinction between schooling and
education, Madhubuti (1994) wrote:
Many believed that if we had first rate facilities/buildings, supplies, environment,
teachers and support personnel, a quality education would follow. This is obviously
not true. We now understand that there is a profound difference between going to
school and being educated (p. 3).
Black students had teachers who exemplified the “willingness to be involved in the
community, their dedication and commitment to the academic achievement of Black
children, and their willingness to support one another through various forms of
mentoring” (Tillman, 2004). In their historical analysis of Black educational leadership
perspectives, Murtadha and Watts (2005) noted the emergence of three key themes: (1)
the practice o f educational leadership by individuals and organizations of people of
African descent throughout U.S. history, (2) the linkage of “struggle for education with
social justice” and fighting to overcome the social barriers of poverty and racism, (3) and
the centrality o f community engagement to Black educational leadership.
22
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
However, Orfield (1996) argued, “The memory of good black schools is not entirely
inaccurate, but it obscures the substantial educational gains of blacks in the desegregation
era” (p. 84). W hether or not these gains outweighed the costs suffered by the Black
community through its loss o f Black educators, closure of Black schools, and sole burden
o f integrating hostile all-White schools illustrates the duplicitous nature of the landmark
school desegregation case commonly referred to as Brown.
The “M ixed Legacy ” o f Brown
Brown v. Board o f Education (1954) is widely regarded as one of the most significant
and noble Supreme Court decisions in the history of the United States. For Blacks, Brown
presented the dawning o f a new day where Black people could finally enjoy the
educational rights previously denied their ancestors. The historic decision’s broader
appeal was its implications for social relations and more specifically, the opportunity for
Blacks to also share in the pursuit of—the formerly elusive—American Dream (Tate,
Ladson-Billings, & Grant, 1996).
After nearly 60 years o f government-sanctioned segregation, a group of litigants
argued that “ state laws permitting and requiring .such segregation, denies to Negro
children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors of white and Negro school
may be equal” (Brown v. Board, 1954). The Supreme Court unanimously concluded that
segregation did not belong in education and that “separate educational facilities are
inherently unequal” (Brown v. Board, 1954).
However, it was another year before Brown 11 occurred, when the Supreme Court
made its initial effort to determine and outline how and when desegregation was to take
23
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
place. The Court concluded that desegregation should occur with “all deliberate speed,”
and the ambiguity of that standard resulted in desegregation efforts being deferred in
school districts across the country (Orfield & Eaton, 1996 p. xxi). More than 50 years
after the decision and its deliberately measured implementation, reflections on the
decision have resulted in what Bell (2004) describes as the “mixed legacy” of Brown. He
observed:
The passage o f time has calmed both the ardor of its admirers and the ire of its
detractors. Today, of little use as legal precedent, it has gained in reputation as a
measure o f what law and society might be. That noble image, dulled by resistance to
any but minimal steps toward compliance, but transformed Brown into a magnificent
mirage, the legal equivalent of that city on a hill to which all aspire without any
serious thought that it will ever be attained (p. 4).
A Dream Deferred: White Flight and Choice Plans
Lack of government action after Brown, coupled with White flight and resistance to
the integration of Black children into all White schools, illustrate what many described as
a climate of racism and White self-interest that existed post -Brown (Bell, 2004; Tate et al,
1996; Wells, 1993). Various reactionary strategies were employed by Whites to
circumvent attempts to integrate the public schools on individual, collective, and
institutional levels. An individualized response was for Whites to simply flee impacted
neighborhoods to avoid the possibility o f having their children attend school with Black
children, who they perceived to be culturally and genetically inferior (Wells, 1993).
One “massive resistance” tactic included Southerners “convincing] the nation that
blacks were content living under segregation” (Bell, 2004, p. 13). School boards used
24
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
their local authority to craft and implement legislation that authorized districts to close
their schools and provide tuition vouchers to Whites who could avoid attending schools
with Blacks by selecting the schools of their choice (Wells, 1993). These efforts were
referred to as ‘freedom-of-choice’ plans and are often cited by supporters of traditional
public education as the reason modern-day school choice plans do not support integration
and diversity (Fuller & Elmore, 1996; Wells, 1993). This argument will be discussed in
further detail later in this chapter.
Numerous strategies, enacted by state and local governments, circumvented the U. S.
Supreme Court’s decision to end segregation. Virginia provides one example of this in
the passage o f the Virginia Pupil Placement Act o f 1964, through which state placement
boards “required that student transfers not upset: (1) the orderly administration of the
public schools, (2) the competent instruction of the pupils enrolled, or (3) the health,
safety, education, and general welfare o f the pupils” (Wells, 1993 p. 65). These highly
subjective measures made it nearly impossible for Black students to attend the schools
without violating one, if not all, o f the indicated criteria. Today, this tactic correlates with
concerns expressed by school choice opponents who believe unresolved issues such as
transportation, capacity, and safety may be used as indirect methods to ensure schools of
choice exclude students who may upset the above criteria (Fuller & Elmore, 1996; Wells,
1993).
In Griffin v. County School Board o f Prince Edward County (1964), the Supreme
Court determined that a Virginia Law permitting the closing of all public schools in
Prince Edward County was unconstitutional. In a special session, the Virginia General
Assembly passed legislation that closed and cut off state funds to public schools where
25
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
White and Black children were enrolled together. Further, using the money previously
allocated to the closed public schools, the state provided tuition vouchers to White
students who attended newly established private segregated schools and granted state
funded retirement benefits to the teachers of these new schools (Alexander & Alexander,
2001 ).
In April 1959, the General Assembly vacated its ‘massive resistance’ efforts to
desegregation and adopted a ‘freedom o f choice’ program, which consisted of a new
tuition grant program. The Assembly also repealed Virginia’s compulsory attendance
laws, making school attendance a matter o f local choice and preference (Alexander &
Alexander, 2001). A similar program was enacted in 1965 in New Kent County, Virginia.
Wells (1993) explains that “as a result of harassment by local whites and the tactics
employed by state pupil-placement boards, by 1965 almost 94 percent of southern black
students remained in all-black schools, and in several states only the slightest change had
been made in the system of separate and unequal schools” (p. 66).
Four years later in Green v. County School Board o f New Kent County, Virginia
(1968) the Supreme Court determined that rather than “dismantling the dual system,” the
freedom-of-choice plan
operated simply to burden children and their parents with a responsibility that the
Court had placed squarely on the School Board. The Board must be required to
formulate a new plan and, in light of other courses which appear open to the Board,
such as zoning, fashion steps which promise realistically to convert promptly to a
system without a ‘w hite’ school and a ‘N egro’ school, but just schools” (391 U.S.
430).
26
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
In fact, throughout the plan’s 3 years of operation, no White student elected to attend the
all-Black school, and despite 115 Negro students enrolling in the formerly all-white
school in 1967, 85 percent of the Negro students still attended the all-Black school. The
system was still dual with no intention of complying with Brown II (Green v. County
School Board o f New Kent County, Virginia, 1968).
Freedom-of-choice plans never dismantled the segregated school system or provided
equal educational opportunities for Black children in Virginia. Critics of modern-day
school choice plans contend that most proposed choice plans similarly place the burden
of transforming segregated schools and systems toward integration on the Black children
and parents who desire greater educational opportunities than the inadequate, racially
isolated schools their children may currently attend (Fuller & Elmore, 1996; Orfield &
Eaton, 1996; Wells, 1993).
Consequences o f Desegregation on Black Educators
Although some recollections o f segregated Black schools may be viewed through
rose-colored glasses (Fairclough, 2004; Orfield, 1996), one documented post-Brown
outcome is the disproportionate number of jobs lost by Black educators (Morris, 2001;
Walker, 2003; Tillman, 2004). Many Black teachers, principals, and to a lesser extent,
school superintendents were either demoted or fired once schools were required to
integrate. This had a particularly significant impact on the Black community since a large
number o f its middle-class members served in the field of education (Fairclough, 2004;
Foster, 1997; Walker, 2001; Tillman, 2004). The following table highlights important
dates and statistics regarding what Walker (2003) described as the “decimation of black
27
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
leadership in the wake o f desegregation” (p. 57). Tillman (2004) refers to this
displacement of Black educators as the “(un)intended consequences” of Brown, noting
that “The wholesale firing of Black educators threatened the economic, social, and
cultural structure of the Black community, and ultimately the social, emotional, and
academic success of Black children” (p. 280).
Table 1
The Impact o f the Brown Decision on the Employment Status o f Black Educators
Pre-1954
Approximately 82,000 black teachers taught 2 million Black children who
attended mostly segregated schools.
1954
On May 17, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Oliver L. Brown
v. the Topeka (KS) Board o f Education.
1954-1965
More than 35,000 Black educators in 17 southern and border states were
dismissed from their positions.
1975-1985
The number of Black students who chose teacher education as a major
declined by 66%.
1984-1989
New teacher certification requirements and teacher education program
admission requirements resulted in the displacement of 21,515 Black
teachers.
2001
African American teachers represented 6% of the public school teaching
force, whereas African American students represented 17.1% of the public
school student population.
SOURCE: Tillman (2004)
28
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The disproportionately small number of Black teachers and principals to Black public
school students is arguably one o f the most devastating consequences o f desegregation on
Black education (Jones-Wilson, 1990; Walker, 2003; Tillman, 2004; Dempsey & Noblit,
1993). Although data exist on the number of Black teachers and principals who were
demoted, fired, or forced to resign during this era, literature on Black superintendents
before Brown is scarce and did not develop until the 1970s (Tillman, 2004), Ethridge
(1979) reported the complete absence of a Black superintendent in 1954 and fewer than
12 Blacks in the position of assistant superintendent.
Despite the devastating impact o f desegregation efforts on Black educators, they have
become the “forgotten voices,” excluded from discussions concerning the educational
policy implications of desegregation, integration, and resegregation concerning Black
children (Morris, 2001). Tillman’s (2004) historical look at the impact of Brown on Black
educators suggested that these “(un)intended and (un)anticipated consequences” of job
loss for Black teachers, principals, and superintendents were, in fact, the result of
intended and anticipated strategies used to force Blacks out of the profession (p. 300).
Bell (2004) also questioned the motivation behind Brown as not altruistic, but a prime
example o f interest-convergence, the phenomenon whereby the rights of Blacks are only
acknowledged and guarded if lawmakers believe their decisions will benefit their own
desires. Bell’s principle of interest-convergence maintains that the Brown decision was
not a manifestation of the nation’s desire to provide equal educational opportunities for
Black students. Rather it was an anticommunist, foreign policy decision that was essential
to improving America’s image as a nation that purported the virtues o f freedom, equality,
and democracy for all its citizens (Bell, 2004).
29
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Another criticism of the Brown decision is the court’s approval of an “essentially
mathematical solution to a sociocultural problem” (Tate et al, 1996, p. 33). Tate, LadsonBillings, and Grant (1996) argued \hdfi. Brow n's “model of educational equality, coupled
with white self-interest, has not produced (and cannot produce) the expansive vision of
equality that will lead to equal educational outcomes regardless of physical placement of
students” (p. 47). They further observed that, “The major gains blacks thought were
obtainable with the desegregation model were the very ones lost as a result of not
accounting for an important law o f the system, white self-interest” (p. 37). Bell (2004)
articulated this overlooked factor of the interests of Whites over the interest o f Blacks in
his two rules o f interest-convergence:
1. The interest of blacks in achieving racial equality will be accommodated only
when that interest converges with the interest of whites in policy-making
positions. This convergence is far more important than gaining relief than the
degree of harm suffered by blacks or the character of proof offered to prove that
harm.
2. Even when interest-convergence results in an effective racial remedy, that remedy
will be abrogated at the point that policymakers fear the remedial policy is
threatening the superior societal status of whites, particularly those in the middle
and upper classes (p. 68).
As a result of this miscalculation, “The wave of triumph that engulfed the black
community in the wake o f the Brown decision was soured by the realization that change
30
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
would not occur . . . as mandated by the Court” (Faltz & Leake, 1996, p. 229). Thus,
Brown I ’s promise of equal educational opportunities and access for Black children and
Brown I I ’s ‘all deliberate speed’ provision coupled with de facto segregation, White
flight, and ‘freedom-of-choice’ plans rendered the promise of Brown empty.
Resegregation: Sleepwalking Back to Plessy
Despite the realization o f desegregated schooling across the country via demographic
manipulation, busing, and court orders, the 1990s experienced what Orfield and Eaton
(1996) describe as the “quiet reversal o f Brown” or “resegregation.” Cases such as Board
o f Education o f Oklahoma v. Dowell {1991), Freeman v. Pitts (1992), and Missouri v.
Jenkins (1995) have released districts from their obligations to maintain desegregated
schools while mitigating the harmful effects of segregation. In response, Orfield (1996)
suggests the nation is “sleepwalking back to Plessy” (p. 331).
Numerous scholars are deeply concerned about a possible return to the days of
segregated schools (Eaton, 1996; Eaton & Meldrum, 1996; Orfield & Eaton, 1996; Wells,
1993) while others are more troubled by the continued disproportionate levels of
academic underachievement experienced by Black students across economic and
geographic lines (Henderson et al 1996; Irvine, 1990; Lomotey, 1990; Ogbu, 2003;
Shujaa, 1996). Still others note that desegregated schools do not necessarily translate into
integrated learning opportunities, since many schools utilize methods such as ability
tracking, specialized programs, and “school within a school” programs, which ironically
result in segregated classrooms and racially separated learning experiences for Black and
White children (Dempsey & Noblit, 1993; Saddler, 2005). Today, a great number of
Black parents have lost faith in desegregated schools and feel their children have a better
31
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
chance at succeeding in resegregated schools since there is no real difference
academically (Saddler, 2005).
The debate surrounding the viability of desegregation plans, programs, and policies
are still important to informing the strategies needed to increase Black student
achievement. There are numerous arguments for and against the continuation of
desegregation efforts in education, including the justifications for integrated schools
(Kozol, 2005; Orfield, 1996); African-centered or independent Black schools (Faltz &
Leake, 1996; Pollard & Ajirotutu, 2000; Shujaa, 1994; Shujaa & Afrik, 1996); and
schools that offer culturally relevant and responsive teaching in an involuntarily
segregated school environment (Ladson-Billings, 1994; Lee, 1994)
Viability o f Desegregation
The conundrum of determining whether desegregation should take priority in
developing school systems that afford Black students high quality learning opportunities
is not new. In 1935, W E B . Du Bois articulated the complexity of this debate and his
philosophy concerning the education of the Black student:
Theoretically, the Negro needs neither segregated schools nor mixed schools. What
he needs is education. . . . A mixed school with poor and unsympathetic teachers,
with hostile public opinion, and no teaching of truth concerning black folk, is bad. A
segregated school with ignorant placeholders, inadequate equipment, poor salaries . . .
is equally bad. Other things being equal, the mixed school is the broader, more
natural basis for the education of all youth. It gives wider contacts; it inspires greater
self-confidence; and suppresses the inferiority complex (p. 335).
32
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The Case fo r Integrated Schools
Increased self-confidence and suppression o f Black inferiority is fundamental to the
argument supporting integrated schools. It served as the basis for Thurgood M arshall’s
case in Brown. He contended that segregated schools placed a “ stigma o f inferiority on
Black children” that was far more damaging that the substandard facilities or inadequate
resources to which they were also subjected.. This ‘badge of inferiority’ was injurious
because it not only hindered their learning, but also their future life chances. “B row n’s
judgment that segregated schools are inherently unequal remains correct, not because
something magic happens to minority students when they sit next to whites, but because
segregation cuts students o f color from critical paths to success in American society”
(Orfield, 1996, p. 331). Kozol (2005) made a similar observation regarding the benefits
of integrated school environments. He stated:
The suggestion is virtually never made that one of the most direct ways to reduce the
damage done to children by peer pressure is to change the make-up of their peers by
letting them go to schools where all their classmates are not black and brown and
poor, and children and grandchildren of the poor, but where a healthy confidence that
one can learn is rooted in the national assumptions of Americans who haven’t been
laid waste by history (p. 36).
In many cases, Black parents wanted their children in integrated classrooms, but not
because they believed the presence of White students would improve their learning.
According to Bell (2004), it was a matter o f trust. Many did not believe White teachers
would teach or treat their children fairly without other White students in the classroom.
They also believed they would not receive equitable economic support for facilities and
33
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
instruction. Thus, there is a seeming distinction between the case and support for
integrated schools contingent upon the standpoint of the observer. Many White
supporters believe integration is necessary to ensure the future success o f Black children
while Black supporters have a more concentrated view that integration may possibly
provide access to greater opportunities for equality in a desegregated environment.
Further, it seems Black supporters, unlike White supporters, grapple with the question of
whether or not the mere possibility of greater access, opportunity , and equality through
integration outweigh the burden and consequences of desegregation that have primarily
been placed on Black students, families, and communities.
Decades before Brown, W E B . Du Bois necessitated a distinction between
segregation and discrimination, which was not supported by the NAACP or many other
Blacks who were fighting diligently for the cause o f desegregation. He maintained that
“oppression and insult [had] become so intense and unremitting that until the w orld’s
attitude changes . . . volunteer union for self-expression and self-defense was essential”
(Bell, 2004, p. 119). More than 60 years later, Ladson-Billings (1994) offered a similar
sentiment.
In a better world I would want to see schools integrated across racial, cultural,
linguistic, and all other lines. But I am too much of a pragmatist to ignore the
sentiment and motivation underlying the African American immersion school
movement. African Americans already have separate schools. The African immersion
school movement is about taking control of those separate schools (p. 3).
34
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The Case fo r Separate Schools
Although Du Bois’ urging in the 1930s fell on the deaf ears of many civil rights
activists, a number of parents, educators, and community members over the years have
shared Du Bois’ position on voluntarily separate schools (Ratterey, 1994; Shujaa, 1994).
During the 1990s, another shift took place in the attitudes of some African Americans
who preferred adequate funding to desegregation. School boards dominated by Blacks in
Yonkers, New York; Seattle, Washington; and Prince George’s County, Maryland
elected to end busing and dismantle their desegregation plans in exchange for increased
funding for their neighborhood schools (Twohey, 1998). Ladson-Billings (1994) offers
some insights, stating:
An often-asked question of people of color, women, and other marginalized groups is
‘What is it you people want?’ Surprisingly for some, what these people want is not
very different from what most Americans want: an opportunity to shape and share in
the American dream. But when these people say what they want, it is seen as
‘separatism,’ ‘reverse racism’ (a strange concept), ‘tribalism,’ and ‘special privilege’
(p. 137).
Decades after Brown, “some African American educators and parents are asking
themselves whether separate schools that put special emphases on the needs of their
children might be the most expedient way to ensure that they receive a quality education”
(Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 2). Another view offered viewed Orfield and Eaton (1996)
suggests:
So deep is our resistance to acknowledging what is taking place that when a school
district abandons integrated education, the actual word “segregation” hardly ever
35
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
comes up. Proposals for racially separate schools are usually promoted as new
educational improvement programs or efforts to increase parental involvement (p.
24).
The Case fo r Culturally Relevant and Responsive Schools
Ladson-Billings (1994) explains that although we should never want to return to the
segregated schools o f the pre-Brown era, it is important to acknowledge the reality that
our schools are segregated. Hochschild (1997) painted a picture of what seems to be a
conceptual backing o f desegregation by Whites and desegregation fatigue on the part of
Blacks, noting:
Despite their abstract support for school desegregation, most white members of the
American public simply do not want very many black (and disproportionately poor)
children in the same classroom as their own children, and they will do what they can
to keep them out. Most black members of the American public either return the
compliment, or have abandoned the desegregative effort in disgust (p. 461).
Henderson, Greenberg, Schneider, Uribe, and Verdugo (1996) observe that Black
student achievement will only increase by “improving the quality of their schools, rather
than the demographic manipulation o f populations” (p. 182). Ladson-Billings (1994)
argues that learning can be improved through the use of culturally relevant teaching,
which she defines as “a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially,
emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and
attitudes” (p. 18). By examining the dominant culture and student’s own culture through
cultural referents that are embedded in the curriculum, culturally relevant pedagogy
establishes the student’s ability to develop a skill necessary for school and life success.
36
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This skill is the ability to understand and navigate through the concept W E B . Du Bois
described as “double-consciousness.”
Despite being an outspoken critic against segregation, renowned Black educator and
mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Benjamin E. Mays (1974) warned:
Black people must not resign themselves to the pessimistic view that a nonintegrated
school cannot provide Black children with an excellent educational setting. Instead,
Black people, while working to implement Brown, should recognize that integration
alone does not provide a quality education (cited in Fairclough, 2004, p. ##).
Along those same lines, Bell (2004) reflected, “Zealous faith in integration blinded us to
the actual goal o f equalizing educational opportunities for black children, and led us to
pursue integration without regard to, and often despite, its ultimate impact on the well
being of students” (p. 113).
School Choice: Inequitable or Emancipatory?
For the past 40 years, school choice has been a vehicle for school integration, meeting
the individual needs of students, granting greater educational control to parents, and
supporting the model of an increasingly competitive education marketplace (Wells,
1993). These programs have included alternative schools, neighborhood schools,
community schools, targeted schools, priority schools, magnet schools, and more
recently, charter schools.
The school choice movement encompasses various approaches and agendas.
Numerous variations o f opposing views and expectations within this type of school
reform may not be obvious, since many different agendas are introduced under the
37
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
umbrella o f school choice. As Wells (1993) explained, “when a phrase such as ‘school
choice” is used by educators and policymakers to describe programs that have little in
common, parents and taxpayers become confused. Proposals bearing ‘school choice’ or
‘parental choice’ labels often garner broad support, although they may or may not reflect
what most people consider sound educational goals” (p. 4).
There are two major schools of thought who support the broad notion of school
choice. Some advocate school choice as a result o f their value for freedom and
competition while others believe choice is a means o f promoting educational equity and
social justice. In support of a competitive educational market, Merrifield (2001) stated,
“No school policy will completely eliminate neighborhood or student body separation but
socioeconomic industry will minimize separation.” He also argued that school choice is
an opportunity to challenge the status quo by creating competition, thus improving the
quality of public education.
On the other hand, some who believe school choice contributes to racial separation
and unequal systems warn us against what Gary Orfield of the Harvard Desegregation
Project has termed resegregation. He explained that our knowledge o f the outcomes of
Plessy should caution us to the potential reappearance of strict racial isolation and
discrimination based on racist notions and sentiments (Orfield & Eaton, 1996). This
possible consequence o f resegregation and racial separation is just one of several
concerns voiced by authors and scholars who warn against the dangers associated with
the school choice movement.
38
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
School Choice and the Charter M ovement
The National Working Commission on Choice in K-12 Education (2003) defines
school choice as “any arrangement that allows parents to decide which o f two or more
publicly funded schools their children will attend.” This Commission also divides the
types of school choice into two categories: traditional (magnet schools, open enrollment,
and the opt-out provisions in N o Child Left Behind) and non-traditional (charter schools,
vouchers, and home schools). For the purposes of this study, school choice will be
limited to the ‘traditional’ public-to-public school choice options to include charter
schools, which are by definition nonsectarian public schools (US Charter Schools
website).
School choice proponents Chubb and Moe (1990) described choice as a movement
“embraced by liberals and conservatives alike as a powerful means o f transforming the
structure and performance of public education - while keeping the public schools public”
(p. 206). They continued:
It is being used to combat racial segregation; indeed, it has become the preferred
approach to desegregation in districts throughout the country - in Rochester and
Buffalo (New York), Cambridge (Massachusetts), and Prince George’s County
(Maryland) to name a few.
Despite Chubb and M oe’s view, that choice is being effectively used to “combat
segregation,” much of the literature that informs this study points to the historical context
and background relevant to understanding the implications for these types o f programs on
resegregation, equity, diversity, and achievement (Fuller & Elmore, 1996; Orfield, 1996;
Rofes & Stulberg, 2004; Wells, 1993). Charter schools will be examined in particular
39
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
because much of the related literature and studies examining the promises, opportunities,
consequences, and dangers of school choice have focused specifically on these
increasingly popular nontraditional public schools (Bulkley & Wohlstetter, 2004;
Chavous, 2004; Finn, Manno, & Vanourek, 2000; Kane & Lauricella, 2001; Nathan,
1996; Rofes & Stulberg, 2004; Wells, 2002; Wells, Holme, Lopez & Cooper, 2003).
Charter Schools
The U.S. Department of Education defines a charter school as a “nonsectarian public
school o f choice that operates with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to
traditional public schools” (US Charter Schools website). Despite some of the freedoms
and independence enjoyed by charter schools, they are still by definition, public schools.
In fact, they are “public schools under contract” - the contract being the charter. Among
the many definitions and explanations in the literature, Manno (1999) provided a
comprehensive, yet succinct description that captures the essence of the charter school.
He defined it as:
an independent public school of choice, given a charter or contract for a specified
period o f time (typically five years) to educate children according to the school’s own
design, with a minimum of bureaucratic oversight. It may be a new school, started
from scratch, or an existing one that secedes from its school district. It is held
accountable to the terms of its charter and continues to exist only if it fulfills those
terms. As a public school o f choice, it is attended by students whose families select it
and staffed by educators who choose to teach in it (p. 1).
40
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Charier Schools, Equity, and Diversity
Critics o f charter schools are concerned with the role they play in what appears to be
the resegregation of students who attend these schools o f choice (Orfield, 1996; Wells,
1993). Some argue these types o f choice programs are simply a throwback to the
freedom-of-choice plans implemented in response to Brown as a strategy to avoid
integration and equal educational opportunities for Black students. Others find them to be
emancipatory opportunities for learning and a progressive type of school reform that can
improve student success (King, 2004; Rofes & Stulberg, 2004).
However, there is a new dynamic at play today. Unlike the Black and minority
parents who historically had no say in where they children attended school, some of
today’s parents of color are frustrated with the public school system and are choosing
schools that reflect the educational and cultural values they desire for their children.
Fuller, Gawlik, Gonzalez, and Park (2004) observed the following trend:
The widening rejection of common schooling— or perhaps it’s the impersonal,
bureaucratic rendition of the one best system—is energized by strange bedfellows,
from Latino and African American activists fed up with unresponsive city schools to
affluent parents who seek a pristine school behind their gated community (p. 94).
The difficult question is whether or not racial integration and diversity is important to
schooling and student success. Mickelson (2005) explained, “If diversity is
inconsequential in and o f itself, the racial composition o f schools matters very little for
educational outcomes. However, if school racial composition affects school outcomes,
any policy that subverts it must be carefully scrutinized, if not avoided” (p. 131). The
following table demonstrates the demographic breakdown of charter schools in
41
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
California, Texas, and Minnesota in comparison to their traditional public school
counterparts.
Table 2
Racial/Ethnic Isolation in Public Schools and in Selected School Choice Programs
(numbers in percentages)
Proportion of Minority Students in School
0-20%
>80-100%
(Mostly
Anglos; Few
Minorities)
(Mostly
Minorities;
Few Anglos)
Total
Percentage
o f Racially D is
tinctive Schools
U.S. public schools
61
9
70
Charter schools in ten-state study
44
21
65
Public schools in California
17
23
40
Charter schools in California
37
17
54
Public schools in Texas
22
27
49
Charter schools in Texas
5
58
63
Public schools in Minnesota
83
2
85
Charter schools in Minnesota
50
31
81
SOURCE: Kemerer (2001)
The data in the above chart, collected in 1995-1996 as part o f the first definitive study
o f all charter schools, illustrates the tendency of charter schools to be as “racially and
ethnically distinctive” as their traditional public school counterparts (Kemerer, 2001).
42
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
While 70% of U.S. public schools were identified as racially distinctive, meaning
they have either predominately White or minority populations, the same was true for only
65% of charter schools represented by the 10-state study, which included California,
Arizona, Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Mexico,
Georgia, and Hawaii. These distributions vary across states, districts, and individual
schools. In California, a larger number o f traditional public schools are distinctively
minority (23%) while a greater percentage of charter schools are Anglo (37%). The
opposite is true in Texas and Minnesota where the public schools are predominately
Anglo (22% and 83% o f schools respectively) while the percentage of charter schools in
those states have distinctively minority student populations (58% and 31% of schools
respectively). Mickelson’s (2005) study o f the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools district
wide Family Choice Plan in North Carolina found patterns of resegregation in both the
elementary and high schools.
Charter Schools and Black Student Achievement
As public schools, charter schools are accountable to meet the requirements o f their
charters and in most cases, must also meet their state or district’s educational
accountability standards (Weil, 2000). Thus, accountability plays an inherently important
role for charter schools and becomes increasingly significant when it comes to the
discussion o f whether or not charter schools are living up to their promises. Most
researchers studying the impact o f charter schools on student achievement have indicated
there is not enough data available to substantiate that relationship (Finn, Manno, &
Vanourek, 2000; Miron & Nelson, 2004). Miron & Nelson’s (2004) attempt to present a
synthesis o f research on student achievement in charter schools revealed that “more
43
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
striking than the substantive findings o f the studies is how few studies there are and how
few states these studies cover” (p. 171).
This lack o f evidence on charter schools’ impact on student achievement further
problematizes the ability to determine whether or not enrollment in these schools has
translated into higher levels of Black student achievement. This is particularly important
to note since Black students make up the largest minority student population enrolled in
charter schools (Yancey, 2004). In fact, some states have several charter schools that are
85-100% Black or have an African-centered curriculum or philosophy developed in
response to the “underachievement, overcrowding, and lack of accountability” realized in
large, urban, traditional public schools (Yancey, 2004). Thus, research on the impact of
charter schools on student achievement is particularly important to informing the
discussion on Black student achievement.
Another reason the charter movement, and its relationship to Black student learning
and success, should be examined is the movement’s more recent role in the development
and sustainability o f the Black independent school or “Independent Black Institution”
(Shujaa, 1994). Independent Black Institutions or IBI’s are they are commonly called,
compose a formal network of Black alternative schools that vary in structure and
curriculum, but share an organizational philosophy centered on communalism,
decolonization, African personality, humanism, harmony, and nation building (Shujaa &
Afrik, 1996). IBI’s founded in the 1960s and 1970s did not enjoy great popularity due to
their reliance on tuition and financial support from Black families and community
organizations, but the emergence o f charter school legislation has created an opportunity
for charter school founders to establish new independent Black charter schools or convert
44
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
private IB I’s into charter schools (Yancey, 2004; Bush, 2004). Although Bush (2004)
warns against this newfound access to public funds as posing “a deleterious threat” to the
future of IBI’s, he ultimately concedes it is “a risk worth taking” (p. 399).
Several case studies have illustrated models of school success and failure for charter
schools serving predominately Black student populations (Chavous, 2004; King, 2004;
Nathan, 1996; Yancey, 2004). Despite these examples, whether or not there is a causal
relationship between charter schools and increased Black student achievement remains to
be seen. The potential harms of resegregation and the perpetuation of inequity further
complicate the debate centered on whether or not these schools of choice help or harm
Black students. Missing from the current discourse are the voices of a key group of
individuals who may possess insight valuable to this discussion-the Black school
superintendent.
Missing Perspective: The Black School Superintendent
Despite the noteworthy role Black leaders and educators have demonstrated within
and beyond the Black community, research reflecting the diverse thoughts, experiences,
and perspectives of the Black school superintendent is scarce. I located only 16
dissertations on Black superintendents, and 3 o f those 17 focused solely on Black women
(Alston, 1996; Sanders-Lawson, 2001). Some o f the studies used quantitative methods;
while others were qualitative in nature, and examined the personal experiences,
employment conditions, career development, and patterns of success demonstrated by
their participants through biographical information, statistical data, survey instruments,
and in-depth interviews.
45
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dr. Charles Moody, founder of the National Association of Black School Educators,
wrote the first of these dissertations in 1971. It was entitled, Black Superintendents in
Public School Districts: Trends and Conditions and was sought “to investigate the
conditions o f school districts prior to the appointment o f a Black superintendent” (p. 11).
He found that a majority of Black superintendents inherit school districts with significant
financial deficits, growing majority non-White student populations, majority non-White
school boards, and an increasing non-White teaching staff. He concluded by
recommending further study concerning the role of the superintendent and the dynamics
and politics o f Black communities, training of Black administrators, career patterns in
relation to W hite superintendents, changes in student achievement and self-concept, and a
follow-up study every 10 years on the trends and conditions of districts led by
superintendents.
More than three decades after Moody’s pioneering study, Dawkins (2004) researched
Black superintendents in Michigan and presented similar findings: “Black educators
remain a small portion o f the population of superintendents. They typically serve in small
school districts and/or districts that are having financial difficulties. The districts with
Black superintendents generally have a majority of Black members on their school board
and Black students in their schools” (abstract, page xx).
In 1975, Hugh J. Scott, a former superintendent of schools for the District of
Columbia Public School System, penned an article for the Journal o f Negro Education
entitled, “Black Consciousness and Professionalism.” Scott explored how the emerging
Black consciousness and black power movement of the 1970s connected to Black
administrators’ ability to function as professionals. He explained, “rarely is the Black
46
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
school administrator permitted by Whites or Blacks to function as an educational leader
whose race is incidental to his expertise and performance” (1975, p. 437). This
dichotomy was later presented in greater detail in Scott’s (1980) book, The Black School
Superintendent: Messiah or Scapegoat? Using data collected in March of 1974, his
qualitative study o f seven school systems led by Black superintendents revealed the
challenges of balancing Black consciousness with professionalism, integration with allBlack schools, and being responsible for leading school districts that were usually in
financial and economic disarray, which is what Moody hypothesized and concluded in
his seminal study.
On Desegregation, School Choice and Black Student Achievement
Scott’s subsequent studies delved into the viewpoints and perceptions of Black school
superintendents (35 respondents in his 1983 study and 62 respondents in his 1990 study)
on issues concerning: racial bias, Black America, integration, school desegregation,
Black consciousness, the educational needs o f Black students, and the promises o f Brown
(Scott, 1990; 1983). He (1983) found that Black superintendents “support neither a return
to the concept of separate-but-equal of the pre-Brown days nor an endorsement of school
desegregation strategies that neglect educational intervention efforts to improve academic
achievement” (p. 382). My search of the literature revealed little or nothing written on the
perspectives of Black school superintendents on topics concerning the proliferation of
school choice programs and charter schools and their impact on Black student learning
and achievement. Although the era of the Black power movement and Black
consciousness has diminished on a broader scale, there is little exploration on culturally
relevant models of education and cultural competence in the school systems today. Also
47
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
absent is the Black superintendent perspective on the widening achievement gap amid
current accountability systems and reforms and their implications for the education of the
Black child.
To even begin to tackle these difficult questions, it is imperative to give voice to the
Black school superintendent. Their perspectives are noticeably minimized or altogether
absent from the discourse that disproportionately impacts the communities, school
systems, families, and children they lead and serve (Morris, 2001; Murtadha & Watts,
2005; Walker, 2001). Murtadha and Watts (2005) indicated that, “the omission of Black
leadership narratives, along with an adequate analysis of the contexts in which leadership
has worked, limits our ability to develop ways to improve schools and communities for
children who live in poverty and children o f color who are becoming the majority o f the
nation’s schools (p. 591).
The standpoint, narrative, and potential counternarrative of the Black school
superintendent may further inform our understanding of the duality uniquely experienced
by Black leaders and educators. Dr. Charles Moody, in his remarks to the newly created
National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) in 1973 shared his motivation for
convening the first ever meeting exclusively for Black superintendents in November of
1970: “As well as getting information for a dissertation I was interested in seeing whether
or not the other black superintendents were catching the same kind of hell that I was
getting” (Scott, 1980, p. 164). There were only six or eight Black superintendents in the
U. S. at the time Moody decided to conduct his dissertation study. The number increased
to sixteen by the November 1970 meeting (Scott, 1980).
48
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reflecting on that initial meeting, Dr. Russell Jackson, former President o f NABSE
and superintendent o f schools in Phoenix, Arizona, commented on the tremendous
pressure, trauma, and anxiety experienced by the conference participants and how the
beginning sessions were “devoted to therapeutic types of activities” including time to
exchange ideas about their problems and needs and suggestions on how to cope with
these problems (Scott, 1980, p. 166). In addition to the job-related pressures shared by
superintendents, both Black and White, Black superintendents oftentimes bear the
distinctive burden o f being perceived incompetent by Whites and “superhuman” by a
Black constituency that demands he or she fix the educational system it believes is failing
their children and community (Hunter & Donahoo, 2005; Scott, 1980).
The survival and success o f black superintendents is greatly dependent on their ability
to demonstrate conclusive evidence o f professionalism in the discharge of their duties
and responsibilities and to effect appropriate linkages with black-directed endeavors
to resolve the problems and needs o f black Americans in a racist society (Scott, 1980,
p. 163).
It is important to acknowledge this duality or “double-consciousness” as part o f what
many Black Americans experience as a Black person existing within a White dominant
culture (Du Bois, 1903).
The Dual Nature o f the Black Superintendent
One o f Du Bois' (1903) most-cited explanations of double-consciousness is found in
the Souls o f Black Folk. He wrote:
It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at
one's self through the eyes o f others, o f measuring one's soul by the tape of a world
49
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness, an American,
a Negro, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark
body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder . . . . He would
not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He
would not bleach his Negro soul in the flood o f white Americanism, for he knows that
Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a
man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his
fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face.
While some regard Du Bois’ version as a definitive concept describing African-American
life, others have argued it tells us more about his state of mind as a Black academic in the
Jim Crow South than anything else. Adolph Reed (1997), who criticizes its authenticity
and applicability to race, declares that double consciousness sounds suspiciously like the
dichotomy between primitive and civilized societies so deeply ingrained in early-20thcentury social thought. Researchers who study race issues today often highlight the
present-day applicability of this notion of the “divided se lf’ as was commonly articulated
throughout Du Bois’ writings.
For the Black school superintendent, much of this double-consciousness is a result of
sharing and identifying with the professional experiences of their W hite colleagues, while
encountering challenges in the superintendency that are unique to their Black standpoint
(Scott, 1980). In Scott’s 1990 study that sampled 62 Black school superintendents and
their views on Black consciousness and professionalism, he found “near complete
agreement” for the following claims, most of which are not talked about in related
literature concerning integration, equity, and the education of Black or minority students:
50
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
1. The ways of life for Blacks in America are different in major respects from the
ways o f life for White Americans.
2. There is a Black culture in America; thus, the Black experience must be
recognized within the context of the American society.
3. Black Americans cannot advance their status and acceptance in the general
society by neglecting their cultural past or by permitting others to demean the
importance o f their culture.
4. The study of Black history and culture has been ignored or distorted to the point
of implying that Black Americans are less worthy than White Americans.
5. Ignorance o f and disrespect for Black history and culture breeds low expectations
and unhealthy assessments by educators of Black students, families, personalities,
and potentialities.
6. Integration is not only racial but cultural; pluralism based on respect for
differences is preferable to assimilation and amalgamation.
7. Black educators should ensure that efforts to reclaim, restore, and recognize Black
history are respected as priorities that are equal in importance to all other
educational priorities (pp. 168-9).
The support of these assertions illustrate a standpoint that necessitates further
exploration and representation in the current discourse on school desegregation and
school choice policy and how they impact Black students, families, and communities.
Black educator perspectives are important in informing efforts to design schools and
51
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
educational opportunities that effectively serve racially and ethnically diverse student
populations and their communities. “ [T]he use of cultural knowledges from the historical
biographies o f successful African American educational leaders may serve as valuable
resources. This omission limits both our ability to frame problems and produce viable
strategies that improve public schools” (Murtadha & Watts, 2005). The lived experiences
and perspectives shared through the eyes o f the Black superintendents in this study will
allow these often missed or marginalized perspectives to be voiced, presented, and
analyzed through the theoretical frameworks of standpoint theory and critical race theory.
52
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
This study seeks to document and explore the lived experiences and perspectives of
Black school superintendents on desegregation policy and its perceived impact on the
education o f African American children. It was important to capture the narratives,
stories, beliefs, and perceptions o f the participants, as articulated in their own words,
regarding matters of race-conscious education policies to gain a clearer understanding of
a perspective that has been marginalized, if not silenced, in mainstream education
discourse. To guide the research, I developed the following four research questions,
which ultimately served as a heuristic, rather than a set of concrete questions requiring
directly aligned answers in the traditional sense:
1. How do the standpoint and lived experiences of Black school superintendents
before, during, and after desegregation influence their perspectives on public
school choice and Black student achievement?
2. In what ways can the standpoint, lived experiences, and perspectives o f Black
superintendents provide insight to Black families concerning school choice and
achievement?
53
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
3. In what ways do the lived experiences o f school desegregation provide insight for
how Black educators and families respond to school choice policy and policies
designed to improve Black student achievement?
4. How should the next generation of Black educators and community leaders move
forward to improve Black student achievement?
These research questions, coupled with the action-oriented goal o f identifying
community-based strategies to improve Black student achievement and my role as the
study’s research instrument, necessitated the employment of a critical, qualitative
research methodology and design.
Research Design: A Qualitative Study
Qualitative research explores a human or social problem in a natural setting where the
researcher serves as the instrument o f data collection and attempts to interpret individual
experiences inductively by focusing on participant perspectives and meaning (Creswell,
1998; Glesne, 1999; Marshall & Rossman, 1999). It is “pragmatic, interpretive, and
grounded in the lived experiences o f people” and is conducted by researchers who “are
intrigued with the complexity o f social interactions as expressed in daily life and with the
meanings the participants themselves attribute to these interactions” (Marshall &
Rossman, 1999, p. 2). Unlike quantitative research, which uses “few variables and many
cases,” qualitative inquiry works with “few cases and many variables” (Creswell, 1998,
p. 16).
54
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
I chose qualitative research for this study because the perceptions of African
American school superintendents concerning the implications o f desegregation on Black
education require further exploration. As Glesne (1999) explained, “To understand the
nature of constructed realities, qualitative researchers interact and talk with participants
about their perceptions” (p. 5). Because these perceptions are in large part, products of
individual construction and interpretation, they cannot be measured or analyzed
quantitatively, which is why the qualitative paradigm was most appropriate for this
particular study.
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
The very nature of this study is centered on the notion of documenting and exploring
the untold story or “counterstory” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000) of the struggle for quality
education for African Americans, as uniquely experienced by former school system
leaders who are also African American. Based on the paucity o f research on Black
superintendents in general, and their unique lived experiences in particular, their voices
appear to be missing even within education research concerning the issues o f race,
desegregation, equity, and social justice - areas of discourse where a “voice of color”
could prove valuable. This marginalized standpoint, coupled with Black educator
perceptions o f how desegregation policy has impacted Black students, schools, and
communities, can add richness to a discourse that has failed to hearken student and
educator voices o f color on matters of race and racism in education. Since many
traditional methodologies fail to acknowledge the role o f race and racism in an attempt to
analyze the implications of what are ironically race-conscious education policies, such as
55
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the desegregation o f public schools, it was important to utilize a methodology that “offers
space to conduct and present research grounded in the experiences and knowledge of
people o f color” (Solorzano &Yosso, 2002, p. 23).
Critical Race Theory and Methodology
Critical race methodology, which is informed by, and situated within, critical race
theory (CRT), serves as a tool to elucidate the rich and complex lives and experiences of
people o f color. Rooted in legal studies, CRT began as an intellectual movement in the
mid 1970s led by a small group o f activists and scholars committed to research designed
to explore and transform the dynamics o f race and racism in U.S. jurisprudence (Delgado
& Stefancic, 2001). The theory developed in response to what were perceived as dismal
gains after the civil rights movement of the 1960s and critiques the basic premises of
liberalism and racial neutrality (Delgado, 2001; Lynn & Adams, 2002; Roithmayr, 1999).
Although CRT addresses many o f the same issues as does traditional civil rights
scholarship and multicultural studies, it questions the notions of color-blindness,
meritocracy, equal protection, and equal opportunity.
As a conceptual framework, critical race theory requires the use of narratives, stories,
and chronicles as effective and necessary methods o f challenging the status quo and
subverting the prevailing mindset o f the dominant group (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000;
DeCuir & Dixson, 2004; Ladson-Billings, 2005; Lopez, 2003; Parker, Deyhle & Villenas,
1999). The use of storytelling, or as Delgado (2000) sometimes calls it,
“counter story tel ling” allows writers and scholars outside the dominant culture to destroy
“the bundle o f presuppositions, received wisdoms, and shared understandings against a
background of which legal and political discourse takes place” (p. 61). Parker and Lynn
56
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
(2002) explain that CRT “can be used as a methodological tool as well as a greater
ontological and epistemological understanding o f how race and racism affect education
and the lives o f the racially disenfranchised” (pp. 7-8). More specifically, Solorzano and
Ornelas (2002) provide the following five tenets of how critical race methodology can be
utilized in the field of education:
1. Foreground race and racism in the curriculum;
2. Challenge the traditional paradigms, methods, texts, and separate discourse on
race, gender, and class by showing how these social constructs intersect to impact
on students of color;
3. Help us focus on the racialized and gendered experiences of students of color;
4. Offer a liberatory and transformative method when examining racial, gender, and
class discrimination; and
5. Utilize the transdisciplinary knowledge and methodological base of ethnic studies,
w om en’s studies, sociology, history, and the law to better understand the various
forms of discrimination (p. 219).
Critical race theory and methodology challenge traditional methodologies that minimize
the existence and pervasiveness of racism as well as “deficit-informed research that
silences and distorts epistemologies of people of color” (Solorzano and Yosso, 2002).
Thus, the use of this particular methodology is critical to understanding the role of race
and politics in desegregation policy and how the experiences and perceptions o f African
American educators are influenced by their racial standpoint.
57
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Standpoint Theory and Voice-of-Color Thesis
In addition to being informed by critical race theory (CRT), this application of a
critical race methodology was also conceptually grounded in standpoint theory, which as
a type of critical theory in the feminist tradition, seeks to improve the conditions o f the
marginalized and oppressed by empowering them through the opportunity to present their
own accounts and understanding o f the everyday world that may prove more useful to
them than representations by the dominant group (Anderson, 2004; Harding, 1991;
Smith, 1987). As a researcher and active learner, I sought to share the narratives and
perspectives from the participants’ standpoint rather than that o f an expert (Creswell,
1998, p. 18), while understanding it is unreasonable to assume that discrimination or
oppression experienced by any group is central to all others as race, gender, and other
identity categories intersect in complex ways (Crenshaw, 1995).
Within the context of critical race theory, Delgado and Stefancic (2001) introduce the
notion of a voice-of-color thesis, which asserts why the experiences and narratives of
people of color have inherent value. “Coexisting in somewhat uneasy tension with antiessentialism, the voice-of-color thesis holds that because of their different histories and
experiences with oppression, black, Indian, Asian, and Latino/a writers and thinkers may
be able to communicate to their white counterparts matters that the white are unlikely to
know. Minority status, in other words, brings with it a presumed competence to speak
about race and racism” (p. 9).
Thus, conceptually and methodologically, critical race theory and standpoint theory
provided the lenses through which this qualitative study was framed and conducted. The
nature and purpose of this work and its commitment to presenting the unique standpoints,
58
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
voices, epistemologies, (counter)narratives, and perceptions o f the study participants
within a framework that acknowledges the historical, legal, political, and social contexts
o f race and racism in American society required the use of a qualitative, critical race
methodology. Further discussion outlining the background and tenets of critical race
theory as well as its utilization as the analytical and interpretive framework for this study
is presented in Chapter 6.
Participants
As previously indicated, critical race methodology makes “experiential knowledge
central to the study” and uses “race in research to challenge the dominant scientific norms
o f objectivity and neutrality” (Solorzano and Ornelas, 2002, p xx). As such, the voices,
experiences, and epistemologies of research participants are essential to the proper
application and successful implementation of this type of research design. The purpose
and goal o f this study required the participation of individuals who achieved the
superintendency, were self-identified as Black or African American, and could recall
personal experiences as K-12 students attending all Black segregated schools. I selected
eight retired Black school superintendents as my study sample via purposeful sampling
since “the logic and power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting information-rich cases
for study in depth. Information-rich cases are those within which one can learn a great
deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research . . .” (Patton, 1990,
p. 169).
I chose to use eight participants based on other studies, including Gloria LadsonBillings’ (1994) study o f eight successful teachers o f African American students in The
59
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dreamkeepers and Hugh Scott’s (1980) study of seven Black school superintendents in
The Black School Superintendent: Messiah or Scapegoat. The qualitative dissertations of
McKenzie (2001), White Teachers ’ Perceptions About Their Students o f Color and
Themselves as White Educators, and Aleman (2004), Mexican-American School Leaders
and School Finance Policy also used eight participants.
Participant Selection
I began generating a list of possible participants using network sampling, or obtaining
“knowledge o f potential cases from people who know people who meet research
interests” (Glesne, 1999, p. 29). I also searched the directories of professional
organizations whose membership included superintendents and African American
educators, both practicing and retired. I then began to refine this list according to
information provided by individuals in the field who indicated whether or not the
individual was African American and/or retired. Next, I determined I would need to
speak with each potential participant individually to ensure that he or she was African
American and did in fact possess personal recollections of life in segregated schools.
This process resulted in a list of 15 individuals to whom I sent a letter inviting them
to participate in the study along with an informed consent form. (Copies o f these
documents are provided in the Appendices). Eleven of the 15 superintendents indicated
their willingness to participate, and I selected eight out of the 11 based on subsequent
telephone conversations and e-mail correspondence confirming each individual’s
availability and ability to meet the following selection criteria.
60
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Criteria 1: Retired Superintendent
I chose to study the experiences and perceptions of superintendents because of the
systems perspective and broad range of responsibilities required of the position, which
include: (a) administering a comprehensive school system that accomplishes its mission
and objectives; (b) understanding, analyzing, and proposing education policy that
promotes student learning and achievement; and (c) engaging community participation in
support of the process of providing quality education (Scott, 1980). Superintendents are
responsible for discerning how proposed policies and programs may affect the system’s
schools, students, employees, or school system as a whole. Gaining the perspective of
individuals who are skilled at observing and understanding these dynamic relationships
would prove valuable toward an informed discussion of how desegregation and school
choice affect equity and opportunity in public education.
Criteria 2: S e lf Identified as Black or African American
Equally important to this study was recording the thoughts and realities of
superintendents who are also self-described as Black or African American. I used the
terms interchangeably as both terms were embraced and used interchangeably by the
study participants. The marginalized voices o f Black superintendents would contribute
greatly to the literature and discourse surrounding the impacts of school desegregation
and choice on Black student achievement, particularly since 54% of all students in
districts with Black superintendents are Black (Robinson, Gault, & Lloyd, 2005). Unique
to other educators or educational leaders, many African American superintendents have
an understanding o f what it is like to be an African American student in a society that
historically denied African Americans the right to an equal education. I also posited that
61
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Black superintendents would understand and interpret the viewpoint o f Black parents and
the Black community in a way that is not presented in traditional or mainstream research.
Despite shared racial and/or cultural self-identification, I anticipated a complex group
of individuals who represented a diversity of experiences, opinions, and philosophies.
Unique personal experiences, coupled with differences in gender, class, age, Black
consciousness, geographical location, and professional knowledge, made it impossible
and methodologically unsound to assume a shared narrative (Crenshaw, 1995). Although
as evidenced by previous research with Black school superintendents, I expected some
common themes would likely emerge from the data (Alston, 2005; Robison, Gault, &
Lloyd, 2005; Scott; 1990).
Criteria 3: Personal Recollections o f Segregation and Desegregation
The third criterion for participants was their ability to remember and share their
experiences as K-12 students of segregated schools and possibly newly desegregated
American public schools. Within the framework of critical race theory and standpoint
theory, these lived experiences with segregation and/or desegregation were critical to the
validity o f this study and took precedence over existing abstract knowledge and theories
concerning these issues. Although many researchers have identified the benefits of
desegregated schooling and diverse student populations. I concluded that it was important
to explore the onus of desegregation that has historically been placed on Black students,
families, and communities (Bell, 2004; Morris, 2001). The intended or unintended
consequences o f lost jobs by Black teachers, administrators, and closing of Black schools
were just some o f the experiences that must be recounted, as they can potentially serve as
62
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
valuable resources in our attempts to understand the viability of desegregation policies
today (Morris, 2001; Tillman, 2004).
Participant recollections pre- and post- Brown provided the first-person accounts that
illustrated the emotional and psychological effects and realities experienced by Black
students in either segregated or integrated schools, and how these personal experiences
may or may not shape their professional views on resegregation, school choice, equity,
culturally relevant schooling, and the education of Black students. These personal
accounts were significant to this study because they served as the primary data collected
and work toward breaking the silence o f the “forgotten voices o f Black educators”
through stories presented to expand our understanding of these very important education
policy issues (Morris, 2001).
Participant Profile
In working to gain the perspectives of retired African American superintendents, I
elected to focus on those individuals who attended government-sanctioned, racially
segregated schools as children. This criterion was of particular interest to me because I
wanted to discover if and how their de jure segregated schooling experiences informed
the following: (1) their perceptions of the role of race in education as former Black
students embedded in a legally segregated public school system and (2) their educational
leadership philosophy and work as educators and district leaders who are African
American, attended segregated schools, but became educators and superintendents during
and after the era of desegregation.
It was fairly easy to identify participants who satisfied this criterion based on the age
range o f individuals who were African American, who aspired to the superintendency,
63
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
and who are now in retirement. It is important to note that prior to 1966, there were no
Black superintendents. According to Moody (1971), “the Black man’s realistic goal was
to become Assistant Superintendent in Charge of Special Projects, Director o f Human
Relations, or Administrative Assistant for Minority Affairs” (p. 1). However, between
1966 and 1971, approximately 17 Blacks were appointed as “chief public administrators,
usually superintendents” (Moody, 1971, p. 1). The first district to have a Black
superintendent was Lincoln Heights, Ohio, which had a population of 8000 people of
whom 98% were Black. However, by 1971, the Lincoln Heights district was consolidated
into the Princeton City School District and consequently, led by a White superintendent.
The Black superintendent accepted a position as assistant superintendent in a neighboring
district. (Moody, 1971, p. 4)
Therefore, despite the long history o f the superintendency in America, there were no
Black superintendents until 1967. According to a report by the National Alliance of Black
School Educators and The Education Trust entitled: “Black Superintendents: Progress
and Challenges,” as o f 2004, there were only 248 districts led by Black superintendents a
figure representing only 2% of roughly 14,600 superintendents in the country. Further,
the report concluded what Moody had discovered in his seminal study: Black
superintendents are mainly assigned to areas with growing urban areas, increasing
minority populations, and riddled with financial problems.
Thus, the pool and network o f African American superintendents remains fairly
small, which posed challenges to the development of an anonymous and confidential
sample. To further complicate matters, many within the network of Black superintendents
were pioneers in the field and served as the “first African American or person of color” to
64
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
serve in certain positions or capacities. In order to mitigate the possibility of revealing the
identity o f the study participants, I used pseudonyms and removed direct references to the
locations of their hometowns, colleges attended, districts served, and other relevant
demographic information. I also worked to group their profiles in a way that makes it
difficult to distinguish and determine the identity of individual respondents. No
information regarding a participant’s identity was published or made public without prior
permission from each participant.
The study sample included eight retired African American superintendents who grew
up in segregated communities in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions of the
United States. The four females and four males ranged in age from their late 50s to mid
70s. They were born between 1932 and 1947 and graduated high school between 1950
and 1965, prior to the implementation of any desegregation plans required by the Brown
II decision. In fact, half of the respondents graduated before Brown even made it to the
Supreme Court. As such, all but one participant attended segregated schools throughout
her/his entire K-12 years. This participant attended a segregated school from grades K-2,
but was one o f few Black students who attended elementary and high schools with
predominately non-Black populations from grades 3-12.
O f the 8 superintendents, all earned doctoral degrees in education and demonstrated a
personal and professional life committed to education. All but one earned her/his
undergraduate degrees at segregated or Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCU), two earned his/her master’s degrees at HBCU’s and all participants earned their
doctorates at Predominately White Institutions (PWI). As superintendents, they were
65
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
responsible for districts located in various regions o f the country representing the
Southwest, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Southeast.
In addition to educational attainment and position, all shared a passion for the uplift
o f Black people through education and social justice for all students. Each was a staunch
supporter o f public education and particularly concerned with the social context of
education - the cultural, political, community-based, and societal factors that play a
critical role in what happens at the school site. Despite many similarities, the participants
in the study represented a diversity of experiences, philosophies, strategies, and
expectations for what the role of public education is, what it should be, and whether or
not it is “doing what it is intended to do.” Table 3 below provides selective demographic
information for each study participant.
66
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Table 3
Demographic Profile o f Study Participants
Name
Born
Gender
Hometown
Undergraduate
Graduate
Superintend.
B aker
1934
F
South,
M id-A tlantic
M id-A tlanticSegregated
M id-A tlanticHBCU
M id-A tlantic
Clark
1934
F
South-R ural
South-H BCIJ
W est-PW I
W est
Cooper
1932
F
M id-A tlantic,
N ortheast
South-Segregated
N ortheastPWI
N ortheast
L ew is
1939
M
M idw est
M idw estSegregated
M idw estPW I
M idw est-C ity
M arshall
1942
M
South
South-HBCIJ
N ortheastPW1
W est, M idw est
Steele
1932
M
South
N ortheast-H B C U
M idw estPW I
M idw est
W ells
1947
F
M id-A tlantic
South-H BCU
M idw estPWI
South
Young*
1942
M
M idw est
M idw est-PW l
M idw estPW1
N orthw est,
M idw est
* This participant lived in a segregated community, but only attended segregated schools in
grades K-2.
67
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Data Collection
The primary methods of data collection for this qualitative case study were in-depth
interviews and autobiographical/biographical documents, such as curriculum vitas,
resumes, published interviews and/or biographical sketches. When secured in advance,
these artifacts allowed me to better prepare for interviews based on each participant’s
personal and professional accounts. Although I initially requested autobiographical
sketches from each participant, only one individual provided this information, at which
point I decided to solicit vitas and other documents that would not require as much time
for the participants to produce.
Interviews were conducted between May 2006 and July 2006. The limited access and
availability o f individuals who satisfied the participant selection criteria in my hometown
required I travel to four different cities to conduct 5 o f the 8 interviews. One participant
agreed to meet for an interview while visiting my hometown on other business. The
length of each interview ranged from 1 hour to 2 Vi hours and was conducted in person at
a time and location convenient to and agreed upon by each participant, which included
professional offices and conferences rooms, hotel meeting spaces, and participant living
rooms.
Prior to each audio-recorded interview, I reviewed the informed consent form with
the study participant and explained the purpose and aim of my study. I used a semi
structured interview protocol developed according to my review of related literature, the
research questions guiding the study, and existing accounts of African Americans
reflecting on their segregated schooling experiences and the Brown decision (Ogletree,
2004; Walker, 2003, 2002). The flexibility o f this semi-structured, open-ended interview
68
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
format provided room for respondents to engage and expand upon their feelings and
emotions throughout the interview process, which was important to this study since “the
elaborate responses you hear provide the affective and cognitive underpinnings of your
respondents’ perceptions” (Glesne, 1999, p. 93). I took notes during each interview that
included descriptions o f the participants, setting, compelling stories and statements, in
addition to my personal reactions and perceptions that developed throughout the
conversation.
Immediately following each interview, I tried to set aside time to write in my journal
to record my observations, impressions, thoughts, and frustrations. Although this was not
feasible in some instances due to my traveling schedule and back-to-back out-of-town
interviews, I would at least record an entry within a day or two when additional questions
began to arise regarding some o f the accounts, stories, opinions, and contradictions
shared by the interviewees. In some instances, the additional time allowed me to gain a
more nuanced perspective regarding the data collected and my responses and reactions to
them as a researcher.
I also listened to each audio digital recording and decided to transcribe four of the
eight interviews on my own. I grappled with the decision to let an “outsider” hear what I
regarded as very personal, honest, and complex reflections and narratives concerning race
and racism in education provided by African Americans within the context of a
conversation with an African American researcher. After reviewing all the recordings and
my field notes, I selected four interviews that I eventually felt comfortable relinquishing
to a professional transcriber. Ethical considerations, particularly my desire to protect and
safeguard the participant narratives for fear that individuals who did not understand their
69
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
standpoint could misinterpret and misunderstand their experiences, forced me to reflect
deeply on my own standpoint and role as the research instrument for this study.
Role o f Researcher
As a self-identified Black or African American woman, the lived experiences and
racial realities o f African Americans is o f import to me because I believe they offer a
perspective and worldview that is strikingly different from what is experienced and
understood by members of the White dominant culture (Collins, 1990; Delgado &
Stefancic, 2001). As a student o f color, with an interest in critical race theory scholarship,
I share a commitment to “equity, social justice, and human liberation,” “moving from
research to activism,” and exploring the ways well-established scholarship “distorts the
realities of the Other in an effort to maintain power relations that continue to
disadvantage those who are excluded from that order” (Ladson-Billings & Donnor,
2005).
My educational experiences were shaped greatly by my being an African American
female and played a large role in my desire to investigate this area o f study. I expect it
also had implications for the style, content, and manner in which the study participants
shared and communicated with me during the interview process. In fact, several of the
superintendents in the study explained that somebody helped them get where they are
today, and so they felt an obligation to support a young African American student in her
academic and professional journey. This mutual sense o f connection and what Fordham
& Ogbu (1986) termed “fictive kinship” based presumably on our shared African heritage
and interest in the education of African American children contributed greatly to the
70
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
authenticity and richness of data collected and subsequently, the manner in which it was
analyzed and interpreted.
Data Analysis
“Anxieties about your research will change as you engage in each aspect of the
process. Anxieties about how everything will fit together signal that you have begun
seriously to consider the meaning of the data. As coding and data analysis progress,
you will invariably become anxious about how to organize everything into written
form” (Glesne, 1998, p. 41).
Clearly, the most challenging part o f this research study was working through my
anxiety regarding data analysis. Just as I was deeply committed to gathering and
collecting accurate accounts o f the superintendent responses and experiences, I became
consumed and overwhelmed with the responsibility o f making meaning of the data and
properly reconstructing the emergent narratives. Throughout the data collection process, I
recorded many of the categories, patterns, and themes that manifested themselves among
the collection o f interview transcripts. As Glesne (1998) explained, “data analysis done
simultaneously with data collection enables you to focus and shape the study as it
proceeds” (p. 130). My ability to capture analytic thoughts as they occurred was assisted
greatly by studying and reflecting on the data as it was being collected (Glesne, 1998). I
also followed Marshall and Rossman’s (1999) six phases of analytic procedures, which
include organizing the data, generating categories, coding the data, testing the emergent
71
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
understandings; searching for alternative explanations, and writing the report, in order to
make meaning of the “raw, inexpressive” nature of the data collected (p. 152-153).
Coffey and Atkinson (1993) describe coding as the process o f “conceptualizing the
data, raising questions, providing provisional answers about the relationships among and
within the data, and discovering the data” and “breaking the data apart in analytically
relevant ways in order to lead toward further questions about the data” (p. 31). Although I
began to use NUDIST software to code my narrative data, I questioned whether this
process was able to extrapolate meaning from the narratives in the way that I was able to
as a human research instrument working with human subjects. As Marshall and Rossman
(1999) cautioned, “identifying salient themes, recurring ideas or language, and patterns of
belief that link people and settings together is the most intellectually challenging phase of
data analysis and one that can integrate the entire endeavor” (p. 154). Despite the
challenges o f managing the voluminous amounts of data collected via eight in-depth
interviews, coding the data by hand was the only way I felt I could truly document and
reflect the nuanced stories and experiences of the superintendents in the study.
Since qualitative data analysis is based on data reduction and interpretation, aimed at
identifying categories and themes, I decided to use the means o f a taxonomy, or “set of
categories organized on the basis o f a single semantic relationship” to organize and
illustrate the categories and themes that emerged collectively from and among the
superintendent narratives (Spradley, 1980, p. 112). Visual representations o f these
categories are presented in taxonomies within the presentation o f study findings to help
facilitate an illustrative understanding o f the various relationships that exist within and
72
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
among the data. A taxonomic analysis o f emergent categories is presented in Chapter 4,
while a thematic analysis of emergent understandings is presented in Chapter 5.
I chose to present these findings in two distinct ways in order to (1) reflect the
standpoint, voice, and lived experiences o f the participants in segregated schools
according to the categories that emerged from their interview responses and (2) utilize
participant narratives to counter assumptions in the mainstream education discourse,
which is essential to the effective application of a critical race methodology. A deeper
analysis and interpretation of the findings using a critical race theoretical framework is
provided in Chapter 6.
Trustworthiness
To ensure consistency and establish credibility, 1 worked to triangulate the data
collection procedures by using autobiographical/biographical documents, interview audio
recordings, my field notes, interview transcripts, related literature, and my reflexive
journal. Once all initial in-depth interviews were complete, member checking via e-mail
correspondence were conducted to clarify and/or expound upon previously collected
participant accounts and responses. Glesne (1999) defined member checking as “ sharing
interview transcripts, analytical thoughts, and/or drafts of the final report with research
participants to make sure you are representing them and their ideals correctly” (p. 32).
These checks allow respondents the opportunity to confirm your ability to capture their
perspectives, identify potentially problematic sections, and assist the researcher in
creating new ideas and interpretations (Glesne, 1999). In this study, member checks were
done to give participants the chance to respond to key categories and themes that
73
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
emerged from the collected data. This follow-up process helped to further establish the
credibility o f the study by ensuring the data collected reflected the meaning intended by
the participants (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
To minimize my potential bias as the human instrument used to collect data in this
study, I employed the use of a reflexive journal. As recommended by Lincoln and Guba
(1985), this journal should include: “(1) the daily schedule and logistics of the study; (2)
a personal diary that provides the opportunity for catharsis, for reflection upon what is
happening in terms of one’s own values and interests, and for speculation about growing
insights; and (3) a methodological log in which methodological decisions and
accompanying rationales are recorded” (p. 327). My reflexive journal also served as a
means o f establishing trustworthiness by making available “the same kind o f data about
the human instrument that is often provided about the paper-and-pencil or brass
instruments used in conventional studies” as well as a tool designed to persistently
confront my role as a research instrument (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 327).
Constructing the (Counter)Narratives
In seeking to document and explore the experiences and perspectives of African
American superintendents on matters of desegregation, race, and the education of African
Americans, I chose to utilize a critical race methodology to give voice and meaning to the
complex issues of race and racism in education that move beyond basic assumptions and
traditional objective theories in the desegregation literature. This work also aimed to
fulfill the identified need for more studies in education to be conducted using a critical
74
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
race framework (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Lopez, 2003;
Tate, 2005).
Deconstructing and reconstructing the superintendent narratives proved a daunting
task. The process o f selecting which data to use and which to let go was “tricky” - “The
trick” being the ability “to discover essences and then to reveal those essences with
sufficient context, yet not become mired trying to include everything that might possibly
be described” (Wolcott, 1990, p. 35). It was important not to fall into the trap of inserting
“seemingly every quote collected in list-like fashion with little interpretation or analysis”
(Glesne, 1999, p. 163). As LeCompte and Preissle (1993) warned, if qualitative
researchers “give up on interpretation and simply describe what they saw, they fail to do
justice to do their data. By leaving readers to draw their own conclusions, researchers risk
misinterpretation” (p. 267).
Based on my commitment to capturing the standpoint and voice of the African
American superintendents in this study, this was clearly a risk I was not willing to take. I
worked to use their own words and “native” labels throughout the presentation of themes
and findings as much as possible, while allowing my own voice as researcher to come
through when appropriate. Lastly, I sought to develop “carefully reasoned arguments that
develop inferences and establish connections beyond the limited scope o f a study” which
are “legitimate goals toward which all researchers strive” (LeCompte & Preissle, 1993, p.
268). It is my hope that giving voice to Black school superintendents who as part of their
lived realities have experienced segregated schooling as students, suffered racism as
African Americans, and acquired professional wisdom concerning the future of Black
education will provide context, awareness, and insight to those parents, teachers,
75
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
community leaders, policymakers, and future educational leaders who are committed to
improving the learning, achievement, and life chances of all students.
76
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS: LIVED EXPERIENCES IN SEGREGATED SCHOOLS
“The education o f African Americans in this country is a story that is not clear. Your
community wants all children to achieve, but on the other hand, there are certain
barriers— or should 1 say expectations— that you don ’t. I f you ’re not careful, you '11
succumb to those negative expectations unless you 're fortunate enough to have a
fam ily or school environment that helps you ignore the people that feel that you can 7
do. ” - Dr. Baker, Former School Superintendent
This chapter presents one version of this study’s findings - the segregated schooling
experiences of the participating superintendents and how they perceived these
experiences shaped and influenced their achievement as both students and educators.
Each superintendent described and shared his or her segregated schooling experience to
include memories of strict parents and top-notch teachers who expected nothing less than
educational excellence to encouraging neighbors and communities that provided a
network o f much-needed support within larger racist contexts.
Despite the diversity of standpoints and lived experiences among the participants,
many similarities emerged in their descriptions o f what it was like growing up Negro in
the United States during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I use the term Negro as it was “the
standard term used to refer to African Americans before about 1972, by black and by
whites, and connoted no disrespect” (Loewen, 2005, p. ix.). As participant Dr. Lewis who
was born in 1939 explained, “I grew up Negro, okay in elementary and middle school. [In
77
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the] 1960s, we changed over to Black. I use them interchangeably. I would be offended
by colored or Negro.” Although the use o f the term Negro is offensive to many Black or
African American individuals in its present day usage, I believe that the use o f language
in general, and this term, in particular, helps to locate these reflections within an
historical and social context that sets an important stage from which to present the data
derived from the interviewees.
In this chapter, I begin by setting the context in which the lived experiences of the
participating superintendents are situated during their segregated schooling years. This
includes two separate worlds - a White society that prohibited the intermingling of the
races, and a Black community that provided a supportive and nurturing environment for
its children and families in response to the dominant culture’s rejection and subordination
o f Negroes as a separate and inferior class o f people. After establishing the social context
of their segregated schooling days, I outline and describe the three key domains, or as I
refer to them, threads, that emerged as significant factors contributing to what the
respondents perceived as “high quality,” “excellent,” and “fine” educational experiences
and subsequent high achievement in their all-Black schools and communities. The
chapter concludes with participant perceptions on the role of expectations and caring in
education.
Social Context of “Growing up Negro"
Hometown Descriptions
Born in 1934, Dr. Baker grew up in an “interesting little city, in that it was one of the
most racist counties in the state.” She laughed as she described this southern county as
78
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
having “a lot of debauchery, beer gardens . . . you know there was a certain segment of
the population that worked at very menial and physical taxing work and their escapism
was in the beer gardens and making off the somebody else’s partner or something!” On
the other hand, the county also had “a number of educated Blacks who played bridge and
played tennis,” including her father who was college-educated, the son of doctors, and
“the head of recreation for a while, until the Whites abolished his job.”
Dr. Baker’s father was fired after leading a group of Negroes in a march to the county
seat to protest the unequal and unfair treatment toward Black students. The county was
requiring Black students to attend school for 4 months and “pick strawberries or whatever
vegetables” for 4 months before returning to school. Her father found this to be unjust,
led the protest, and lost his job as a result. After losing his job, he moved to the North
Atlantic region of the U.S. and then the Mid-Atlantic, upon which the entire family
relocated.
Dr. Clark was also born in 1934 in a small town in the South and moved to another
small town in the northern part of the same state once she was about 5 years where she
stayed through high school graduation. The community fluctuated between 35,000 to
50,0000 residents, but “because it was segregated, of course, it was even smaller than that
for us, because you were only involved with the persons of your own community.” She
described what she regarded as “separate worlds” for Blacks and Whites at that time.
There were separate worlds. In the segregated kinds o f areas, we did not live as far
away from White people as maybe in some o f the cities where I ’ve lived since then.
Because we would live here, White people would pass by, going to their place o f their homes, which might have been two blocks away, so there was some kind of
79
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
passing and so forth. And, even within those small areas sometimes there would be
some community feeling or acknowledgment or, you know, people close to you
would - if somebody died or whatever, you would probably get some attention, but
other than that, it was separate worlds.
Dr. Clark reflected on how she navigated the realities of racial separation during her
formative years, and the role her parents played in helping her to understand and refrain
from internalizing that reality.
In that day, you had your own friends, your own activities and things that you did. If
your parents were like my parents, they protected you from all of that kind of stuff.
You had a good time, you were happy. And so, that didn’t bother you. You just knew
it was there. You knew that you couldn’t do certain things. You knew that you had to
be careful about certain things and so on. But other than that, it was not something
you went around thinking about everyday. You had your own friends and everything
and you had a good time, and it was like any other situation. Going to school, football
games, and so forth. It was just with your folk, not them.
Dr. Lewis shared the same sense o f community that was simply a part of their normal,
everyday lives.
I grew up in what was called [The Village]— that was the area around [Bloomfield
High School] and because we lived in a segregated [city in Midwest], everything that
you needed - the movies, the barbershop, the cleaners—all that was in [The Village],
So you really didn’t have to go outside [the Village] for your needs, and it was just a
supportive community.
80
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dr. Marshall lived in a “very small,” rural community in the Deep South, which he
described as a “small village.” He explained, “If you didn’t go to church on Sunday,
people would be at your house, wondering what happened to you.” It was not uncommon
for neighbors and community members within the Black community to be tight-knit,
involved, and concerned for one another’s well being. A “series o f events” led him to a
life committed to education. He “started out with an interest in law” because he’d “seen
so many injustices that had occurred all over this country .” He described farmers losing
their land and getting it stolen away from them, as well as the death of Emmett Till who
was murdered not far from where he was raised. Further, he talked about the fact that he
had to attend a segregated elementary school and a segregated high school and “was
bused to another town to go to a consolidated school away from where we were in the
little village that I lived in.”
Dr. Baker said she “recognized early on that the only way I could change my
condition in life would be to get an education,” which also helped shape her desire to
help children and become an educator. Born in 1934, she noted that education was critical
to African Americans, and “knew that if I didn’t get an education I’d be working in some
job that I would hate.” This was a message sent from her parents, experiences, and people
in the community, who ’’expected that students who performed well would go to college
and “make something out of your life.” She laughed, “I mean, everybody did, even the
drunks on the corner.”
81
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Going to School
Several o f the participants remembered traveling long distances by foot, ferry, and
bus to get to their segregated Black schools. Dr. Steele described what it was like
growing up in the South in the 1930s and 1940s:
[It] was a very interesting experience because I passed a lot o f elementary schools
that were for W hites to get to the one Black elementary school way on the other side
of town. So either way I went, if I went to [Smith Street], I passed [Parkdale School],
which was White. If I went to [Miller Road], I passed [Benton School], which was
White. I could stand on my back porch and see [the White high school], but I had to
go way across town to [McGovern High] to the Black school. In [city in South], there
was no high school for Blacks. Black kids, once they finished elementary school,
which some of them went to school in churches or other kinds o f buildings, had to
walk down to the Mississippi River, get on a rickety ferry and ride on public
transportation to get to the one high school for Blacks in [city in South],
Dr. Wells also experienced passing White schools during a long commute to her
segregated Black elementary school and high school.
I went to segregated schools all through high school. We actually - it was a county
that had predominately Whites in the county - a really spread out county. And there
was . . . two Black schools - one for the elementary students and one for the high
school students. And so we traveled probably 20 miles daily to get to school and we
passed W hite schools to actually go to the segregated Black school.
Dr. Clark echoed these experiences while growing up in a small Southern community
with roughly 36,000 to 50,000 people, which “because it was segregated, o f course, it
82
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
was even smaller than that for us, because you were only involved with the persons of
your own community.” She described the schools as “separate and certainly not equal.”
There were two or three things that I really remembered . . . that we would walk to
school, and had a pretty good distance to walk to school, and w e’d pass these White
kids and they’d be going this way and w e’d be going that way, and o f course w e’d
call each other names and stuff like that.
In contrast, Dr. Young was born in 1942 and raised in a large Midwestern city as the
oldest o f four boys. He completed kindergarten, first, and second grades in an all-Black
segregated schools, but things changed once his family moved into a predominately
Jewish community.
I had a pretty interesting experience growing up. We lived in several places in [City]
and my parents moved to far northwest [City], so we ended up living in a community
- we were the first Black family there and went to a high school that was 98 percent
Jewish.
However, soon after his family moved into this predominately Jewish community, it
became an all Black neighborhood. So despite attending majority Jewish schools from
third through twelfth grade, Dr. Young experienced a striking contrast between his school
life and home life, which were both very much segregated according to race. He spoke of
a four-foot high wall built in the early 1950s that divided the Blacks who were moving
further from the city toward the area Whites lived. “ So they literally built a 4-foot-high,
6-inch-thick cement wall and it was intended not to let the Blacks come over to the other
side,” he explained.
Interviewer: Who built the wall? It was just there?
83
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dr. Young: White folks, I would assume [laughing]. We didn’t build the wall. But, I
mean they just had a kind of a historical review of this wall, which is still up there to
this day. And so, you know, I had gone from living on one side of the wall and in a
few other parts o f [city in Midwest] . . . to moving on the other side o f the wall and
going to an elementary school that was 98 percent Jewish and a high school that was
98 percent Jewish.
Walls and Other Barriers
I found the image of this wall constructed to separate Blacks from Whites interesting
as it appeared to serve as a metaphor for many of unspoken, but understood barriers that
were constructed to keep these “separate worlds” separate. Participants recounted
numerous examples o f places they couldn’t go and things they couldn’t do because they
were Negro. Dr. Marshall recalled his teenaged years in the segregated South as
“dangerous because the Black community, sometimes, was terrorized by roaming White
people. So I remember you would want to make sure that you were home before dark
[chuckling].”
Despite the dangers associated with being on the wrong side of town or out at the
wrong time o f day, the support o f Dr. Marshall’s family, teachers, and community helped
him to continue to maintain a spirit o f expectation and optimism.
Well, see, my parents passed away when I was very young, so I was reared by my
older sister and some o f my relatives. But with our teachers and with our
communities and stuff like that, you never thought that you had limits even though
people restricted you. I mean we could not go and swim in the public pool. We had to
go to the bayou, where the moccasins were. But they had societal restrictions, but we
84
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
didn’t have restrictions in our aspirations in that, it was kind of, ‘Hey, you can be
what you want to be. If you work at it, you can do that.’
Dr. Young recalled “tremendously negative experiences” growing up in the Midwest
where “there were parts of [city] where Blacks weren’t supposed to be found or seen.” He
described how he and his friends would demonstrate their own form of resistance to these
societal restrictions when he was about 11 or 12 years old, “And so sometimes w e’d all
get on our bicycles, 30 of us, and just ride through there and split up and go in all
directions. And if the police ever saw you, they’d stop you, you know. Well, w e’d do that
anyway.”
Several o f the participants spoke o f various societal restrictions, which limited their
ability and access to public places. Dr. Clark remembered not being able to attend the
public library during regular hours while in high school because she was Negro. She
recalled,
In doing a lot of my research and writing essays and papers and things, . . . we could
not use the library, so I was limited. And, interestingly enough, I got to go to the
public library once when it was closed. When they closed the public library for the
day, then I got a chance to go to do some o f my research there, so that sort of stands
out for me.
Dr. Young recalled not being able to work most jobs as a high school student. “Unless I
cut grass or delivered newspapers, I couldn’t get a job,” he explained. “And my wife at
the time, I didn’t know her then, but she couldn’t even volunteer to be a Candy Striper in
the hospital where you’re working for free. Blacks weren’t allowed to do that.” Dr.
Young also mentioned how in his w ife’s high school, students were often counseled into
85
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the less-challenging courses, although that was not the case for him in his predominately
Jewish high school.
Dr. Steele spoke about these unspoken norms of racial segregation in the South:
My parents didn’t have to tell me anything. We talked about that, but I knew. I mean I
understood segregation and discrimination cause I remember when my brother, who .
. .made and designed model airplanes, winning a contest for the best designed plane,
but he couldn’t take the prize because the prize was to be able to go to the movie at
the White theater!
Another brother o f Dr. Steele “made the highest score on the Army General
Classification test of anybody that was inducted into the Army through [in South], and he
wanted to be a pilot, but they told him who was too big.” He explained, “I mean he was
6 ’4, but I’m quite sure there were some White boys who were 6’4 who were pilots. But
they couldn’t say his test scores weren’t good ‘cause he made a perfect score on the
mechanical aptitude test.” The racism he witnessed and experienced firsthand is
something that will always be a part o f who he is, and he makes no apologies for it.
We have to stop apologizing for being who and what we are. We are who we are, and
we are who we are because o f the circumstances of our lives. I cannot stop being Dr.
Steele who grew up in [city in South] in the 30s and 40s and hearing White politicians
talking about how they’re going to keep the race pure. And telling poor White folks,
‘I don’t care how bad off you are, you’re better than a nigger.’ I cannot and I don’t
want to - forget those experiences.
Dr. Clark recalled winning a fire prevention essay Contest when she was 15 years old,
granting her the opportunity to represent her school at a trip to Washington D C.:
86
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Now I ’d never been out o f the [state in South] so here I go to Washington D.C. and
I ’m like 15 years old. What stood out for me was that the White kid that won had a
paid chaperone and escort and so forth to Washington D C. I get to go all by myself.
O f course my folks can’t because they don’t have any money. So, luckily, when I get
to Washington, I’m met by a lady from the YWCA so I had a great experience, but it
was an example o f-h e re this little Black girl having to go, scared and everything, to
Washington D C. by herself while the White one did not.
Having support and encouragement played an important role in how participants
perceived their ability to succeed personally and professionally. Dr. Steele attributed his
being where he is today to the support of his community.
There were people who believed in me. Neighbors. I mean there were people who
could not read nor write in my neighborhood, but they believed and they wanted and
they would come and say, ‘Hey Sis Steele, if you need a little change to help them
boys to pay that tuition, I got it. I ’ll help you with it. I’ll lend it to you ‘til Brother
Steele get paid.’ And they were just as proud of our achievement as they were their
own, or if they didn’t have any.
Dr. Clark enjoyed that same sense of support within her small, southern Black
community.
My parents were very strict, very religious. We had definite rules to obey and things
to do. And, the sense of community in those days was one where the whole
community raised you whether they knew you or not. So, even if a person in the
community did not know you and saw you doing something wrong, they didn’t feel
reluctant to tell you that and your parents would certainly support them.
87
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Despite this reality, the participants identified several factors that contributed to what
Anderson (2002) documents as a historical legacy o f achievement in Black schools under
segregation. It also established an emphasis on the respondents’ value o f education, high
expectations for achievement, and thus the ability to compete academically and
professionally with their White counterparts. In the next section, I discuss the three
factors that affected student achievement in segregated schools located within the Black
community: (1) the role of parents, (2) the role of schools, and (3) the self-concept of
students.
“Knitting the Life Together”: Perceived Factors Affecting
Achievement in Segregated Schools
Numerous relationships emerged from these narrative accounts based on what
appeared to be the role of parents and teachers, and the self-concept of students within the
context o f a supportive Black community. Participant Dr. Clark discussed the need for
children to have support beyond the classroom setting that “knits the life together” and
gives them “whatever kind of support they need” at a very young age and all the way
through to college. Although these categories may seem quite obvious at first glance, the
similitude o f the experiences shared by most, if not all, of the respondents collectively
painted a portrait that illustrates the segregated Black schooling experience in a manner
that challenges a master narrative in education research that perpetuates the assumptions
of cultural deprivation, genetic inferiority, and underachievement in its treatment of
African American education (King, 2005). These factors impacted everything from their
self-concept and professional aspirations to their ability to cope with and overcome
88
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
individual and institutional acts of racism. Further analysis shows how these experiences
informed their perceptions concerning the role o f race in the education o f African
American students today.
Thread 1: Role o f Parents
Each of the respondents spoke at length about how their home life played a critical
role in the development o f their experiences and philosophies concerning education.
Specifically, all but one participant (whose parents passed away while he was young)
spoke about how their parents’ values, childrearing styles, and relationships with their
schoolteachers played a large role in their ability to succeed in school. The conditions
that seemingly did not have as much of an impact on their ability to learn and academic
success, as many would argue today, were the socioeconomic status and/or education
level o f their parents.
All but two participants described themselves as growing up in very poor to relatively
poor households, while two participants grew up in working to middle class homes. Two
had parents who did not finish high school, five had at least one parent who did finish
school, three had parents who received some college education, and one participant had
parents who were college graduates.
Dr. Clark lived in what she described as very poor household in a little Southern town
as the elder o f two children. Her mother had what she recalled as either an 8th or 9th grade
education, and her father had a 6th grade education. She explained that “although we were
a very poor family with minimum income, it was always a given that I was going to go
onto college.”
89
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dr. Wells noted that whether or not you considered yourself “middle class” was
dependent upon the time and where you lived. Describing her own upbringing in a home
where her mother was a college educated teacher and her father a construction contractor,
she explained, “In that kind of environment, you were privileged, I guess (laughing). In
other environment you’d be poor (laughing).” But regardless of your situation, you were
expected to succeed. Dr. Wells remembered her parents instilling “strong values around
education. The expectation was that everybody - all of us - would go to college. It was
not a question - if? It was a question - where?”
Dr. Cooper also “came out of a household where there was no expectation not to
perform.” Although her parents did not attend college, they were high school graduates,
and likely would have gone on to college if they had been financially able. As part o f her
middle-class upbringing, Dr. Cooper was always fond of school, a feeling that was
reinforced by her parents.
I liked school, for one thing. I’ve never had any serious difficulty with school. I’ve
enjoyed going to school, I enjoyed learning, and I got a lot of support and
encouragement from my parents with regard to that. My father always encouraged me
to do whatever I wanted to do. He never showed a difference between what he
expected me to be able to do and what my brother was able to do. In other words, I
didn’t come out o f a household where, you know, there were girl careers and boy
careers. It was like, do what you want to do. So I give my parents a lot of
encouragement in that regard.
In contrast, both of Dr. Steele’s parents were college graduates, and he was born into
a family committed to education in some form or another. Although his father was a
90
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Jeanes Supervisor of Schools and his mother served as a teacher who later pursued a
career in nursing, they were still as he described, “poor as hell,” particularly in relation to
their W hite counterparts.
As 1 o f 8 children who all earned bachelor’s degrees, four served in WWII where two
were commissioned officers and two were sergeants, one was a school principal, one was
a university football coach, and another was a principal turned minister. People used to
tease his father regarding the family’s emphasis on education - “We might not have any
food in the house, but we had books.”
The role and influence of parents were instrumental to the educational development
and life philosophy of the participants. Each described their parents’ no-nonsense
approach to excellence in education as a guiding force that shaped their ability to succeed
despite a racist and inequitable environment. Although the educational background of
parents and families ranged from a sixth grade education to postsecondary and beyond,
the demonstration o f sacrifice and unwavering support by parents in ensuring their
children took their education seriously was the standard. Dr. Wells described the
powerful influence her college-educated mother had on her early decision to become an
educator:
Probably never knew anything else. My mom was a teacher, I was the oldest of five,
so I was the teacher. My mom tells me stories about how as a little girl, I’d play
school, I ’d line up the chairs, and have the little ones sitting in the chairs, and I ’m
teaching them and reading to them. She told me I taught them how to read. So, I don’t
think there’s anything I ever thought about other than being a teacher, cause I think
my mother was a strong role model. So I wanted to be like her.
91
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
In contrast, neither of Dr. Lewis’ parents finished school, but as teenage parents of
five children, they “had a burning thirst for all five o f their children to have college
educations.” His father was a postal worker who also worked evenings cleaning a white
fraternity houses at a local university. His mother spent most o f her years as a stay-athome mom and later became a custodian at a public library. Although his parents didn’t
have a formal education, they always emphasized the importance of education to their
five children through word and deed.
His father would bring home used, unwanted books from the fraternity house, which a
young Dr. Lewis became immersed in, especially since he wasn’t very social or athletic.
He remembered the time his mother made him and his siblings get library cards. “ She
would come home and say, ‘You all have to get library cards.’ ‘Why, M om ?’ Because
that’s what they were telling her, the librarians, and so w e’d have to walk a couple of
miles to the library.” On occasion, his parents had to make difficult decisions on how
they would spend their limited resources.
I remember my mother and father getting into an argument because as poor as we
were, she bought a set of encyclopedias. Okay, this is circa 1950. And he was furious,
but she said, ‘I don’t want my kids to have to walk to the library every time they want
to study something.’
Despite meager resources and difficult decisions, Dr. Lewis’s parents did whatever they
could to ensure their children had educational materials, such as books, author cards, and
geography puzzles.
You’re not old enough to remember something \ike Author Cards. They were playing
cards b u t . . . you had to match them up—Washington Irving, James Fenimore
92
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Cooper. That’s where I learned the names o f authors. We were having a good time
playing cards, but my mother had a method to her madness. Puzzles- United States
puzzles that you put together. So when I got to college and took geography, the
professor put a blank map in front o f us, ‘Fill in the states.’ I was able to do it, going
back to what Momma did.
The power o f his mother’s words and willingness to sacrifice for her children’s education
remains in the forefront of Dr. Lewis’ consciousness concerning education and
excellence. He quotes her words as though he’s channeling her presence and clearly, her
vision for her children and their ability to sustain themselves was part of her legacy.
She had a dream for her children. She always used to say she didn’t have much
education but she had mother wit and she used it to the best of her ability to live
through her children . . . To her four girls she said, ‘Go to school. Get an education so
you won’t have to depend on any man.’ She didn’t tell Junior Lewis why he should
go, but I felt, ‘good enough for the girls, good enough for me.’ My older sister set the
standard - National Honor Society, this and that. And I just felt I wanted to be like my
older sister. So, it was always about striving. If you came home with four A ’s and one
B, my mother would talk about the B. And when I would explain to her that the other
kids weren’t doing as well she would give me that song and dance, you know, ‘I don’t
care about the other kids, you got to do better here.’ So in her own way she never
used the word excellence, but in my mind that’s what she was telling us, you have to
be excellent.
93
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Although Dr. Lewis’ parents did not finish high school, Dr. Steele’s parents were both
college-educated and even worked as educators. Despite their skills and experiences, they
were a family o f 10 and were “poor as hell” when all eight of the kids were in school.
My father was a Jeanes Supervisor o f Schools. My mother taught, but then she stayed
home until all of us got up, and then she went back to be a nurse. So, education was
very important, very critical to my parents and to the family. We believed in
education. In fact, people used to kid us about my dad and us -w e might not have any
food in the house, but we had books.
As indicated by the childhood experiences and parenting styles o f Dr. Lewis and Dr.
Steele, literacy was a very critical component to their parent’s message of the importance
of education. This was also true for Dr. Clark whose father had a sixth grade education
and mother had an eighth or ninth grade education.
My parents were not all that involved. My parents were very strict, very religious. We
had definite rules to obey and things to do. They went to school activities, but not on
a regular basis like PTA and that kind of thing. But there was a clear understanding
between parents and teachers that the support was there. And, one of the other things
I remember is that it wasn’t unusual that you would find teachers in your church, in
the community, and that kind of thing. So sometimes you would bump into your
teacher with your parents and that kind of relationship was there.
Interestingly, Dr. Clark portrayed her parents as being “not all that involved,” but then
stated that they had “definite rules to obey and things to do,” “went to school activities,”
and established “a clear understanding between [themselves] and teachers that the
support was there.” Foster (2005) explained that this type of parental involvement, “by
94
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
historical and traditional imperatives ingrained within the African American community,
was to be depended upon to set the tone by which students were conditioned for learning
in school” (p. 693). In their study of the segregated schooling of Blacks in the Southern
U.S. and South Africa, they observed that parents
Taught attitudes at home about how teachers were to be treated and how students
were to conduct themselves at school. Moreover, they instilled in students an
understanding o f the need for education and provided the time for students to do
homework, even though they seldom helped directly with homework (p. 32).
She also described the many activities her parents required her to be involved in outside
o f school, which contributed to her reading and writing development.
She laughed as she recalled frequent churchgoing, Bible reading, and letter writing with
and for her family:
Yes, I went to church, I went to church a lot! In fact, a lot of my growth I can
attribute to church now that I look back. I was reading when I went to school ‘cause
my Mom read the Bible everyday or read something everyday. We didn’t have a lot
o f literature, but whatever was there we read. And she would make me write letters to
the relatives, you know, like my aunts and my uncles and my grandparents— and I
had to write these letters— so I was getting writing experience.
Dr. Clark described her participation as Sunday school secretary and gaining practice in
public speaking by preparing for special church functions and occasions. She explained
how these experiences equipped her for school:
So a lot o f what kids I guess would now wait to have, to be introduced to those
activities in a formal sense in school, I was getting that unknowingly at home and
95
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
through the community because o f the things that we had to do. We didn’t have the
newspaper and the richness o f literature and all of that, but I was getting whatever
they had.
The notion o f parent involvement is conceptualized and defined in various ways
throughout the collection of narratives. While Dr. Clark did not consider her parent’s
high expectations, rigid rules for behavior, and relationship with teachers as parental
involvement, Dr. Lewis believed his parent’s mere presence and demonstrated value of
education constituted what some may not identify as parental involvement. He attributed
his ability to succeed academically and professionally to his mother’s use of her “mother
wit” to ensure her children would have a better life than she had. His father was always
there for his children. “My dad worked two or three jobs but when it came graduation
time, which many times was in the morning, he was always there.” He explained,
It all depends on what you call parent involvement. And that’s what I try to teach in
my class. My mother wasn’t one who went to PTA all the time. But everyday, ‘Go to
school. Do the best you can. Don’t want to hear about you getting in trouble.’ One
time I had a 98 average in history and got a B. and so I went home and told my
mother, ‘Come up to school and talk to the teacher.’ She wound up agreeing with the
teacher. Teacher said I got a B because I talked too much, which was true, you know.
But that’s the kind of support she gave to the school.
He continued by explaining the standpoint of many parents, who are actively involved in
their child’s education, but may not be able to attend PTA meetings or physically visit
their child’s school on a regular basis.
96
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
There is that parental involvement: ‘I want you to go to school and do the best you
can. I’m here a single mom. I’m working two jobs to keep the food on the table. I
don’t have time to come up to school. If they call me, I will com e.’ Otherwise the
concept is ‘the school will do they best they can for you.’ And I have to warn parents,
especially who take their kids to [schools outside their community], school w on’t
always do the best it can for you. So there’s a different kind of parental involvement.
Dr. Steele recalled his mother’s role in setting high standards and expectations for her
children, while ensuring they were treated fairly by others. “My mother used to tell us she
didn’t want anybody lowering the standards for us, but she damn sure didn’t want nobody
raising the standards on us either.”
The fact that all five of Dr. Lewis’s siblings received M aster’s degrees and two
earned doctorate degrees is a testament to his mother’s value for educational attainment.
In fact, 30 years later, Dr. Lewis became superintendent of the very school district where
his mother worked as a custodian. “It just shows the power of education,” he plainly
stated.
These narratives illustrate a diverse group of African American families who came
from various socioeconomic conditions (mainly poor and working class), but just as
equipped to ensure their children would succeed in school. They gave their children
literature and exposed them to materials that helped them to obtain the education they
held in such high regard. Although they were Black, had meager resources, and were
children of parents who were not always high school or college graduates, they were not
culturally deprived, living a culture of poverty, or part of a deficit model. They used their
97
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
limited resources to overcome and advance the next generation. Teachers also reinforced
these values.
Thread 2: Role o f Teachers
Participant responses describing the qualifications, role, and influence of their Black
teachers in segregated schools are very similar to the historical accounts found in the
related literature. All respondents valued the role of the Black teacher and expressed
regret for the loss of what they perceived to be an extremely important variable in the
education and achievement of Black students. As Fairclough (2004) observed in his
article entitled, The Costs o f Brown: Black Teachers and School Integration, “The notion
that integration destroyed something uniquely valuable to African Americans in the
South has been powerfully influenced by memories of and about black teachers” (p. 2). In
the article, he reported the sentiments of two former educators who attended segregated
schools during the Jim Crow era:
‘I didn't feel I was getting an inferior education,’ recalled the former teacher Louise
Metoyer Bouise, who attended public schools in New Orleans during the 1920s and
1930s. ‘In fact, I am sure I had very good teachers.’ Even in the crude, two-room
schoolhouse that she attended in rural North Carolina, insisted Mildred Oakley Page,
another retired teacher, ‘anyone who wanted to learn could learn.’ (p. 2).
The reflections of the superintendents in this study were strikingly similar. Dr. Steele
remembered his school as “a 3-story building” that “had the best teachers you could
find.” He added, “those teachers knew and believed in our educability and that we were
going to be somebody.” Although Dr. Clark’s school in the South was “not a very large
98
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
elementary school” and “was not multi-graded,” she recalled that students were expected
to achieve according to their ability:
For example if you were doing better than the second graders in math, then they
wouldn’t keep you at second grade, they’d send you on up to fourth grade or sixth or
wherever you could compete, so that gave me a lot of flexibility in that you didn’t
have gifted programs as they have now, but you got a chance to- in an old fashioned
way to have a gifted education because they would plug you in where they thought
you could do well. So, I remember that.
When asked if she felt she received an adequate education and whether or not she had the
things she needed for her education, Dr. Clark responded, “Now I know that I did not. I
didn’t at that time think about it because I didn’t know anything different.” She
elaborated on the notion o f not knowing what you could or should have had:
When you don’t know what’s out there that you could have, then you don’t know that
it could have been different. But certainly, we did not have the science labs and
everything that those schools would have. We didn’t have the equipment. One of the
reasons I don’t type today is because we didn’t have typewriters and typing and so
forth, and White schools had. No excuse, 1 could have done it between now and then,
but I mean it - that was the initial part of it.
Dr. Wells, who also attended segregated schools from elementary through high school
and graduated in 1965, had a different experience. She believed she received a “top-rate
elementary, middle, and high school education.” Although the county where she lived
“had predominately Whites” and was “really spread out,” she explained that the White
99
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
schools were not necessarily better “because the Black school was a newer facility.” She
recalled,
When desegregation occurred, ironically, the newest school in the county was the
school that was closed, which was the Black school. And in addition to the school
building itself, they had built a very modern vocational arts building on that site, it
had only been open for a few years when they closed the school. So it didn’t matter
that the facilities were newer, the fact o f the matter was . . . that school was going to
close I guess because White kids were not going to go to the school, and they
dispersed the Black students. This was not during my time, but my sisters and
brothers all graduated from the desegregated schools. I graduated from the segregated
high school.
Dr. Cooper explained that during her years, “wherever you were, you were basically
in a segregated school system” and although her mother was raised in the Northeast, “she
went to a segregated school because you went to your community school, and there were
very few cities in this country where you had any kind of meaningful integration.”
However, as a child and teenager, Dr. Cooper went to school in the Mid-Atlantic “where
it was legalized segregation.” She noted,
In my opinion, it was not an inferior education. All of the teachers that I recall were
credentialed in the areas that they taught, and I know at one time there were people
who went to high school and had maybe normal certificates or something, but none of
my teachers— all of my teachers were credentialed.
100
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
She also attributed her academic success and ability to succeed in college to the
“stability” of her teachers coupled with their extensive experience in subject matter and
instruction.
Many of those teachers had been there for years and knew their content. Teachers
must know what they’re teaching. The other thing is I think they had the combination
of content and pedagogy. These people knew how to teach. You can know your
content but you’ve got to know how to teach as well.
Dr. Clark spoke o f two particular teachers and their ability to teach fundamental skills
that she believes prepared her to succeed academically and socially in high school and
beyond. She remembered both her high school English and Social Studies teachers as
“excellent advocates, motivators, and leaders” who made an impact on her life.
My high school English teacher as I remember was the best English teacher I have
ever had in any school whether at the high school level or college level, and it’s
because she taught me so well and insisted on good English, good writing skills, basic
speaking skills, that I did well in all o f those areas. And, even today, 1 recall how she
would do things, how she insisted on excellence in certain areas. So I had no trouble
particularly in those areas in college or graduate work or any of it with the command
of English. So, she made a real impact.
The other one was my Social Studies teacher, and I think she made a real impact
on social guidance and help and making sure that you did the right thing, because one
of the things about going to Black schools, particularly in the South, was that there
were no counselors so if anybody was going to counsel you it was because another
teacher took you under wings and sort of made sure that you did the right thing.
101
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
In reflecting on her segregated schooling experience, and more specifically, the equality
and experience o f her teachers, Dr. Baker remembered having “good teachers all the
time.” She explained,
See there were no other opportunities so you had good teachers in a number o f states.
If you wanted to go to graduate school they’d paid for you to go out of state cause
you couldn’t go to [your home state university]. So some of our teachers came from
NYU and Columbia. I remember an English teacher coming from Columbia. I mean
really excellent, in fact, she was role model for me, you know. Polished,
sophisticated, I didn’t quite make all that, but, really smart, really cared about
education . . . a number of the teachers were wonderful influences.
Dr. Lewis also recalled his segregated schools as being “good” and explained that is was
because o f the quality of teachers, which as Dr. Baker mentioned, received first-rate
educations at some o f the best universities in the country. He described his teachers as the
“talented tenth.”
When I grew up and looked at some of their resumes I used to wonder, ‘How did
these Black teachers get to go to The Ohio State University, to Illinois University, etc.
for their M aster’s degrees?’ But I later found th a t. . .because they couldn’t go to [the
university in their home state], the state . . . would pay for them to go to other
schools. So they were able to go to top-notch schools and have [their home state] pay
for it because [their home state] didn’t want them in their schools. But they were
excellent teachers.
When I probed further to ask understand why he believed these teachers were
“excellent,” he explained that in order for them to become teachers, they had to attend
102
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
one o f [city in Midwest]’s two teachers colleges. One was for Whites, and the other for
Blacks. “To get into [the Black] teachers college, you had to be in the top 10 percent of
your class, so when they went in they were the cream of the cream . . .and they cared, you
know they cared.” I then asked, “How did they show they cared?” He responded, “By
taking time with you in and out of school. The wisdom they shared. You would see them
at church many times, lived in the neighborhood many times. The extra help they gave
you. The encouragement.” He later gave a specific example:
I remember in the 9th grade second semester, you used to have to take your report
card around - first period A, second period A, third period A, fourth period A, went
to my algebra class of fifth period, she gave me a C. I just cried. And she said, ‘I can’t
give you what you didn’t earn, but if you want to learn algebra, I ’ll teach it to you.’
That’s what I’m talking about - that caring. The next quarter-A, A, A, A, B. Final
quarter-A, A, A, A, A. That someone who cared enough to say, ‘Okay you don’t
know it now, but I’ll work with you, and I’ll teach you.’
Dr. Lew is’s characterization o f the Black teachers who taught in his segregated
schools captured many facets of what participants described as important to being a
“good teacher.” They demonstrated wisdom and experience, were visible and involved in
within the local Black church and community, they expected excellence and possessed
high expectations for their students, and were willing to provide additional support even
beyond the regular school day. Although Dr. Clark was unsure about the formal
education and professional qualifications o f the teachers in her segregated elementary
school, she believed that those possible deficiencies were likely outweighed by their care
and commitment to their students.
103
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
As far as the teachers are concerned, I don’t know whether those [White] teachers
were better than ours. They possibly were in that they did not - they [Black schools]
were not as careful about credentialing and making sure that people were teaching in
their fields and so forth, as they possibly were in others. But our teachers were very
caring and demanding people and so it probably made up for some things that you
might have gotten otherwise.
Fairclough (2004) discovered the same sentiment from former students of segregated
schools who “have testified to the commitment and skill that those men and women
brought to the classroom in the era of Jim Crow” (p. 3). They remembered segregation as
encouraging “a special sense of dedication in black teachers that helped compensate for
the material deficiencies of the schools” (p. 3). In addition to their commitment to their
profession and their students, two participants described the appearance o f their teachers,
which also influenced the educational environment they created (Walker, 1996). As noted
earlier, Dr. Baker remembered one teacher as being “polished” and “sophisticated.”
Similarly, Dr. Clark recalled two female elementary school teachers who stood out for
her as “ sharp, Black, good-looking teachers that you felt like, you know, you wanted to
be like them.”
One was a music teacher and she was just striking and commanding in both her
appearance and her performance. And the other was just a regular teacher, but she
also was equally demanding. And you just looked at these two and thought, ‘Oh, I ’d
love to be like them when I grow up!’ So that kind of impact, I think, happens for a
number of young girls when they’re coming up and going through school. So that was
what elementary was like for me.
104
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This notion of the “commanding” and “demanding” teacher also emerged as a
common thread among many respondents. The emphasis by teachers on behavior and
discipline was indicated repeatedly, and usually tempered with a discussion o f how this
demonstrated a teacher’s “commitment” to and “caring” for students. Many of them
spoke of how their teachers would expect the best and accept nothing less, or as Dr.
Baker described it, they “did not take any foolishness off you.” Dr. Steele explained the
importance of the positive reinforcement and efficacy demonstrated by Black teachers to
their Black students within the segregated classroom setting. “You had teachers who said,
‘you’re going to be something, boy. You’re going to learn before you get out this room.’”
This conceptualization of leadership referred to as “interpersonal caring” by Walker
and Archung (2003) and its “collaborative dynamic to student empowerment and
achievement in schools within the African American community” is “historical in nature
and collaborative in its context and scope (Foster, 2005). Further, this leadership
framework dates back “from the earliest period of formal education of newly freed slaves
to the segregated schools o f the South (Foster, 2005). Walker and Archung (2003) define
interpersonal caring as “a form of meeting the needs that teachers and principals
perceived the students to have” (p. 33). They explained:
In classes, students respected the fact that teachers, ‘didn’t play’ even when they did
not like a particular teacher. They saw the educator’s high expectations as an
indication that the school children were ‘cared about.’ In other words, if a teacher
cared about them, that teacher would expect them to learn. Outside o f class, they
appreciated the time teachers took to talk with them individually and in small groups.
These conversations were opportunities for them to learn from teachers in ways that
105
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
extended beyond academic content. That teachers took the time to do this with them
was considered a form of caring (p. 33).
Dr. Cooper discussed how teachers who taught in segregated schooling environments
“had a great deal of authority at that time” and would do whatever was necessary to
ensure their students would perform to a high standard. She also believed they possessed
a degree o f resolve and respect that may not be enjoyed by present-day teachers.
Some folks would allege that they had more authority to demand high performance.
Maybe to some extent that may be true because, you know, you were going to be
there, if you got kept until midnight, you were going to stay there and do the work.
W here now, maybe somebody would come up there and declare a law, you know,
take you to court or something . . .You know, there weren’t as many options, and
teaching was looked upon as a rather noble profession. I think teachers felt that they
were respected and admired and trusted, so they brought to that job a level of feeling
of I think commitment and appreciation that some teachers now say they don’t think
they have.
Dr. Lewis observed that prior to the implementation of desegregation policies within
the school district he later observed as superintendent in a neighboring district,
[Blacks] were confined to [the city school district] because in the county, they had no
need for you. Today, teachers can go anywhere. So many of them, because [the city
school district] is going through a hard time, . . . seek out the county districts. And,
so, to a certain degree you have in the public schools now those who couldn’t get
hired elsewhere.
106
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
He noted this decline in the quality of teachers in what are now urban, majority Black
school districts was also reflected in the postsecondary education offered in the same
community.
The institution that I attended, which was a fine institution, is now open enrollment so
whosoever will let them come. They are not educated to the same degree as when I
went there. And because of mobility, we live all over the place . . . so people drive in,
they do they’re teaching, they drive out, and they don’t come back in the city again.
He concluded by stated that “the sense of community” that he experienced growing up in
his segregated community known as [The Village] is now lost. As he described it, [The
Village] met all your needs and “was just a supportive community.”
Thread 3: Self-Concept o f Students
In addition to the community support system that was available to the participants as
young, Black students living in segregated communities and attending segregated
schools, their parents and teachers played a significant role in their value of education
and in turn, their educational and professional success. Just as importantly, their parents,
teachers, and community members also influenced the self-concept, values, and
aspirations o f their younger counterparts through institutional caring, interpersonal
caring, and high expectations.
When asked what it meant to be Black as a child growing up in a segregated
environment, Dr. Baker responded.
That you’re smart. That you can do anything you want to do. And I must have been
dumb enough to believe it. And when you’re family is telling you that, your school is
telling you, your church is telling you, hey. They must have it right!
107
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
In reference to using the term “Black” and what it was like to be “Black” as a child
during segregation, Dr. Lewis made a distinction concerning the use of the term. As a
child in the 1940s and 1950s, Dr. Lewis explained that Negro was the term of choice, but
that changed to “Black” during the 1960s. Although he uses Black and African American
interchangeably, he explained that being described as colored or Negro would offend
him. According to Dr. Lewis, Black means something much different today. “When we
wanted to throw the greatest insult at you as a child, we would call you Black.” But now,
he associates Blackness with pride and “elegance.”
Dr. Clark also discussed her comfort with identifying herself as Black. “I guess
there’s a pride in being Black that I enjoy.” She observed that this pride likely comes
from the values instilled by her parents and her exposure to “knowledge about achieving
Black people,” whom she looked up to as a young child.
I probably felt better about the Black national anthem than I did the [U.S. national
anthem] - I learned it. I still know it. I can sing it. So, those were things that were just
there first and foremost so that it gave you a sense o f pride and strong self-concept.
A strong self-concept was important to countering society’s assumptions that Blacks
were unequal and inferior to Whites, particularly in regards to academic ability. A
common response that emerged among participants was the importance o f the ability to
compete with Whites and succeed. They often spoke o f the fact that they did not require
any remediation once they left their all Black segregated schools for postsecondary
institutions and for those who attended graduate school at predominately White
institutions, discovered or reaffirmed that they were just as smart or smarter than their
White counterparts.
108
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dr. Clark described her experience as a freshman college student attending an HBCU
outside o f her home state in the South.
When I got to college there were kids there from - probably most of them were from
segregated kinds o f things—but there were kids there from others kind of settings as
well, from [city in Northeast] and places like that. I never felt that I was behind any of
them. A number of kids had to take remedial math and remedial English. I never had
to take any of that. So I always felt like I was okay and could compete, and I went on
and finished college with honors as well. So my self-concept has always been in
pretty good shape (laughing) because my folks I guess sort o f made sure that it was. 1
mean you always were to be a very proud person to never feel that you were less than.
I mean that was just sort o f pounded in. You were never to see yourself as less than
anybody else. And you were always taught that education was really the answer to a
number o f things. If you really wanted to do well in life, you needed to have a good,
strong education.
Dr. Clark’s self-concept and academic ability was reaffirmed when she attended graduate
school at a predominately White institution on the West Coast:
One of the things that I noticed is that these folks that come from all of these high
faluting colleges and so forth, they’re not too smart. I mean they’re not any smarter
than anyone else, and it was not just me. I f s something that I have noticed, that many
of the graduates o f historically Black schools who do well, do well in any
environment. So it’s not a real difference. And whether it’s something that they
overcompensate, that’s possibly true, because they certainly, I don’t think have
109
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
benefited from having the same level of resources and support. But I think there’s
some level o f overcompensation there that possibly makes up for it.
Despite how others may have limited her perceived ability based on her race, Dr. Wells
said she “never felt inferior” and “always felt that I was as smart and capable as any
White person.” She admits, however, that “there have been times where things have
happened - today they happen - that could shake that confidence if you actually didn’t
have a strong foundation on which to build.”
In her present profession, being “in many situations where I ’m the only African
American or the only African American female” she observed that when she poses or
question or contributes to the group dialogue, “people either look at you like what you
said didn’t many any sense or they didn’t understand what you said, and so you selfconfidence can be shaken.” Dr. Wells continued:
And then somebody comes back, one of them will come back and say the same - the
very same thing - and wordsmith it a little bit, and all of a sudden the rest of the
Whites are latching on. It becomes a discussion point at that point, and you sit and
you say, ‘W hat’s wrong? I thought I just said the same thing?’ And then you begin to
wonder, ‘Am I not articulate? Did I not know how to express my own ideas?’ So the
self-doubt comes in there. But then, I have this foundation, this background that - to
say, they really don’t know any more than I know, and I’m not going to allow my
self-concept to be shattered and to be intimidated by that.
After speaking with her daughter, who attended a historical Black college followed by a
year of study a prestigious, predominately White institution, Dr. Wells discovered that
her daughter is experiencing the same challenges to her ability because she is Black.
110
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
She called me one day and said, ‘You know, Mom. I’m in this class, and I ’m the only
African American in the class, and I ’ll make comments and, you know, they’re
having a discussion, and I ’ll say something and nobody says anything.’ And she said,
‘I sit there to think: Am I stupid? Did I say something stupid? Why is that no one is
responding?’ And she said, ‘Then a White person will say the same thing I said, and
all o f a sudden the teacher is on it, and the kids are discussing it.’ And she said, ‘I ’m
sitting there thinking, I don’t know what’s going on.’
Dr. Wells stated that she responded to her daughter by sharing her own experiences and
reinforcing the fact that she is intelligent and that the reaction o f the class and teachers is
nothing less than racism.
I said, ‘You know you’re smart. You made, I ’m sure, a very intelligent and relevant
point. It’s not about you. It’s about racism - pervasive racism that has followed
generations from my sister’s experience when she was not selected as the
valedictorian, experience I have faced as a Black female CEO executive, and it’s
experience you’re facing now in a White society. It’s racism.’
Dr. Wells shared another example of what she described as an instance of “subtle racism”
that she experienced as a graduate student studying counselor education at a
predominately White institution:
I was the only African American in that class, and the professor was passing out the
test papers, and he was applauding the highest score and was reading the answers to
the questions as a demonstration o f the kinds of responses he wanted. He had no idea
it was my paper, because it was a large class. And so it was like— shock (laughing)
111
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
when he called out the name on the paper (more laughter). And I thought, ‘Justice!
This is justice!’ (laughing). He was red as a beet! (more laughing)
She recounted her classmates as being just as “stunned” because:
I ’m sure their image o f whose paper this was— it was never the lone Black person in
this class. It never dawned on them that that would have been the paper that he was
speaking about it. You know, incidents like those are examples o f subtle racism. And
I suspect that my experiences have been far more that type o f subtle racism than it’s
really been the overt, where somebody’s calling you a racial name, or spitting in your
face, or doing those things. But I think those acts of subtle racism can be as
dangerous— more dangerous— in some instances because they can get at who you
are— the heart of who you are.
In regard to racism, and in seeming response to its ability to get at “the heart of who you
are,” when asked about racism and sexism, Dr. Baker stated matter-of-factly, “Oh, you
don’t worry about that.” She expounded:
That’s somebody else’s problem. Frankly, I believe that ethnicity and gender are
other people’s problem. You know who you are. You know your skills, and you let
them get past it. If you have to say something you do. But that’s not your problem,
that’s your reality. You can’t change it no matter what you would want. You might
want to, but don’t even deal with it. And w e’ve got to feel good about ourselves. This
is all I have. I ’m Black, I’m a woman, and it will never change.
This strategy for coping with racism by understanding that it’s “not your problem” but is
“your reality,” and Dr. Young echoed the importance o f refusing to internalize it. He said
112
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
his parents made him and siblings “think above color” and taught them “not to carry a
chip on your shoulder because it wasn’t going to do you any good.” He continued:
All it would do is make you angry and mean and upset and all it’s going to do is hurt
you. They probably got theirs; you have to get yours. So if you spend your time with
negative entropy, that’s not a word they used, it’s a word I use, then you’re going to
have some negative, unnecessary experiences. And instead o f moving on and— but
you know, in those times it was difficult.
Dr. Steele said the message he teaches his students and his own children is “to do the best
you can do, and be the best you can be; and don’t ever forget that you’re Black, but it
ain’t no handicap.”
See, look. The day I will be ashamed o f being Black is when I do something foolish
and disgrace everybody that looks like me. Then I don’t want to be Black ‘cause I
don’t want to bring that disgrace. But they ain’t going to let me be White, so I want to
live the best life that I can live [so] everybody who has made all the sacrifices that
folks that look like me made, can be proud, and w on’t have to hide their head and
drop their head in shame. That’s what I want. And that’s the way I try to live.
Conclusion
In this chapter, I presented one version of the study’s findings, which focused on the
participant’s descriptions and recollections of their segregated schooling experiences.
This included the social context in which their experiences were situated and what they
perceived to be the key factors that influenced their ability to learn and achieve despite
113
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
their location in conditions that were deemed “inherently separate and unequal” by the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Within the context of segregated schooling, the role of parents and teachers, and the
self-concept o f students emerged as key factors that influenced what they described as
fine, high quality educational experiences that ensured their ability to compete and
succeed in a desegregated world. To use the words of participant Dr. Clark, these key
factors, or threads, were essential in developing a system of support that “knit the life
together” and gave students the encouragement and direction they needed from and
through various individuals, activities, and resources. Fairclough (2004) captured this
notion of “knitting the life together” nicely in his depiction o f segregated Black schools
as “places where order prevailed, where teachers commanded respect, and where parents
supported the teachers. Teachers, pupils, and parents formed an organic community that
treated schooling as a collective responsibility” (p. 3).
In the next chapter, I present another version of the study’s findings, which shifts the
focus from the participants’ standpoint and lived experiences in segregated schools to
their perceptions concerning desegregation policy and its impact on Black children,
families, and communities.
114
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS: REFLECTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES ON DESEGREGATION
This chapter presents a collection of interview responses, narratives, and consequent
themes that emerged based on participant responses concerning desegregation policy and
its perceived impact on Black education. Despite the diversity o f standpoints and lived
experiences represented among the participating superintendents, their segregated
schooling experiences and mixed feelings concerning the government-mandated mixing
of schools underscores the complexity surrounding the discussion of whether or not
desegregation policies helped or harmed the schooling and subsequent educational
achievement o f Black children. Interview data revealed, what appeared to be, challenges
to widely held assumptions in the mainstream literature concerning the benefits of
desegregation policy for Black children, families, and communities.
Although nearly all respondents clearly indicated they would never want to return to
the days of government-sanctioned, “separate but unequal” schools, they were uncertain
about their feelings on desegregation and its implications for what they remembered to be
a rich legacy of pride and excellence in Black education. The academic and professional
credentials and achievements o f each participant, coupled with fond memories of allBlack schools, expert teachers, and rich academic experiences, countered the mainstream
narrative that quietly questions the quality, value, and strengths of Black schooling.
115
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
These narratives, analyzed collectively, revealed the first theme articulated pointedly by
participant Dr. Steele: “There is nothing wrong with something being all Black.”
The narratives further challenged the prevailing notion that school desegregation and
the Brown decision served as the saving grace for Black students, families, and
communities. Examples of White resistance, individual and institutional accounts of
racism in desegregated settings, the significant loss o f jobs and demotions of Black
educators, and the dismantling o f the Black community are just some of the reasons why
Dr. Baker expressed her “mixed feelings” about desegregation. From this concern and
others like it emerged the second theme presented in this chapter. As she reluctantly
admitted, “ Sometimes you feel like the problems began with desegregation.”
Finally, the very notions o f the “dismantling of desegregation” or resegregation are
both reiterated and disputed based on participant contentions that the schools were never
in fact desegregated, let alone integrated. White flight, massive resistance, intact busing,
and segregated classrooms within mixed schools limited, if not prohibited, school-wide
desegregation. Thus, the final and arguably most complex, theme is based on the
conclusion of Dr. Cooper who said, “W e’ve never truly integrated.”
In exploring and examining these superintendent narratives individually and
collectively, these three statements crystallized three distinct perceptions that were
strikingly different from the mainstream literature concerning diversity, resegregation,
and the “quiet reversal of Brown” (Orfield & Eaton, 1996).
Within each identified theme, narrative data collected from the responses o f Black
superintendents who attended segregated schools, taught in desegregated schools,
administered and supervised desegregation programs, and led school districts that were
116
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
under court-ordered and voluntary desegregation plans is presented to paint what Dr.
Baker described as the “unclear picture” o f desegregation’s impact on Black education. It
is this “mixed legacy” of desegregated schools that establishes the basis on which we can
begin to interrogate the mainstream discourse concerning the impact of desegregation on
Black student achievement.
Theme 1: “There is Nothing Wrong with Something Being A 11Black ”
The Commission on Research in Black Education (2006) observed that the “current
state of Black education represents an historical reversal that pales in comparison to the
long tradition of educational and cultural excellence that generations of African people
established in the normal course of our human experience” (p. xxiii). In fact, all but one
interviewee fondly recalled this tradition of excellence in Black education. (The
interviewee who didn’t share this recollection only attended segregated schools from
kindergarten through grade two, but recounted positive stories o f colleagues and friends
who went to segregated Black schools). When I asked the superintendents about the allBlack elementary and secondary schools they attended, they spoke well o f their teachers
as highly educated and professional, demanding yet caring, and possessing high standards
and expectations for good behavior and academic achievement for their students. Dr.
Steele recalled,
I had the best teachers you could find. And those teachers knew and believed in our
educability and that we were going to be somebody. And that went through high
school and my experience a t . . . an historically Black college . . . that you were going
117
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
to be something. Nobody made you feel as if they were doing you a favor by letting
you be there.
This observation was offered in response to the unspoken assumption that some
present-day advocates for desegregation hold on to the notion that a school that is all
Black is inherently bad, deficient, or lacking. Although these beliefs are not openly
stated, the tacit understanding appears to be that racially isolated Black schools should
not exist because their failure is inevitable, unlike that of racially isolated White schools,
which need desegregation to benefit from exposure to “diversity.” Dr. Steele takes issue
with this assumption:
Let me say this to you very candidly. There is nothing wrong with something being
all Black. But people will have you think there’s something wrong. I did a study on
the historically Black colleges and universities, and . . . you know, this country and
this world would be in a hell of a fix if we didn’t have some of the people that have
been produced by those HBCU’s, but you wouldn’t ever think that they produced
anything or anybody.
A substantial portion of the narrative data describing the segregated school
experience focused on the role, quality, and influence of the Black teacher. Black
students had teachers who exemplified the “willingness to be involved in the community,
their dedication and commitment to the academic achievement of Black children, and
their willingness to support one another through various forms of mentoring” (Tillman,
2004). Participant responses emphasized the high quality credentials, experiences, and
education of teachers in the participants’ segregated school environments, many of which
earned these top-rate educations at out of state institutions because they were legally
118
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
prohibited from attending colleges or universities in their home states because they were
Negro. As stated in the last chapter, Dr. Lewis recalled his teachers as being the “talented
tenth” and as he grew older, wondering how these Black teachers were able to well
regarded, predominately White colleges and universities for their graduate studies. He
explained that “they were excellent teachers,” many of whom attended the local teachers
college for Blacks, which required they be in the top 10 percent of their high school
graduating class. Dr. Baker shared this same phenomenon in her region of the country.
Ironically, Black teachers were able to receive high quality educations at out-of-state
institutions since they were denied admissions to their in-state institutions because of
their race.
Interestingly, when Dr. Cooper began discussing recalling her lived experiences in
segregated schools, she immediately responded to the commonly held, yet unstated,
assumption that Black schools during segregation were inferior to White schools in the
quality o f education they provided. Upon stating that she attended a segregated high
school, she followed up by saying, “but in my opinion, it was not an inferior education.”
She remembered that all of her teachers were credentialed in the areas they taught, and
had positive memories concerning the content and quality of the instructional program.
We had course offerings— for instance, I had geometry in fifth and sixth grade. Recall
that in high school, I had a teacher who had spent 10 years in Russia on a special
project and he brought such interesting insight to that area. So I felt that— my
curriculum, for example, we had a full curriculum in elementary and in high school.
Dr. Cooper’s description of her highly qualified teachers who offered a challenging
academic curriculum counters the more common characterizations o f the ’’inferior
119
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
education” in all Black schools during segregation. She went on to explain she believed
her K-12 education prepared her for her postsecondary studies.
I feel that my early education was very positive. In fact, I guess I base it on the fact
that I never had any formative problems in college. When I entered college, [they]
had entrance examinations in the basic subjects, and were you not to score at an
acceptable level, you had to take some noncredit preliminary courses, prerequisite
courses before you were admitted into the full program, 4-year program. I didn’t take
any of those. And to my knowledge, nobody who went from my high school to that
college ever had to take them.
Dr. Wells also believed her segregated schooling experiences, which included a form of
ability tracking, equipped her with a well rounded and challenging academic curriculum
that included access to special educational programs and opportunities to attend college
tours.
I thought I received a top-rate education in elementary, middle school, and high
school. Certainly it was a tracked system so I was in the college track and graduated
as valedictorian o f the class and had opportunities to do summer experiences at
colleges. I remember going to [a Black college in the South] and spending a year
studying in a science program that was offered by the National Science Foundation
one summer, and then there was another summer experience, I can’t remember
exactly what it was, so. We did college tours and visits so I felt that I received, even
though we were in a segregated environment, I received a very fine education.
120
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
However, Dr. Wells did recall many of the same inequities that exist within a
desegregated environment within the context of the segregated schools she attended.
Contrary to what people believe, even in the segregated schools, there was a caste
system . . . sort o f the haves and the have-nots, and you could see the discrepancy in
treatment of kids. You know, I happened to be in the end o f the tracked class . . . my
mother taught in the school, so you saw that you were given advantages that perhaps
some o f the other students were not given. People tended to have lower expectations
[bejcause there were kids who were not in the track I was in who were as capable, I
thought, as smart, as bright, but they were the victims of low expectations of adults
and so they didn’t have the same opportunities . . . based on class— economic class.
In contrast, Dr. Marshall recalled that in his small Southern community, although he
and his classmates “were poor in our particular situation,” their segregated environment
“was such that your expectations were high and your aspirations were not hampered or
dampened.” He explained,
Oh, it was great. It was great. It was a K-8 school and you had some very strict
teachers who would expect you to learn and would require you to learn and if you
didn’t, they would punish you (chuckling). . .. And so to me, there were some
advantages in being in an environment that was nurturing, where there are high
expectations, and where you’re not compared with someone else who may come from
a different situation and possibly have different means . . . but that was not something
to prevent you from achieving, just because you were in that particular situation. And
no one kind of blamed the situation on whether or not a person could succeed or not.
121
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Nor did Dr. Clark witness different expectations levels for different students according to
ability during her high school years in a very small, rural, segregated community in the
South.
I don’t remember in high school that we had kids that were sorted out, like gifted or
regular or special ed or so forth. Everyone was expected to achieve although I
realized as a student that some kids were not as able as others, but we were all
expected to achieve and to push each other and to pull each other and to help. And
even the slow kids as I remember now, were not treated like slow kids who were not
expected to do well. They could do as well as others I know, but they were not
expected to do less than. So, that kind of feeling I thought was good. It was
something that I would certainly like to see happen.
She also believed there were some features o f segregation that she couldn’t
“pinpoint,” but “seem to have worked for us.” She described teachers who were close to
their students, and who “took a greater interest and made sure that we achieved.” This
included high expectations both academically and behaviorally. She continued, “The fact
that they would not hesitate to caution us about our discipline . . . I mean, they just didn’t
let us get out o f the straight and narrow path.”
Other participants reiterated this attention to discipline. Dr. Marshall reflected on a
lady named Ms. Pierce. “ She was I guess— she was barely 5 feet tall, but boy, she could
wreak all havoc with your life.” Dr. Baker described her English teacher who attended
Columbia University as “really smart” and one who “really cared about education, but
did not take any foolishness off of you.” She continued,
122
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
In fact, she was a role model for me, you know. Polished, sophisticated . . . And she’s
still living. I ’ve got to pay her a visit, she probably is in her 80s if not 90, but a
number o f the teachers were wonderful influences.
This image of the “polished, sophisticated” teacher as role model was reinforced by Dr.
Clark’s recollections o f her elementary schools teachers who she described as “ Sharp,
Black good-looking teachers that you felt like . . . you wanted to be like them.” Although
they were commanding and demanding, she regarded them as role models, particularly
for young Black girls.
The Black teacher’s influence as a role model who valued education, possessed high
expectations for their students, and cared deeply for them and their ability to succeed in
an unjust world had a huge impact on the superintendents in this study. “Black teachers in
the segregated kind o f situation. That aspect o f it I think was very good,” explained Dr.
Clark. “ Somehow you wish you could transplant that to the other environments, because I
don’t think it is as strong today - and probably not as strong for a lot of reasons because
society has changed a great deal.”
Theme 2: “Sometimes You Feel Like the Problems Started with Desegregation ”
Another emergent theme was the notion that the implementation of desegregation
programs in local school districts, colleges, and universities is was the beginning of
problem for Black education. At a systems level, these problems included the
displacement, demotion, and unemployment of Black teachers and administrators - many
o f whom lost their jobs to Whites with fewer qualifications. At a school site level, it
translated into the overrepresentation of Black students in low-ability tracks, special
123
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
education programs, and school disciplines statistics. Most significantly and ironically,
on an individual level, the problems include the perception of a diminished self-concept
among Black students, which is the very problem the Brown decision sought to remedy.
These resulting challenges ran counter to the hopes, dreams, and expectations for
what is commonly referred to as “the promise of Brown.” Dr. Steele recalled, “For a lot
o f people it was going to be the hope and the change - from unequal segregation and
from unequal opportunities and resources,” but that just wasn’t the case.
You see, I think where people made their mistake is that people thought the Black
folks were bringing the suit so they could sit by White kids. That w asn’t it. It was to
equalize the resources. To make sure that Black kids’ school year didn’t go around
the planting and harvesting season of sugar cane or cotton. Where White kids had 9
months o f school, Black kids had 6 or 7 months of school. Or they had buildings that
had lights and had books, and you didn’t get the books that White kids had their
names in. And when they got through using them they were sent over there, and those
were your new books. But people had the notion that people were suing so they could
sit by Whites folks, cause if they sat by White folks, they could learn. But we had
some o f the best teachers, people who believed in you and they didn’t try to make you
feel as if you were inferior or they were doing you a favor.
For example, Dr. Marshall acknowledged that “having the right to go to school
wherever you want to” and “the right to have options in your education11 were important,
but noted thatffroww’s lack of “teeth” and “the kind of penalties and things that would
have been necessary to deal with [segregation]” compromised the law ’s ability to make
significant change. Dr. Cooper was in her first year of teaching when the Brown decision
124
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
came down, but she explained, “it was a decade or so before any substantive
implementation of it occurred, particularly in the South.” She recalled teaching in a
totally segregated school system and becoming an assistant principal before having any
non-Black teachers assigned to her school site. They began desegregating the faculty the
summer before school started, at which point the student body was desegregated. Dr.
Cooper explained,
They exchanged teachers from one school to another, and then slowly students began
to come in. But again, they started first usually through your model schools or your,
you know, your alternative programs. You tended to get a better response in terms of
true integration at the elementary level, better than the middle and high. And of
course you could speculate that folks began to get concerned that that’s when maybe
the sexes would start showing some interest in each other, and there were people
really fearful of that. So [White students] might go to an elementary school and then
they would go to private school when they got to secondary.
Although respondents described Brown as “an important landmark” and “a major step
in showing up dirty linen in this country” because the schools were separate, but unequal,
they also grappled with the negative consequences Brown had on Black students,
families, and communities. Dr. Baker described her struggle with the implications of
Brown for Black education,
I ’ve got mixed feelings about Brown. Sometimes you feel like the problem started
with desegregation. I think some of us thought desegregation was going to give us
something that it didn’t give us and . . there were certain positions you didn’t get
because you weren’t White, or even in classes and all, they were taking the better
125
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
teachers - Black teachers - and putting them in the formerly White schools. That was
a real transition. Some of it negative.
Dr. Lewis shared similar mixed feelings concerning how the consequences of
desegregation plans and programs. He spoke of the benefits and drawbacks of attending
school in a desegregated environment.
There’s a plus and a negative. I never went to school with a White child until I got to
[the newly desegregated teachers college], okay. So it gave me a view of another
world. And it also solidified in my mind - I could compete. Because we had an 8th
grade teacher who would always say, the White kids are doing x - studying, and here
you are d o in g s - fooling around. In my mind, I think she said that to spur us on. I’m
hoping that’s why she said. So for me it was good to get in a wider society and see
that they are not superhuman beings. If I do my studying and so forth I can do just as
well. First time I was taught by a White teacher was in college. Some who treated us
well, some who did not.
On the other hand, he expressed concerned for how desegregation influenced the
perceptions o f Black parents and their assumption that White schools were better than
Black schools.
The negative I’ve seen has been a result of the [Midwestern City] Metropolitan
Desegregation Plan. The parents who were active and concerned for their children,
they saw the county schools as a haven for them - for their kids to get a better
education. So it kind of took the cream off the top in my judgment from those who
went to the [Midwestern City] Public Schools. And they assumed their students
would be treated better which did not always happen to be the case.
126
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
These concerns highlight some o f the multi-layered consequences, or what Tillman
(2005) described as “(un)intended consequences” o f the Brown decision on African
American education. Study participants identified some of these as problems that
developed as a result o f school desegregation.
Dismantling o f the Black Community
Although some recollections o f segregated Black schools may be viewed through
rose-colored glasses (Orfield, 1996), one documented post-Brown outcome is the
disproportionate number of jobs lost by Black educators (Morris, 2001; Walker, 2003;
Tillman, 2004). Tillman (2004) refers to this displacement of Black educators as the
“(un)intended consequences” o f Brown. “The wholesale firing o f Black educators
threatened the economic, social, and cultural structure of the Black community, and
ultimately the social, emotional, and academic success of Black children” (p. 280). Many
Black teachers, principals, and to a lesser extent, school superintendents were either
demoted or fired once schools were required to integrate. This had a particularly
significant impact on the Black community since a large number of its middle-class
members served in the field of education (Fairclough, 2004; Foster, 1997; Walker, 2001;
Tillman, 2004). W alker (2003) described it as the “decimation of Black leadership in the
wake of desegregation” (p. 57).
Dr. Baker was attending an all Black teachers’ college during the Brown decision and
during this time, learned o f the case that prohibited racial segregation in the public
schools within her particularly community. This case left her and her classmates
wondering how this decision would impact their futures as aspiring teachers.
127
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
[The Black teachers college] was well regarded nationally, you know, you could
almost go anywhere and get a job and do well. But there was a White college here . .
.. So we wondered what would that be? Then there was the Black school district and
the W hite school district. And, how would the Black district be treated? Who would
surface at the top? And you know who surfaced - the Whites were in charge. And
they tried to develop some balance. But again, they just put the two colleges together
and, you know, our students were participating in sit-ins down in [Southern state] and
even in [a city in Mid-Atlantic], Again, we knew we were getting a first class
education so there was not a worry about how we would fare.
In terms of job availability, the Brown decision forced the existing “surplus of teachers”
to find teaching positions outside o f their local community or city, unless you wanted to
teach outside of your field. Dr. Baker explained that she was didn’t want to teach outside
o f her field because she “didn’t know enough to teach special ed kids” and “thought they
deserved better than that.”
Dr. Lewis explained the phenomenon that occurred when desegregation plans became
implemented at both the K-12 and higher education levels. He was unable to attend the
Black Teachers College in his hometown because it was closed once the city decided to
integrate.
That’s the way it happens. When integration comes, whatever was Black, because
there were two of them, that gets closed. So [the teachers college for Blacks] was
closed. Many of the professors who taught at [the teachers college for Blacks] had to
then go back into the high schools. The president o f [the teachers college for Blacks],
Dr. Johnson, who was an extremely knowledgeable young lady, or president, was
128
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
given a central office do-nothing position and then someone with a M aster’s degree, a
[White] high school principal, was named president of [the newly desegregated
teachers college].
Another challenge that faced Black educators was the closing of Black schools in
counties. In one instance, an entire school district mobilized Black teachers traveling to
those communities in order to provide an education to Black students who no longer had
schools to attend due to White resistance. Dr. Cooper remembered fellow teachers who
did what they could to ensure those students were not denied an education.
There were teachers in my school and in my school district who did go there in the
summers and worked with those Black students who had been deprived o f an
education. I was at that time going to summer school for graduate work, and I was
never able to go there, but there were those of us who were told that, ‘Well, if you
can’t go, can you provide some resources, monetary resources to help offset the cost
of the teachers who are going,’ and I did that, but I never went there myself. But
that’s when I became aware o f just how resistant they were.
Dr. Baker indicated the profession has not recovered from this significant loss of
opportunities for Black educators. The disproportionately small number of Black teachers
and principals in relation to the number of Black public school students is arguably one
o f the most devastating consequences o f desegregation on Black education (JonesWilson, 1990; Walker, 2003; Tillman, 2004; Dempsey & Noblit, 1993). Although data
exist on the number of Black teachers and principals who were demoted, fired, or forced
to resign during this era, literature on Black superintendents before Brown is scarce and
did not develop until the 1970s (Tillman, 2004). Ethridge (1979) reported the complete
129
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
absence o f a Black superintendent in 1954 and fewer than 12 Blacks in the position of
assistant superintendent. Dr. Baker echoed this concern.
Frankly, there is a decline in the number o f African Americans in administration.
Decline in the number in the superintendency. Now they’re finding so much other
stuff to do. And, you know, with some of this for profit education that’s occurring and
snapping up some of our good people . . . I think it’s a real problem . . . W e’ve got to
find a way to train more Black teachers. Because some of our children, particularly in
urban areas or anywhere, they’re not going to see a teacher that looks like them
during their whole career. And while, you know, we do a good o f training lawyers
and scientists, but we got to train some teachers.
In addition to the community level problems o f lost jobs for teachers and parent
perceptions that White schools would provide better education for their students than
their neighborhood schools, there was also question as to whether the desegregation
efforts even helped to improve the education of Black students. According to Dr. Lewis,
based on the evaluation of the desegregation plan in the community that he attended,
served as Executive Director of State and Federal Programs (which included
desegregation initiatives), and served as superintendent, “the Black youngsters who went
to the county schools did no better than the Black youngsters who remained in the [city
schools].” He continued,
The only group that did better was those who attended the magnet schools in the [city
school district] and magnet schools got more. And they also had criteria for screening
in or screening out. Another problem I had with the desegregation program was
county school districts got either 1 Vz or twice the ADA [average daily attendance] for
130
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
every Black youngster they accepted. If [the city school district] were getting $5000
for a student, then the county would get either $7500 or $10,000 to accept that
student. The problem was, they then could spend that money on anything they
wanted. So what happened? New buildings went up. Teacher salaries went up. But it
didn’t specifically go to the Black youngsters.
The justification used for letting the dollars follow the child who attended the county
schools versus the city schools was part of what Dr. Lewis described as “a sweetener” or
incentive for county schools to accept Black students. He explained, “There was a suit,
and they were getting ready to go to trial, and the judge was trying to sweeten the pot.
You can voluntarily accept with these niceties or we can go to trial and hope for the
best.” Furthermore, White flight compounded the problem because prosperous
communities suffered financially when Whites left and took their businesses with them.
Dr. Lewis gave the example of an all Black school district that suffered financially once it
lost its tax base.
So [the city] has the highest tax rate in the state because it doesn’t have much taxable
property, [and] the higher your tax base, the lower your property tax can be. That was
another gift from the desegregation plan. The county school districts were able to
keep their taxes low, because they were using the money from the desegregation plan,
and the community was not aware of it because most of them were opposed to the
desegregation plan and busing these 13,000 Black youngsters to the county until the
desegregation] money started to go away. Then the county school districts had
nowhere to go but the public to raise the taxes. Public says, ‘You’ve been getting by
131
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
for the last 10 years, you know, what’s the big deal now?’ Well the desegregation
fund that could be used for anything, that funding was gone.
Respondents shared several concerns about the overrepresentation of Black children
in special education programs under desegregation orders. For example, Dr. Cooper was
responsible for operationalizing court-ordered desegregation when she was
superintendent of a large city district. She explained the dilemma:
There were aspects where they were out of compliance. One was that they were
supposed to have at least 25 percent of classroom teachers, who were AfricanAmerican, and they didn’t have—they had like 21, 22 or something. I was able to get
that piece in compliance . . .. [The state was] itself is way out of kilter. I think that
there would maybe have been about 20 percent o f the students were in special ed and
I think about 17 percent of the population in [the district] had been in special ed, and
in looking at it I discovered several things. One, that I felt that there was something
somewhat faulty about the evaluation process that was used to classify students as
special ed, that we needed to be just a little surer that this student was truly special ed
or whether the student was in need of special services. There was a difference.
Dr. Cooper explained that, at the time, she just “didn’t believe that many of the students
were really special ed. They performed poorly, but not because of any physical or mental
disability, but just because they hadn’t always been taught.” Dr. Clark provided another
example when she noted her concern for the current overrepresentation o f Black students
in special education programs in desegregated schools.
I don’t believe all o f them belong there. But for a variety of reasons, mostly because
they can’t read, and their inability to read often leads them to become discipline
132
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
problems and the combination of the two quickly leads them into getting into trouble
in their schools and ultimately in detention and facilities . . . so you just, it’s a
pathway to trouble as far as I’m concerned . . . .1 think that that number has continued
to increase and particularly for African American male students where they tend to
represent a disproportionate number of those students that are moving into special
education situations. I am not against special education for those who truly have that
need and certainly would benefit from those resources. But I think their parents don’t
always understand what it means to have this designation and when and when not
they should be a part o f it.
Dr. Lewis discussed the importance of educating parents on how to ensure their children
get the type and quality of education to which they are entitled.
You have to be a watchdog. You just can’t send [your children] out there and assume
[the schools are] going to do best for your children simply because it’s a White school
district. And we started getting a number of quote withdrawn students back to the
district. Well, what had happened - the principal would say I can either suspend your
child or you can voluntarily withdraw him. So they would withdraw [the child] and
bring [her/him] back to the city.
This is another example o f how meaningful integration was thwarted by the expulsion
and removal of Black students from predominately White schools. Although some
students experienced segregation by being forced to leave their school entirely, others
experienced isolation within their own classroom settings. Dr. Wells shared her
observations o f this practice in the predominately White, affluent school district, in which
she was the superintendent, noting,
133
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
I ’d walk through their classes and I would see things that were very disturbing to me:
the W hite kids on the rug reading stories and doing animation and discussing, and the
Black kids back in the back o f the room with an adult tutor going over phonics. And I
said to a principal one day, ‘What do you see wrong with this situation, this story, and
what we see in this class?’ And the principal couldn’t see it. And I said, ‘There are
three Black kids in this class. Where are they? Look at them and look a t- and one
little boy.’ I guess he had been misbehaving. They’re images that stick with you
because you know they’re so wrong, and this was one of them.
She described another classroom observation o f a kindergarten or first grade teacher was
reading a story to all the White students who were seated on a rug and acting out parts of
the story. There were only three Black students in the class and one was “sitting in the
corner and the teacher had his back to - she made him sit facing the wall” and “she had
him in the corner doing something rote” although she believed “that little boy wanted to
be at the rug.” Another Black student was with a tutor doing catch up work, and she
couldn’t recall what was happening with the third student. Dr. W ells’ became visibly
upset while recounting this “disturbing” scenario and went on to explain her interaction
with the school principal:
And I said to the principal that even though these kids are probably coming to this
class with fewer skills than those other kids, what’s happening at this rug with this
reading o f the story and all was really what they want and should be a part of as well.
So you find - and if you say something to the teacher about that - the teacher didn’t
see anything wrong. You know, she thought that she was doing the right thing. ‘Well
134
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
they need to develop their skills, they don’t have - they aren’t reading yet.’ And they
have a hard time seeing that there’s something wrong with it.
Dr. Wells also recalled when she was principal of “a very affluent elementary school
in a very affluent community” where there was “a bimodal distribution, and the Black
kids were in the kids in special education.” At the time, she became very concerned with
the label o f students as special education, despite their ability to test out o f the program.
She recalled a conversation she had with teachers during the end-of-year review of the
children in special education. The teachers were “rediagnosing [the children] to stay in
special ed.” When Dr. Wells expressed her concern, the special education teachers said,
‘Well, if they go to the regular classes . . . they won’t have the support that they will
have.’ So they’re leaving sixth grade here at the elementary school, and they’re going
to go to middle school with special education designations because you think that
that’s the only way that they can get support? You know, what are you doing? You’re
labeling kids as special ed when they don’t need to be labeled! They have tested out
of labeling. And then when you raise those questions, [the special education teachers]
are thinking that they are doing a good thing.
Again, she articulated the notion that the teachers “are thinking that they are doing a good
thing” when in fact, she believed they were contributing to the problem of
underachievement through “labeling” and low expectations. Dr. Wells emphasized the
importance of challenging these subtle and sometimes unconscious acts of racism and
discrimination that create barriers for Black children:
And so you have to raise the question, ‘If your kid was in this situation, would you be
making the same argument?’ Keep him in special ed? Keep him with the label? Or
135
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
would you be working with the teachers who are going to be receiving this student
around the things that they need to do to make sure he or she is continuously
supported so that they can do well in the regular classroom?
Those are the examples, and if people aren’t vigilant about them, if you’re not
questioning them, if you’re not looking at the nuances behind those decisions, you get
total resegregation within these so-called integrated classrooms many years after
segregation should have ended. It’s those kinds of things that I’m seeing now.
Tracking, w ho’s in the low track? Vocational schools being set up. Who goes to the
vocational schools? And now with . . . court-ordered desegregation, many of those
court-ordered edicts have ended and you find that most of the schools have just
resegregated.
The perceived and perhaps actualized disconnect between the standpoints and
perspectives o f Black teachers and White teachers concerning their Black students has
been a topic that begs for further exploration within the discourse concerning the
education of children of color. Varied theories and opinions exist as to why Black
children continued to be labeled as special education, overrepresented as discipline and
behavioral problems, and thus, overrepresented in alternative education programs and
ultimately as high school dropouts.
Dr. Marshall discussed his concern with ability tracking and aptitude tests, “because I
don’t know of anyone that can judge the ability of another person, and I ’ve been doing
this—and I ’ve been in this a long time.” He continued, “I don’t think that there is any
pure evidence that tracking is any good or that it really is— I just don’t think it’s worth a
136
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
damn. But people tend to do it to sort it, rather than to have a school where the whole
philosophy is centered around if you work hard you will achieve.”
Like Dr. Wells, he became particularly concerned with ensuring how children would
be treated in a desegregated environment and “how we were going to hopefully prevent
students from becoming resegregated in a desegregated environment.” For Dr. Marshall,
that possibility “was worse then being segregated.” He continued,
Within the segregated environment, it seems that there [was] a bit more nurturing
going on . . . more ways where students would be inspired to achieve, rather than
being relegated to some back room, or down in the basement, or becoming an
untouchable within that environment with low expectations. And when people have
low expectations, they blame the victim, you see, rather than assume responsibility
for their learning. And that’s one of the things that bugs me, and I always felt that
good teaching, a good curriculum, good learning situation, barring all other factors—
socioeconomic conditions, race, gender, whatever—that was the most important
factor to influence student achievement. And I still believe that, and I think there’s
ample evidence to suggest that that is the key.
The irony here is that the basis of the case for school desegregation as put forth in Brown
v. Board o f Education, was the notion that separate schools for Black and White children,
psychologically damaged the self concept of Black children by stigmatizing them as
inferior in the eyes of the law. However, low expectations and resistance to fulfilling the
spirit behind the law of desegregation, resulted in Black students being forced to bear the
burden o f desegregation while attempting to receive in education and what was
oftentimes a hostile school environment.
137
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dr. W ells recalled how the newly desegregated school environment experienced by
her younger siblings “was actually worse in terms of their social-emotional
development.” Her younger sister, who is closest to her in age, was the first in her family
to attend a newly desegregated high school. She was able to graduate a year early because
she earned quite a few credits and had the highest average in her class. Dr. Wells
explained the predicament.
She had the highest grade in her class, but it was the high school principal . . . who
was determined that she was not going to be the valedictorian. The valedictorian was
not going to be a to Black female in the first or second year of the desegregation. So
the superintendent, who was sort of not from that community, had learned what was
going on at the high school and . . . he was challenging it with the principal. But in
the end, the principal decided that there would be no valedictorian and no
salutatorians, and that there would be six honor students and my sister would be
among the six. But the ones who were chosen to deliver the addresses— the student
addresses . . . were two Whites, not my sister.
Fortunately, the superintendent, who was also a White male like the principal, did not
support the principal’s decision and spoke with Dr. W ells’ parents to protest the decision
before the school board. Despite their efforts, the school did not recognize a valedictorian
or salutatorian that year and simply decided to identify the six honor students. As a result,
the superintendent the director o f guidance resigned because they couldn’t gain the
support o f the school board and didn’t want to be part of a system that responded the way
it did. But the practice persisted, explained Dr. Wells:
138
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
And at that particular school, they waited until all of my siblings had graduated from
that particular school before they reinstituted salutatorian and valedictorian . . .. [I]t
was a small school, it wasn’t that large— they thought we were the only, I guess,
challenge to the White establishm ent. . . so my sister harbored that sort of
resentment, the bitterness, and we all remember it very vividly that she was denied
that opportunity simply because she was Black. There was no other reason.
Theme 3: “W e’ve Never Truly Integrated”
One of the most compelling, yet complex, themes that emerged from the narrative
data concerning school desegregation was the interviewees’ use and repeated references
o f the term resegregation. At the same time, each made statements indicating that
integration had never really occurred. It is important to note the distinctions between
desegregation and integration. Based on his experience operating a desegregation center
for 17 years and working with school districts across the country on their desegregation
plans, Dr. Steele shared his four-dimensional framework for moving from segregation to
integration and warned that “people have to stop using integration and desegregation as
synonyms. There is a world of difference between mixing bodies and going to a state of
integration.” He explained that although “the laws really in essence may have been
changed on the books,” the practice and applications of these laws have not been realized.
The first dimension that you have to deal with is access, and that’s what Brown dealt
with—was giving people access to the schools, okay. But then there’s another step— I
call that the body mixing— people just sitting by folks. But then the next step is
looking at the process, looking at the corporate culture of the institution. Also,
139
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
another piece of that access thing is when you look at the micro notion of access
rather than just going to the building and stuff, but look at the classes, look at w ho’s
in special ed, who’s in advanced college placement. There’s a perception that people
have that, well, if you’re Black then you can’t learn. So you have to look at that
whole process, look at the corporate climate, . . . look at the policies and procedures.
See people want to run desegregated schools using the same policies and procedures
that they used to run the segregated school.
He then outlined the fourth dimension of the model of segregation to integration, which is
transfer. More specifically the ability to “transfer those things that will give you equal
pay, privilege, and prestige.” Dr. Steele explained that, “Desegregated institutions are
where you got the bodies mixed. Integrated is where there is a different corporate
culture.” Unfortunately, he added that once people “mix the bodies” they declare, ‘Oh
w e’ve got an integrated institution.” In sum, “you need all four o f those dimensions
before you can talk about a truly integrated thing. You have a lot of desegregated
institutions, but you don’t have any integrated institutions.”
Dr. Cooper’s responses support this notion that many schools may have desegregated,
but not integrated.
W e’ve never truly integrated, so at best, we did the kind of structural desegregation.
In other words, we mixed children, and you went into some schools, and even though
they were in the same school, you would still see honors classes that looked one way
and regular classes that looked different [s/'c]. So I think the commitment has never
been there truly to true integration. I think some states; some school districts have
handled it better than others. Having worked in [a school district in the South], I was
140
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
rather impressed, rather surprisingly impressed with some o f the policy decisions that
that school board made in a genuine interest to facilitate genuine integration. They
were aware that there was the inclination for people who felt forced to go to school
with people unlike themselves would find ways of being in the building, but never in
the same classes.
The reality o f mixed schools that housed segregated classrooms was also evident in
Dr. Lewis’ discussion o f the desegregation plan implemented in the district he worked in,
which was based on a lawsuit filed by a local parent.
The suit came about because the White schools . . . were undersubscribed on the
south side; the Black schools, because o f containment, were oversubscribed, so what
they did to keep the White schools open - they bused kids [between two cities], but
they did what they call intact busing, which means when you get to the White school,
you go to your own separate classroom, and you are segregated there. You have a
separate recess where you’re segregated there. You have a separate lunch where
you’re segregated there. Then you get on your bus and come back to [your own city],
A second lawsuit was then filed as a result of what the school board did to continue
school segregation. Dr. Lewis explained,
Most people didn’t understand the county school districts . . . paid the city to accept
all their Black students. When I was at [Fitzgerald] it was at a time when [school
district] did not have the yellow buses, okay. But every morning . . . I would see these
ragged little buses with these Black kids on it riding up, and I was thinking, ‘Where
are they coming from ?’ It w asn’t until years later - they were coming from the county
school districts that were paying to bus them into [the city high school]. So,
141
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
[Singleton], which in 1960 was like 90% White in 10 years had turned to 100%
Black.
This reality of “ segregated busing” was articulated by social psychologist Dr. Kenneth
Clark in 2000 during a presentation he gave entitled “BeyondBrown v. Board o f
Education: Housing and Education in the Year 2000. ” Clark stated,
We have tried, and are trying busing, which we hoped would help us increase human
sensitivity beyond color. I knew that busing was not going to work in itself. I knew
that, to help busing, we didn’t need busing. We needed society, we needed schools,
communities, we needed other human beings to know that you can’t segregate
children in buses and expect that this would help segregated schools. Every time I
saw buses, I saw them or interpreted them, as segregated busing; because what was
happening was that the black children were being put in the buses and sent
somewhere.
He later stated, “It is difficult to understand that these attempts, busing, affirmative
action, or devices, or words, or approaches, are used to disguise the continuation of
American racism, racial segregation.” Unfortunately, this persistence of American racism
also manifested itself in the unwillingness of many White communities to fund or support
costs associated with desegregation. However, they were willing to pay to keep Black
children out of White schools.
According to Dr. Lewis, in [the city he worked in], it was not uncommon for county
school districts to pay city schools “to accept their Black youngsters so that they wouldn’t
have to teach them.” This transfer o f Black students to the city further segregated the
school system making the district a constitutional violator. When told to integrate, there
142
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
w eren’t enough White kids left in the city schools to demonstrate meaningful integration.
Therefore, the state was also in violation of the constitution and ordered to pay for the
desegregation plan, which “in the beginning years, the federal government had to take
funds out o f the treasury because the [State] legislature wouldn’t appropriate the money.”
Despite these extreme measures, today [the school district] is “in my ju d g m e n t. . . back
where we were in say, 1964,” stated Dr. Lewis.
Dr. Young believes this particular trend exists beyond any one particular community
as is evident in various districts and communities across the country.
Well, . . . you know there’s still some places in America where the court rulings in the
last, say 20, 30 years have created integration, and now people are saying, ‘Ah, but
that costs too much money and maybe the results aren’t there, and w e’d rather be in
our own Black schools and our own White schools,’ and just trying to go back.
When asked about his thoughts concerning his local school district’s move to return
to the neighborhood school pattern, which is based on segregated housing patterns, Dr.
Lewis replied, “It’s, you know [chuckling] the powers that be. The folks that control the
thing, that’s the way they want it. That’s the way they want it.”
The documented examples of White resistance and institutional and individual racism
illustrate the ways that the racial tension and the climate of racial intolerance have
impacted the experiences o f Black students post Brown and quite possibly, for
generations to come. The current cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court
concerning race-conscious school assignment policies in Seattle, Washington and
Jefferson County, Kentucky provide a timely reminder o f the controversial nature of
race-based policies in American education. Furthermore, the emphasis on “diversity” as
143
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
opposed to acknowledging the historical context o f racism and challenging it in its
present form has arguably made it even more difficult to address and ultimately combat
the problems associated with race and racism in education. Dr. Steele took issue with the
emphasis on “diversity” :
Now that’s another term. People like to talk about diversity ‘cause they don’t have to
talk about segregation— past segregation and discrimination. That’s a very neutral,
non-threatening term. ‘Oh, w e’re committed to diversity!’ Because we can do that
and never talk about the fact that the institution is in the state that it’s in because we
had policies and procedures that kept Black folks out. They can talk about it and
never talk about when Blacks couldn’t get into [the local university] or any other
university. But if you talk about desegregation moving to integration, then you’ve got
to own up to all the policies and procedures that you have that made that state of
segregation.
Acknowledging the various contexts that developed and sustained these “policies and
procedures” that “made that state o f segregation” is important to understanding the state
of Black education today. While reflecting on desegregation plans today, Dr. Baker
remembered the time she was tasked to “see if desegregation was working” in a large
Southern city and “if there were still vestiges! Vestiges! And yes, there were still vestiges
of discrimination.” She explained the nature of many o f these “vestiges” :
They built the schools in the W hite community more elaborately than the ones in the
Black community. Now they would say, we went to the [Black] community for them
to tell us what they wanted, but those Black people over there didn’t know the whole
range o f things they could have . . . And then the Whites knew what was available or
144
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
what schools should look like. And then on the other hand, there’s some Blacks who
believed that we just shouldn’t have the best, you know, that we can make do. So it’s
not a clear picture. Then, there [are] still too many Blacks who are suspended for
discipline infractions. There’s still too many poor teachers put in majority Black
schools. The vestiges are still there, my dear.
Dismantling the Vestiges of Desegregation
Ironically, the factors participants perceive to have existed as variables supporting
and promoting the achievement o f Black children during segregation (role of parents, role
of teachers, and self-concept o f students) are the same variables that the participants
interpreted as becoming relatively dismantled by desegregation. The scattering of and
decrease in employment opportunities for Black teachers and administrators;
overrepresentation of Black students in special education, alternative education, and high
school dropout statistics; and the diminished and oftentimes damaged self-concept o f the
Black child are just some of the “vestiges” that exist as a result o f desegregation.
This section attempts to address the research questions concerned with how the
standpoint, experiences, and perspectives o f the superintendents in this study provide
insight to Black families, educators, and communities concerning the education and
achievement o f Black students. It begins with participating superintendent responses and
perceptions concerning what they describe as the sorting and stratification of students
according to race and class in America’s public education system and how this system
must recognize and adjust to our changing global economy. This discussion of racial and
social stratification in schools and school systems provides a larger context in which
145
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
participants share their thoughts on the role of Black parents, teachers, students,
educational leaders, and communities in an effort to dismantle the vestiges o f segregation
and desegregation.
Racial and Social Stratification in A m erica’s Schools
A large concern that emerged from participants was the stratification of students in
schools according to race and class. They seemed to feel that less was expected of
students o f color, students of a lower socioeconomic status, and children from single
parent family homes, which perpetuated what Dr. Cooper described as a “caste system.”
She expressed her concern about the direction the country is going in terms o f its attitude
toward its increasingly diverse population and stated:
As our country has become more and more diverse, I’m seeing the schools almost
being used as tools to craft a caste system, because if you are trapped into an inferior
education, you’re going to be trapped into a lifestyle and a condition o f livelihood
that’s going to be substandard as compared to somebody else. And that doesn’t take a
lot o f imagination. You can just look and see what’s going on. In terms of how
schools are managed, they’re managed for efficiency. They want to know how much
we can get from this operation as opposed to how much does it take to make sure that
we educate children well.
Dr. Cooper believes that in America, there is a “real deep-seated” desire to “ensure the
stratification o f society, so that you will always have the rich, and that the poor will
always be among us.” She argued that this is possible because “you can control the lives
o f the uneducated.” Or as Dr. Marshall put it, “you can’t be ignorant and free.” He also
described this country’s obsession with “dealing with racial issues and categorizing
146
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
people” as “boring,” “ineffective,” and “costly.” However, Dr. Cooper predicted that
these are issues that are unlikely to go away.
Race is always going to be a factor in this country, and everywhere else, for that
matter. I ’m finding, however, class and economic conditions running a close second.
Where you have poor people, whatever their race or ethnicity, there is now a
hardening, if you will, of attitude toward them . . . So I ’m seeing the wealthy getting
wealthier, and I’m seeing a level o f poverty resurfacing. That is such a sharp contrast
. . . that it concerns me quite a bit.
Although he shares this concern, particularly in light of America’s need to compete in a
global economy, Dr. Steele insisted that we must stop regarding the American public
education system as a failure, because it has done what it was designed to do: “sort and
sift and put people in boxes.” He expounded on this notion:
It is not a failure. It is very successful. It did what it was intended to do. That was to
sort and sift and put people in boxes. But what has happened? There’s a new world.
You don’t need strong backs and weak minds anymore . . . Now, you’re competing
on a global scale so you need people who are educated . . . So if we could ever get
people in this country to stop talking about - the American education system is a
failure, w e’d be one step further toward doing something different, because it’s been
very successful.
Dr. Steele also argued that this system that “sorts and sifts” children must be replaced by
a system that believes “every kid has the potential to be the best and greatest human
being in this world” and actually rewards people who exercise the will and drive to use
147
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
their “brain power” and creativity. He observed, “People have reasons why people can’t
learn, w on’t learn. But they never try to find reasons why they can.”
Restoring the Black Child, Family, and Community
“M y parents were able to .. . instill in us through example and through opportunities,
through praise and recognition that we could do what we wanted to do, i f we p u t the
effort to it. A nd that there would be people yo u 'd run into, and incidents and
situations that you would fa ce that could shatter your confidence in yourself, but you
ended up having to not allow that to happen. Work hard. Do your very best. Don 7
accept less than w h a t’s exceptional fo r yourself. Stand up fo r what you believe in and
what is right. But still in all o f that, never let go o f your moral values, o f the goodness
o f who you are. I f you live in that kind o f environment - a lot o f church values, faith
values —that becomes who you are . . . It's that kind o f strong fam ily background that
grounds you fo r the rest o f your life. ” -D r. Wells, Former Superintendent
The Black Parent: Agency and Involvement
Participants reiterated the need for Black parents to understand their agency and take
an active role in the education of their children. In response to my question of what
parents with little or no time should do, Dr. Lewis abruptly posed the question, “Whose
child is it?” and gave the following account:
My dad worked two or three jobs, but when it came to graduation time, which many
times was in the morning, he was always there. If it was a big program, he was
always there. And I know some of them don’t have jobs where you can just take off.
Nothing is more precious than your children, and they grow up so fast.
But he did acknowledge that, “if you’re not educated, sometime you fear the schools.”
Dr, Young identified the importance o f “understanding how the system works” and being
able to use that system to the advantage of your child and his or her education. He spoke
specifically about the No Child Left Behind legislation and argued:
Parents have to be educated about what the law says and what’s coming to them, so
that [they] can . . . feel comfortable calling the principal up and say, ‘I want to come
148
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
in and talk to you. I’m having trouble with my child in this teacher’s classroom, and I
don’t know whether it’s the teacher or not, but I need you to help me figure this out.
And if this placement doesn’t work, I ’d like you to consider other placement’ . . . Go
to the PTA meetings. Get involved in the parent leadership in the school so you can
help shape these things, because we direct our principals. You have to do more now
than just cookie sales.
Although Dr. Lewis challenged the traditional notion of parental involvement as simply
participating in the PTA or showing up at the school, he emphasized the importance of
parents understanding that “the school w on’t always do the best it can for you.” He
focused his critique on the “county” or suburban schools in his community, which Black
parents assumed were better “because they think White is better.” He explained that this
notion that White is inherently better is not only a false assumption but is “devastating”
for children because “it’s a deficit model.” Dr. Cooper also cautioned against Black
parents leaving “it totally to the school.” She observed:
Some folks will send their child to school, and the school’s supposed to do it all. My
advice to the parents is to make sure you know what’s going on at school, and make
sure that you are a cooperating partner with the school, not a sideline critic.
Dr. Steele also spoke to the need for Black parents to establish their presence at their
child’s school and advised them to:
Go up [to the school] and make sure that you kid is getting the best shot he can get.
But also make sure to tell that kid that you will kick his a— if he don’t do right and
learn. That’s what you do . . . [The schools] don’t want you there, but you got to go.
149
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
My wife and I went to the schools, but our kids knew . . . we will fight the devil for
you if you’re right, but if your stuff is raggedy, you belong to us.
Dr. Wells agreed for the need for parents “to take interest and stay on top o f the school
and the child” [emphasis added]. Regarding students who are struggling academically or
behaviorally, she believed “ the parent has to question why the achievement is not what it
is . . . and hold the schools accountable,” and argued that Black parents in general, don’t
hold schools accountable enough.
Sometimes they’re intimidated by the school, and therefore, they’ll back away or
they’ll come up with nonproductive behaviors that the school many times have
incited, and . . . no discussion gets done around the kid. It’s usually a very combative
situation . . . Black parents . . . have to show the interest. They have to go to school
and question what’s going on, then problem solve around what the parent and the
school can do collaboratively to ensure the child’s success.
She believes “they have to demonstrate for their children that education is very important
and that they have high expectations for their children to take advantage o f what the
school is offering,” which is reminiscent o f the types o f relationships shared among
parents, teachers, and students in the participant accounts of their schooling experiences.
Dr. Wells concluded, “You hold your kids accountable for going to school and studying
and doing what has to be done. And then you hold the school accountable for its role as
well, and yourself for what you as a parent should do.”
150
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The Black Teacher: Pushing, Pulling, and Polishing the Diamond
As presented in this chapter’s opening quotation, Dr. Baker observed that “although
[the Black] community wants all children to achieve,” there are “expectations that you
don’t.” She said that both White and Black people “who having achieved little or having
not observed a lot o f achievement on the part of their people, friends, and others . . .
unfortunately and unwittingly discourage.” In her view, some of these individuals happen
to be teachers who Dr. Baker feels “don’t have the level o f commitment and don’t
recognize that they are the role models.” She said they don’t understand their
significance, and that as a teacher,
You carry the promise o f the group, particularly if you have the responsibility for
teaching African American youngsters. You still have that responsibility to help them
see that education is the major vehicle for upward mobility, and that anybody can
make it.
Dr. Lewis spoke o f the need for teachers to be good at their trade. He said that
knowing their content was first and foremost. What he also deemed important was
‘knowing how to work with Black youngsters who may be assertive, who can be con
artists if you let them, but who are very good at heart’ and that this type o f skill and
professional development ‘takes tim e.’ And that the way you get the urban school
experience is ‘by being in it, and by being taught by some folk who know about the urban
school experience.’
He also expressed dismay over the deficit model of thinking demonstrated by
educators today and stated the importance of teachers “having high standards for all” and
“meeting [students] where they are, but taking them to the standard, as opposed to:
151
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
‘These poor children. They’ve suffered so I will expect less of them ’.” He said teachers
must be responsible for “preventing [students who have been told so many times they
can’t do it] from actualizing learned helplessness” and “helping to break the cycle of selffulfilling prophecy.” Dr. Marshall spoke extensively about the dangers of deficit thinking
when it comes to educating children.
I don’t believe in the deficit model of educating children who have limited
backgrounds and exposures. You don’t use the deficit model for that. Deficit models
never take them anywhere, because you’re always trying to correct something broken
about that child. So what happens? Well, they never take a foreign language, or they
never take music, or . . . they are in remedial reading . . . and they have these
worksheets, and you know, that kind o f thing.
This deficit model o f educating children struck a personal chord with Dr. Lewis who
remembered being his family being “looked down on in the neighborhood” because they
were poor, and the specific instance o f a teacher, who was Black, who never recognized
his potential as a “ragged 13-year-old boy.” He recalled the story .
When I was a principal, I went to . . . the 100-year celebration o f my high school.
And when I went into the hotel into the dining room, I hard this voice say, ‘[Dr.
Lewis], come here.’ And without turning around, I knew immediately that was the
person who had taught me in 8th grade. And she said, ‘[Dr. Lewis], I never would
have dreamed that one day you would be one of our best principals.’ And I smiled
and said thank you. But I thought in my mind, ‘You didn’t see what I had in [pointed
to head] or what I had in [pointed to heart], all you saw was a ragged 13-year-old-boy
that you thought w asn’t going to be anything.’
152
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
His recollection is a vivid illustration o f how the expectations o f a teacher can affect both
the academic and social-emotional development o f child, and ultimately have a profound
impact on his or her self-concept and ability, even as an adult. As Dr. Lewis said, “part
o f what I ’m talking about, Sonya, is seeing the diamond in the rough, and taking that
diamond and polishing it.” Dr. Clark described this process o f identifying and developing
the potential of Black students as a skill that teachers, White or Black, must be able to
demonstrate when working with Black children. She believes that “a number of our kids
carry hidden talents that, if they’re not person there who can push and pull and bring
those things out, [those talents] go either hidden or misdirected.” She added:
Unless you know some of this and are able to sort of pull it around and pull I out, the
kid just stays there, stuck in that spot. And that’s what I’m saying about, I guess the
Black teachers, the good ones I had. They were able to uncover, and pull out, and
push up . . . these kinds o f things, so the hidden talents didn’t stay hidden.
Part of this process of “uncovering hidden talents,” and “polishing the diamond”
requires nourishing the self-concept o f Black students through stories and affirmations
that run counter to the notions of inferiority, dysfunction, and pathology associated with
Blackness and Black people. In regard to Black males in particular, Dr. Marshall noted
that they are “very vulnerable in American society, and how we work them to improve
their image has to be in ways that’s nurturing in order to discipline them.” He spoke from
the standpoint of the Black male student, who many times do not have role models in the
schools: “I mean, if you don’t care about me, then you really can’t tell me anything, but if
you care, then you can discipline me, you see?”
153
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Dr. Marshall feels the lack o f Black male teachers contributes to what he perceives as
a growing problem for the education o f young Black males. He explained,
I don’t think that the average Black male would aspire to something that a White
person is doing as quickly, because I don’t think that they think that this person
understands where they’re from. But if they see a young Black male achieving
something, they sense th a t. . . [they can do it too].
He also talked about the notion of “authentic” caring on behalf o f teachers, and whether
or not their students feel they have “walked in their shoes” as an important part of
connecting with Black students. He explained, “I sincerely believe that if you want to
guide people along, and if you want to demand anything from them, [they] have to know
that [you] care.” Part of this nurturing and caring should be presented in the form of a
counternarrative that Dr. Lewis said, “reminds [Black students] of their richness.” He
declared, “Y ou’ve got to give Black kids the counternarrative: “You are great. You can
be all you can be.”
The Black Student: Coping in the Desegregated World
Dr. Clark spoke of “coping skills” or the need for African American students to
understand how to respond and handle the realities of racism and discrimination. She said
that although “it probably is not talked about as much, because the tendency is to think
that [racism]’s behind us,” it’s important for Black children and young people to be
aware o f the potential challenges and barriers they may face because they are Black. She
reflected on the ways her parents prepared her and her siblings for life in the
desegregated, and oftentimes, racially unjust, world.
154
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Our parents gave us coping skills . . . They didn’t spell them out as coping skills, but
now I can see that’s what it was. These are things you have to know and what you
have to do to get through. And I think that that would be good for our kids to have
today.
She explained that these coping skills and individuals “who can help them to cope” are
particularly important for Black children in today’s education system who have to
respond to “a counseling system that is ineffective and not meeting [their] needs” and
“the fact that [they] are not getting the courses that [they] will need for the future.” Dr.
Clark elaborated on how the lack of educational guidance and direction provided to Black
students in today’s schools hinders their academic future:
The number o f kids who don’t get into algebra just because they didn’t go up and ask
is appalling, and they don’t have the understanding at that age . . . that where you get
positioned there not only determines the math, but it determines everything else—
how you will be grouped with all the way through for your courses. So we need folks
who can help them to cope, and we need to have them learn about not reacting . . . I
think about the number of instances where I’ve encountered outright prejudice in my
life that I could have really gotten mad and so forth, but I would have hurt m yself and
missed an opportunity. But somehow, being able to cope, you got over that, and you
could move forward. And I’m just not sure that our kids have sufficient coping skills.
Dr. Clark noted that these coping skills will likely need to be taught, developed, and
demonstrated beyond the school site by Black people for Black students through civic
groups, churches, and community organizations and are important to the larger picture of
contesting unjust systems of racism and discrimination. She explained, “To the degree
155
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
that we can get more [Black] people coping and making it through, then we get more
[Black] folks on the other end who can then impact the systems throughout and make a
life difference.” Dr. Clark recounted conversations with her godson, who is a successful
engineer, but still needs the occasional encouragement to “help him to cope.”
He talks [laughing] to me about how his work or . . . how these other White guys deal
with him, don’t want to accept him as quality or whatever. And so, I have to talk to
him, ‘Come on . . .you don’t want to just walk out because then that leaves a vacancy
that they can fill and something they can say like, ‘He couldn’t take it.” So I think
our kids have to know when to do and when not to do to make it through.
Dr. Lewis discussed the need for Black children to be able to “play the game” and
observed that they have not been prepared to play the game, “because they think the
battle is over.” He spoke of his adult son as an example:
Had a lot of White friends. He got down to [college]-Let me say this, [his high
school] was like 80% Black, 20% White, lot o f White friends. Got down to [college]
as a student. He said, Dad, ‘Some of those same guys who were my friends - White in high school, they don’t even speak to me now ’ Well they needed him in high
school because they were in the minority. You get down to [college] - they’re
majority. That’s why . . . I’m still cautious, you know.
However, Dr. Young cautioned Black students not to get hung up on the barriers they
may face because o f their race and racism. He warned:
If you just carry [being Black] around, then they’re going to give you a hard time.
They’re not going to like you. I tell a lot of the kids that the opportunities exist for
you that didn’t exist for us, but you have to be prepared, and if you’re prepared, there
156
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
are some beautiful opportunities out here for you. If you’re not prepared, it’s worse
than it’s ever been.
The Black Community: Race, Politics, and Education
Part of the challenge of addressing many of the educational issues facing Black
children is the reluctance for both Blacks and Whites to openly discuss the race, racism,
and racial politics as they relate to education. According to Dr. Steele,
Every time you try to point out something to people that has to do with race, they
want to say you’re playing the race card. You’re not playing the race card. Y ou’re
telling people facts. The people playing the race card are the folks that don’t have
expectations for the kids. That’s the race card.
Dr. Steele explained that the way to confront and challenge these subtle yet racist
attitudes is by “letting people know that they’re little racists.” He added,
You can not be afraid to stand up and say what you believe and have some backbone
to stand for something . . . Black folks can’t play it safe, ‘cause you ain’t never safe.
You might as well do what you got to do and say what you got to say.
Part of “saying what you got to say,” according to several study participants, must be
done politically, through community advocacy and activism. Dr. Lewis believes Black
communities need to “ secure board of education members who think like [they] do,”
because “if you control the board, you control the policy.” He explained that many times,
“people misunderstand the power o f the superintendent” and “assume the superintendent
has all the power,” which is not the case.
In his particular community, the Black community stopped voting for school board
members as a result o f mistrust that developed when a private, out-of-state consulting
157
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
team was selected to overhaul the predominately Black school district and as a result,
closed 16 schools without community input. However, after the school closings, and what
Dr. Lewis perceived as the consulting team ’s intent to dismantle “this bureaucracy . . .
run by Black folks,” he believes the local Black community will continue to refuse the
passing o f a tax increase for the school district until “[they] feel their debt has been paid
through ousting these people.” Dr. Clark also acknowledged the importance of who
serves on the school board and stated, “Whenever you have a change in board mix, things
change in your district.”
She also spoke about the need for a community vision for education - a vision that
articulates why education is important to the community, includes strong parent
participation, and ultimately “promotes having a better board of education, . . . better
principals and teachers, and all the others to go along with it.” This need for community
advocacy and support is particular critical for those children who may not have parents
who are actively involved in their education, or lives, for that matter. As Dr. Baker
explained:
The kids don’t choose not to have a parent who could participate. You know, parents,
single parent, you try to get that parent involved him or herself, but then you try to get
an advocate for the kid. And that’s where your community work - Boys and Girls
Club, whatever kind of community operations, churches - somebody is an advocate.
However, Dr. Marshall believes that these community organizations are not doing
enough to support children and schools.
We have the families breaking down. We have the churches not doing the kinds o f
things that they are supposed to be doing. We have the social agencies not doing the
158
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
things that they are supposed to be doing. So the schools are pretty much the last
standing organization that’s trying to deal with these kinds o f things. And I think that
if we give this thing up, then really it’s just going to be chaotic, because to me, you
just don’t have the other agencies working in tandem . . . so you’re dumping
everything on the schools.
The Black Educational Leader: Looking to the Future
The increased responsibility and burden that is being placed on schools is particularly
pronounced in poor, urban districts, which will likely have implications for the next
generation o f Black school superintendents. Dr. Baker said that aspiring Black
educational leaders must “know what it is they’re facing and try to correct some o f it.”
She explained that much of these remnants of prior racism and discrimination have
resulted in a lack of trust or mistrust o f school systems on behalf o f Black students,
families, and communities.
See, sometimes parents haven’t benefited, and now, that makes the parents hostile to
the school. So you’ve got to work on parents as well as children now. If the school
system hadn’t worked for them, what makes you believe that they think it’s going to
work for their children? So you’ve got to change all o f that.
Unfortunately, this pressure to “change” or fix the past wrongs and injustices o f a school
system is part of the burden that lies with all new superintendents, but particularly heavy
for those who happen to be Black. In addition to their job-related pressures, Black
superintendents oftentimes bear the distinctive burden o f being perceived incompetent by
Whites and “ superhuman” by a Black constituency that demands they fix the system they
believe is failing their children and community (Hunter & Donahoo, 2005; Scott, 1980).
159
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This is the “messiah or scapegoat” phenomenon that Hugh Scott (1980) attributed to
Black school system leaders in his book, which expounded on this duality of expectations
that are placed on the Black superintendent.
In regard to the low expectations or perceptions of incompetence held by Whites for
Black leaders, Dr. Steele warns future Black educational leaders to remember that
although some Whites may regard them as an exception to the broader assumption of
Black ineptitude, they should not accept this inauthentic distinction.
The worst mistake a Black person can make is to believe it when White folks tell
them you’re different. You’re only different as long as you got some utility for them .
. . And some of these Black folks get to believing that they’re different, and get to
believing that these White folks are going to treat them different, and they ain’t the
same. You’re just the same . . . White folks have a way of always letting you know,
‘He is the best Black whatever I saw.’ So what they’re saying is as long as I compare
you to Black folks, you’re alright, but [not] if I have to compare you to White folks.
Dr. Lewis spoke about his own experiences with Whites who would attempt to regard
him as different or better than the broader Black population. He was also leery of this
designation as the “exception” to all Blacks and regrets his inability to be cautious of
White people. He said he resents being told,
‘If all Blacks were like you, it would be great,’ you know. ‘You’re the exception.’
Well, I just present the image that they want, you know. And I’ve learned how to play
the game. So I’ve learned by watching others, taking notes - mental notes - and using
what I ’ve learned to better m yself and my people.
160
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This ability to “play the game” is an important part of surviving and succeeding as a
Black educational leader. It includes being careful around Whites, which requires a
constant consciousness o f race, racism, and subsequently, different rules for different
players according to race. Based on his personal and professional experiences as a Black
superintendent in a district with limited diversity and that was “going through a transition
where there had been serious racial intolerance, diversity intolerance,” Dr. Marshall said
it was important for him not to reveal his plans and direction because “then people could
automatically create all kinds of blockages to prevent you from doing what you wanted to
do.” He further explained,
I honestly believe that Black superintendents, many o f them . . . didn’t have the same
power base as White superintendents to make certain kinds o f decisions. I really
believe that, because they didn’t have the ability to hire . . . I can’t give you evidence,
but it seems that some of the Blacks I knew in the superintendency didn’t have the
authority to hire and control their situation as some of the my White friends.
He concluded that many Black superintendents simply tolerated this limited control and
authority because “they’re just glad to be there.” Thus, a lack o f mentorship and support
for Black superintendents diminished their effectiveness and ability to further their vision
for their districts. Dr. Marshall believed that despite these limitations on his ability to
lead, he made tremendous improvements to the district he led during his tenure, but never
really received the credit he believes he deserved. “Had I been a White guy, sheesh, I ’d
have been a hero.”
However, the other side of the dual nature of the Black superintendent requires a
moral activist and social justice style of leadership that works to change of a system that
161
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
is institutionally and interpersonally racist and unjust. Dr. Young said that in spite o f the
discrimination you face as an African American, it is important to promote equity and
inclusion for other groups once you attain a position of authority. He discussed his tenure
as superintendent in districts with various racial and ethnic constituencies and the
importance o f hiring and promoting individuals who reflected the culture and diversity of
that particular community.
I mean, we weren’t treated very well as African Americans, so if we get into positions
of leadership, which we don’t often do or always do, then treat people the way you’d
prefer to have been treated, not the way you were treated to pay them back . . . I had
excellent relationships with [Arabs, Chaldeans, Hmong, Bangladesh, Hispanics], met
with them quarterly, and made a difference for them. Whether it’s hiring their people
or putting people in positions o f responsibility when I can find them. And you can
find them if you want to, if you really want to make a difference.
As Dr. Clark explained her “sense o f pride and strong self-concept” as an African
American translated into her work as an educator by shaping her focus on expectations
for all children.
No one could tell me that these kids could not achieve certain things because I
believed it strongly that they could, and insisted that they be treated as though they
could achieve . . . . I think that because I could represent myself as a model of
something that people could see that is possible. That feels good.
Although Dr. Clark was able to succeed as a result of her segregated schooling
experience, she expressed concern for how some people’s frustration with the unfulfilled
162
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
promise of Brown or desegregation fatigue may take us back to a time that, despite some
positive aspects, was unfair and unjust.
I don’t want us to go back to separate but equal ‘cause I don’t think it was ever
separate but equal. And although I came out of that kind of environment from my
early education, I have been part of all of those different groups, and I think there’s
more out there for us to push for and benefit from that we don’t have the resources
and whatever to go back to separate but equal, and we would not ever get the equal.
W e’d be separate, but we wouldn’t get the equal. So, I want to still be part of a group
that pushes for everything we need, but I don’t want to be part of [separate but equal].
As an African American or Black educator in the position of superintendent, Dr. Clark
stated that “you want to be sensitive, kind, loving, and you want to be fair. And you want
to be uplifting to these people in all these various situations, so you want to be
understanding.” Then she emphasized, “But at the same time, you want to provide the
justice to everyone that you have longed for all these years.” According to Dr. Baker, part
of this justice is equal educational access and outcomes for all children, particularly with
those who have not enjoyed these opportunities in the past.
If you educate Black children and disadvantaged children and those with special
needs better, you educate all children better . . . . You’re just on the road to educating
everybody better, but you’ve got to give special attention to those who have not
benefited from your programs as well as others.
In addition to ensuring equity for society’s most vulnerable students, Dr. Baker advised
the aspiring Black educational leader be able to partner, collaborate, “add value,” and be
163
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
politically savvy in order to negotiate her or his ability to contribute to society and help
people.
You find out what’s needed, and you add it. You’ve got to be nimble; you’ve got to
be smart. You’ve got to add value. The person at the top has to make the contacts
with groups and individuals that can enhance or tell your story, and then you’ve got to
indicate some willingness to share information and also to partner, you know as long
as it doesn’t damage you and you’re giving up intellectual property. But that’s being
political too - I w on’t deny that. But you’ve got to be able to recognize the prevailing
winds and w ho’s calling the shots, and you do it for kids, and hey, I shouldn’t say this
but sometimes you have to suck up a little bit to get what you want (laughing). No
matter what you do, keep it in your mind - are you able to make a contribution? Are
you doing something to help people?
This emphasis on helping people and children, especially those without a voice or an
advocate, was an important part o f why the study participants became educators and
informed their work as superintendents. As Dr. Cooper said, “I guess I ’m just a person
who would rather make a difference for people who need me most. I think many o f the
students would do well without me, so if I ’m going to spend my time and energies, I’d
like it to be for the folks who need it.” Dr. Wells echoed the need to “fight for the kids,”
even in areas beyond the direct scope o f formal education.
You have to be the advocate for them in all areas. You have to show that it’s not a
problem just with education. It’s also a problem with all the other organizations that
support children. I found the health system, the welfare system, the housing system,
164
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the job system, that the superintendent has to be there advocating that those systems
be more supportive o f the needs of kids as well.
In addition to providing additional educational opportunities and ensuring improved
educational outcomes for all children; building strategic alliances with community
stakeholders to advance education; and serving as an advocate for those who children,
families, and communities who need it most; the Black educational leader must also be in
the business o f giving kids “the stuff of dreams.” Dr. Baker explained how this hope and
inspiration can only be achieved and sustained through team building and succession
planning:
Education gives kids the stuff of dreams, and so, as an education leader . . . you’ve
got to motivate the team. You’ve got to build the team of those folks who work with
you closely, help them understand they’ve got to build teams. They’ve got to inspire.
Because in this field, you’re never through learning . . . And I think that too many of
us don’t think about bringing the next generation forward and even giving them our
seats. So somehow, African Americans or everybody - we need to reclaim our
commitment of all the years gone by. Everybody needs to do it - for White kids, for
Hispanics, for all kids.
Conclusion
This chapter presented three key themes that emerged from participant responses and
narratives concerning desegregation policy and its perceived impact on the education of
Black children. Fond memories of all Black schools countered the notion that there is
something inherently wrong with schools being all Black. The decimation of Black
165
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
schools and job loss for Black educators, discriminatory practices within desegregated
schools, and the social and psychological damage experienced by Black students in
newly desegregated environments were identified as some of the reasons respondents
shared mixed feelings about school desegregation policy. There was also concern as to
the problem of resegregation, which many feared was worse than segregation, because it
resulted in racial isolation without the supportive, nurturing environment that existed in
many o f the all Black schools prior to the implementation of Brown, particularly since as
some contend, the schools never truly integrated in the first place.
Finally, this chapter presented participant suggestions for restoring the strength once
found in and among the Black student, family, and community. It also included their
insights for the next generation o f Black educational leaders and the type of political and
community activism the Black community must engage in to effectively transform the
education of and achievement of Black students.
In the next chapter, I provide an analysis o f selected narrative data presented in this
study using critical race theory (CRT) as an interpretive framework. Specifically, a racial
realist perspective will be utilized focusing on the CRT tenets of counterstory tel ling,
critique of liberalism, whiteness as property, interest convergence, and the permanence of
racism. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of how a CRT analysis o f the
perceived implications of desegregation policy and its historical implications for Black
education can guide an effort to conceptualize and move toward a political race discourse
in education.
166
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 6
ANALYSIS: CRITICAL RACE THEORY AS AN
INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORK
“In 1954, as a social psychologist teaching my students at a college in the city o f New
York, which was considered one o f the most liberal institutions o f higher education in
our nation, I believed, or did not Mow; or did not take into account, that segregation,
o f which segregated schools were merely one o f the manifestations, was a large
center o f American racism. I believed that segregated schools could be elim inated. . .
I did not understand that the maintenance o f segregated housing was not only an
excuse fo r the persisting pattern o f segregated schools and segregation in general,
but that segregated housing was itself a form o f deeply embedded, highly resistant
racism. ” - Dr. Kenneth Clark, 2000, “Beyond Brown v. Board o f Education:
Housing and Education in the Year 2000 ”
Ironically, much of the discourse concerning school desegregation has failed to
account for what Dr. Kenneth Clark described as “the deeply embedded, highly resistant
racism” that served as the catalyst for the manifestation of racial segregation in all areas
o f American life, including schools. Supporters of desegregation and race-conscious
education policies argue that these efforts are critically important to fulfilling Brown’s,
promise of equal educational opportunities for all children (Kozol, 1991; Orfield &
Eaton, 1996; Wells, 2004). They speak to the positive benefits o f integrated schools and
how diverse school environments contribute to the educational experiences o f children of
all races (Kozol, 1991; Orfield & Eaton, 1996; Wells, 2004). However, many of these
arguments are made by White scholars who not only possess a racial standpoint that is
167
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
different from those o f the superintendents interviewed in this study, but also enjoy the
privilege o f being able to speak about the virtues of school desegregation without having
experienced what the participants described in this study as “vestiges of desegregation.”
Furthermore, as Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) noted in their pivotal work that
introduced critical race theory to the field of education, the “savage inequalities” that
Kozol graphically illustrated in his 1991 book of the same name “are a logical and
predictable result o f a racialized society in which discussions of race and racism continue
to be muted and marginalized” (p.47). This commentary not only sheds further light on
the salience o f racism in education, but also, as I will argue, demonstrates how varying
racial standpoints (Ladson-Billings and Tate are Black, Kozol is White) must play a
critical role in how individuals interpret the role of race and racism in education. Thus,
this chapter attempts to situate the discourse of desegregation policy within a critical race
framework that utilizes the key tenets o f critical race theory as a lens for analyzing and
interpreting how the Black superintendent standpoints, lived experiences, and
perspectives documented in this study can inform the way we consider race and racism
and its relationship to race-conscious education policy.
Centering Race and Racism in the Discourse of Desegregation
As stated in this chapter’s introductory quote from social psychologist and expert
witness in the Brown case, Dr. Kenneth Clark, the role of race and “highly resistant
racism” were and continue to be underestimated in the discourse concerning school
desegregation and related race-conscious laws, policies, and practices that affect the
education o f our nation’s children. Ironically, in the early 1900s, both Carter G. Woodson
168
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
and W.E.B. Du Bois “presented cogent arguments for considering race as the central
construct for understanding inequality” (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995, p. 50). Their
respective works on the “mis-education of the Negro” and the unique sense of “double
consciousness” experienced by African Americans are significant examples of how their
examinations of the relationships between race and inequality made significant
contributions to our understanding of race and racism in American society. In the spirit of
their work and that o f scholars who have built upon the groundwork laid by Woodson
and Du Bois, I elected to use critical race theory (CRT) as an analytical and interpretive
framework that centers race and racism within the current discourse of desegregation
policy, which is important because it can help inform our understanding of why previous
and current efforts toward school integration have remained unfulfilled.
DeCuir & Dixson (2004) identified the following five basic tenets of critical race
theory: counterstory tel ling, the critique of liberalism, Whiteness as property, interest
convergence, and the permanence of racism, which are presented in Table 4.
169
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Table 4
Basic Tenets o f Critical Race Theory (CRT)
CRT Tenet
C ounterstory tel li ng
Definition
A method of telling a story that aims to cast
Source
Matsuda (1995)
doubt on the validity of accepted premises or
myths especially ones held by the majority
Critique o f liberalism
Critique o f three basic notions embraced by
Crenshaw (1988)
liberal legal ideology: colorblindness,
neutrality of the law, and incremental change
Whiteness as property
Due to the history of race and racism in the
Harris (1995)
U.S. and the role U.S. jurisprudence has
played in reifying conceptions of race, the
notion o f Whiteness can be considered a
property interest
Interest convergence
Significant progress for Blacks is achieved
Bell (2004)
only when the goals of Blacks are consistent
with the needs o f Whites
Permanence o f racism
Racism, both conscious and unconscious, is
Bell (1992)
a permanent component of American life
170
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
These five tenets are important to understanding CRT as a theoretical and analytical
framework for interpretation and discussion. In their presentation of these five central
tenets, DeCuir & Dixson (2004) noted that since the introduction of CRT to the field of
education in 1995 by Ladson-Billings and Tate, educational researchers have focused
primarily on counterstory tel ling and the permanence of racism, and encouraged the
engagement o f all five CRT tenets, which they believed could prove beneficial and
instructive to education research. Therefore, in this chapter, I attempt to use all five tenets
as a model for determining whether or not the foundations upon which a critical race
perspective is constructed in any way support the findings of this study.
It is important to note, that since its inception in the mid-1970s, the scope o f CRT has
expanded significantly as a framework for exploring and interrogating issues o f race. It
has moved beyond the Black-White binary, which has historically understood “race” to
mean “Black or African American,” particularly as a response to the 1960s civil rights
era, and recognizes that “each disfavored group in this country has been racialized in its
own individual way and according to the needs of the majority group at particular times
in its history” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001, p. 69). As such, areas of study that have
emerged out o f the critical race movement include: Critical White Studies, LatCrit,
QueerCrit, Asian Critical Thought, and Critical Race Feminism (Delgado & Stefancic,
2000 , 2001 ).
Counterstorytelling and the Voice-of-Color Thesis
The standpoints and perspectives o f the Black school superintendents who
participated in this study are important for informing critically important educational
leadership and policy issues, particularly as they intersect with discussions on race and
171
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
social justice. They demonstrate how counterstorytelling and the voice-of-color thesis are
important to critical race scholarship because, as Delgado and Stefancic (2001) explain,
“minority status . . . brings with it a presumed competence to speak about race and
racism” (p. 9). Thus, the application of CRT in education research serves as “an
important tool for dismantling prevailing notions of educational fairness and neutrality in
educational policy, practice, and research” (Villenas, Deyhle, & Parker, 1999, p. 33).
Counterstorytelling, coupled with CRT’s emphasis on historical and legal context, is
fundamental to constructing, revealing, and sharing these truths and realities, which are
missing from traditional educational research.
CRT is also significant methodologically in its commitment to giving voice to the
marginalized experiences of educators and students o f color by using the “explanatory
power in this approach” to document professional and schooling experiences not
reflected in the related literature (Lynn & Adams, 2002). Through the use o f CRT,
researchers are provided a framework that reveals:
[T]he persistent and oppressive nature o f the normativity of Whiteness, the co-option
and distortion of oppositional discourses, and the ways in which policies that are
offered as remedies to underachievement and educational disparity may not be in the
best interests o f marginalized groups, but rather serve the elite (DeCuir & Dixson,
2004, p. 30).
In this study, the method of counterstorytelling revealed rich narratives, reflections, and
shared experiences that painted a very different picture o f segregated schools.
Participants recalled their schools as places where they received “very fine educations”
172
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
had “highly, qualified teachers” who were part of the “talented tenth” and prepared them
to cope, succeed, and excel in the desegregated world.
Furthermore, these participant responses and stories, when examined collectively,
showed that although these narratives are not commonly voiced and heard in the
mainstream literature, they are not uncommon. In fact, there were many more similarities
among the eight interview responses than one may have expected considering their
various socioeconomic backgrounds, and the geographical regions and time periods in
which they were born, raised, educated, and worked. Every participant spoke o f the
significant role their families played in equipping them with a strong self-concept and
sense o f confidence and fostering their value for education. Although there were great
similarities among respondent descriptions of the role of parents in their segregated
schooling experiences, the data revealed different ways of describing and interpreting the
notion of “parental involvement.”
For example, Dr. Clark described her parents as being “not all that involved” because
they didn’t frequent her school, while Dr. Lewis described his parents as being very
involved, even when they didn’t visit the school unless it was absolutely necessary.
Despite the differences in what they believed to be parental involvement, their stories
shared the message that, although they were raised by parents with limited education and
meager resources, it did not limit their ability to learn and succeed educationally and
professionally. This narrative counters the notion that poor Black children from low
socioeconomic conditions should not be expected to achieve as well as their more
advantaged, White, counterparts.
173
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Superintendent reflections of their teachers were also very similar. They described
their Black teachers as “sharp,” “polished,” and “sophisticated” and noted their ability to
be demanding, yet caring, and remembered teachers having high expectations for
behavior as well as academic achievement. This depiction of the highly qualified,
competent, and committed teacher challenged the notion that Black teachers during the
era of segregation were untrained and ill-prepared to provide a quality education to their
students. Although one respondent was uncertain as to whether or not her teachers were
credentialed, all the others who attended segregated schools through high school
specifically mentioned the training, content knowledge, and top-notch formal education
their teachers possessed.
As far as the self-concept of the participants as students in Black schools during
segregation, it was described as strong among nearly all eight respondents. Only one
respondent didn’t speak directly to the issue of his self-concept as a student. In general,
they attributed their strong sense of self-confidence and pride in being Black as
something that was established by their parents and nurtured by their teachers and
members o f their community. Although history tells us that the era o f Jim Crow and the
laws which sanctioned “separate but equal” had, and in many instances, continues to
have, a deleterious effect on the psyche o f Black people, the counter stories documented
in this study reveal ways in which the Black family and community developed and
sustained a network of support for its children and prepared them to withstand the harsh
realities of racism and oppression in the desegregated world. When asked what it meant
to be a Black child growing up in a segregated environment, Dr. Baker replied, “That
you’re smart. That you can do anything you want to do. And I must have been dumb
174
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
enough to believe it” since this was the message being sent from her family and
reinforced by her school, church, and community.
In the previous chapter, I presented a second iteration of the study’s findings, shifting
the focus from the participants’ standpoint and lived experiences in segregated schools to
their perceptions concerning desegregation policy and its impact on Black children,
families, and communities. Among the numerous counterstories told by each
superintendent, I identified the following themes, which happened to run counter to what
much of the literature has to say about school desegregation. I chose to express these
themes and give voice to the participants by using their exact words.
1. “There is nothing wrong with something being all Black.”
2. “ Sometimes I feel like the problems began with desegregation.”
3. “W e’ve never truly integrated.”
I found the emergence o f these themes to be fascinating because they contradicted much
o f the popular mainstream literature I read about desegregation, further substantiating the
need for counterstory tel ling and the value of the “voice of color.” The traditional
assumptions, that all Black schools are likely to be challenged in their ability to serve
students, that the perceived benefits of desegregation would be a saving grace for the
historically marginalized Black student population, and that schools are now
resegregating after enjoying a period o f integration, were interrogated and challenged by
the thematic analysis o f these findings.
In describing the power of the process o f counterstory tel ling for their study
participants who were two of few Black students in a predominately White school,
DeCuir and Dixson (2004) explained, “by telling their own stories in their own words,
175
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
their counter-narratives allow them to contradict the Othering process, and thus,
challenge the privileged discourses that are found at elite, predominately White
independent schools” (p. 27). In this study, the superintendents’ engagement in
counter story tel ling provided them the chance to reflect on their lived experiences in
segregated schools; how these experiences informed their thought about school
desegregation; and whether or not their beliefs about desegregation were different from
those who may not share their racial standpoint. As Ladson-Billings and Tate predicted in
their seminal 1995 article, “without authentic voices o f people o f color (as teachers,
parents, administrators, students, and community members) it is doubtful that we can say
or know anything useful about education in their communities” (p. 58).
Critique o f Liberalism: Debunking the M yths o f Colorblindness, Meritocracy, and
Neutrality o f the Law
One of the key features of CRT is its dissatisfaction with liberalism’s
conceptualization of America’s problems o f race and racism (Delgado & Stefancic,
2001). This critique of the liberal framework challenges the notions of the “color-blind
constitution,” meritocracy, and the neutrality o f constitutional law. Although there are
varying degrees to which critical race scholars embrace or denounce the efforts o f civil
rights litigation and liberal concepts, particularly the mainstay of rights, this analysis is
limited to a discussion of the study’s findings as they relate to the myths of
colorblindness, meritocracy, and neutrality of the law. In Justice John Harlan’s dissent in
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), he stated:
The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And so it is, in
prestige, in achievements, in education, in wealth, and in power . . . . But in view of
176
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant,
ruling class of citizens. There is no caste. Our constitution is color-blind, and neither
knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are
equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful (163 U.S. 537).
Although this conception of a color-blind constitution may be a laudable goal, notions of
colorblindness, as well as neutrality of the law, are liberal ideological concepts that fail to
acknowledge and consider the pervasiveness o f American racism and its role in
perpetuating and recreating systems of oppression and subordination along the color line
(DeCuir & Dixson, 2004; Delgado & Stefancic, 2001). As such, CRT scholars believe
that “aggressive, color-conscious efforts” are need to make true change and alleviate the
suffering caused by racism (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001 p. 22).
Study findings provided several examples that underscore the importance of
accounting for the societal role race plays in understanding why colorblindness may work
in theory, but not in practice. Participant accounts at a personal level include Dr. Steele’s
recollection o f his brother winning a model airplane contest, but being unable to reap the
reward of his accomplishment, because the prize was a ticket to a White movie theater
that he was prohibited from attending because he was Black. Another brother o f Dr.
Steele “made the highest score on the Army General Classification test o f anybody
inducted into the Army” through his particular camp, but was deprived of the chance to
become a pilot because he “was too big.” Dr. Wells remembered the devastating ordeal
her sister experienced when she earned the honor of being first in her class in her newly
desegregated high school, but was denied the opportunity to be recognized as
177
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
valedictorian, as Dr. Wells put it, “simply because she was Black. There was no other
reason.”
Unfortunately, these occurrences not only reflect participant accounts during their
segregated schooling days, but also reflect their experiences as aspiring educators and
school superintendents. For example, Dr. Young described his extensive job search of
100 superintendent positions with no offers until he accepted a White confidante’s advice
to cut his Afro and wear different clothing so he would not be so intimidating to White
interviewers. Dr. Clark recalled becoming a finalist for a superintendent position, and
being told that although she was the most qualified for the job, it was clear that the
’’community was not ready for a Black person” to fill it.
These stories and several others like it illustrate how the myth o f colorblindness
operates hand in hand with the false concept of meritocracy. In his primer on CRT,
Taylor (1998) stated, “By relying on merit criteria or standards, the dominant group can
justify its exclusion of [Blacks] to positions of power, believing in its own neutrality” (p.
123. Thus, despite the abilities, skills, achievements earned or made by Blacks,
oftentimes they are not fairly recognized or rewarded because they are Black. This further
limits their ability to enjoy what is rightfully owed to them, opportunities and recognition
that would be observed under a true merit system. As Taylor (1998) stated, “CRT asserts
that such standards are chosen, they are not inevitable, and they should be openly debated
and reformed in ways that no longer benefit privileged Whites alone” (p. 123).
The colorblind ideology also normalizes “Whiteness,” while it constructs people of
color as Other, making it very difficult to examine the positioning and utilization of
White privilege and how it becomes regarded as the societal standard or the norm
178
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
(Williams, 1997). According to DeCuir & Dixson (2004), the colorblind discourse has
also been embraced as a way “to justify ignoring and dismantling race-based policies that
were designed to address societal inequity,” which we are now witnessing with the
pending U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning the constitutionality of race-based
school assignment policies in Seattle, Washington and Kentucky.
Regarding the notion of the neutrality o f constitutional law, Derrick Bell (2004)
described an example o f how this “neutrality” can be deemed false when undermined by
acts o f racism as demonstrated by the failure of school officials to observe orders to
desegregate their schools:
In St. Louis and elsewhere, school officials used the school desegregation controversy
to increase their legitimacy as the proper policy-making body for public education—
an accomplishment furthered by the fact that civil rights lawyers like myself did not
include orders calling for the replacement of school board members in our petitions
for relief, even though they and their predecessors in office were responsible for the
discriminatory policies and the delaying tactics we attacked in the courts. We knew
they were responsible, but felt both that they would obey court orders and that relief
seeking their removal would be impossible to obtain, (p. 124).
Dr. Lewis cited examples o f this failure to observe laws that would discontinue school
segregation, which included predominately White county school districts paying
predominately Black city school districts to accept their Black students and the practice
o f “segregated busing.” In a keynote address entitled, “Brown v. Board o f Education
H ousing and Education in the Year 2000, ” social psychologist, Dr. Kenneth Clark,
interpreted this custom of racially separating children in buses as an impediment to his
179
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
hope that busing “would help us increase human sensitivity beyond color” (Institute on
Race & Poverty, Forum Report, April 22, 1995). Unfortunately, the nations’ ability to
move “beyond color” may be an unrealistic and inappropriate goal based on the
pervasiveness and permanence o f racism, which is closely linked to the historical
relationship between race and property in America.
Whiteness as Property
In her 1995 article, “Whiteness as Property,” legal scholar Cheryl Harris examined
the connections between race and property in America and how this intertwined
relationship has evolved from “historical forms o f domination” to replicate
“subordination in the present.” Harris (1995) explained that in James M adison’s view,
property “embraces every thing to which a man may attach a value and have a right,” in
which case Madison was referring to all o f a person’s legal rights. She further
expounded:
Whiteness defined the legal status of a person as slave or free. White identity
conferred tangible and economically valuable benefits, and it was jealously guarded
as a valued possession, allowed only to those who met a strict standard o f proof.
Whiteness— the right to white identity as embraced by the law— is property if by
“property” one means all of a person’s legal rights (p. 280).
In reference to the act o f “passing,” which was the practice of fair-skinned Blacks with
“White” features denying their Black identity to be presented and received as White;
Harris (1995) indicated that this practice, which her grandmother engaged in, persisted
because of the economic benefits associated with being White. It also illustrated the
180
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
“valorization o f whiteness as a treasured property in a society structured on racial caste”
(p. 277). She explained:
Becoming white meant gaining access to a whole set of public and private privileges
that materially and permanently guaranteed basic subsistence needs, and therefore,
survival. Becoming white increased the possibility of controlling critical aspects of
one’s life rather than being the object of other’s domination . . . . In ways so embedded
that it is rarely apparent, the set of assumptions, privileges, and benefits that
accompany the state of being white have become a valuable asset— one that whites
sought to protect and those who passed sought to attain, by fraud if necessary (p.
277).
Participant responses revealed several instances that supported this notion of Whiteness
serving as a property right in its ability to provide an individual with the power to control
his or her life. Or, in other words, how the absence o f this property right limits a person’s
ability to control his or her life. References to the poor conditions that must exist in a
school district before a Black superintendent is considered for employment is a prime
example of this manifestation of limited opportunity and control. And in Dr. M arshall’s
view, the limitations persist even after an African American assumes the
superintendency. He observed, “I honestly believe that Black superintendents didn’t have
the same power base as White superintendents.”
Limitations on Black Life
Some o f the most common and frequent examples of participants not being able to
control their own lives were reflected in their segregated schooling experiences. It began
with the very act o f getting up and going to school every morning, which in many cases
181
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
required passing White elementary and/or high schools to get to the oftentimes distant
school for Blacks. Dr. Steele vividly recalled, by name, each o f the White elementary
schools he had to pass to get to school each morning and the “rickety ferry and ride on
public transportation to get to the one high school for Blacks.” Dr. Wells had to travel 20
miles daily to get to school, and Dr. Clark remembered having “a pretty good distance to
walk to school” and passing White kids who would be traveling in one direction, while
the Black kids traveled in the other to get to their respective schools.
Interestingly, this issue o f extended commutes to school for Black children was
originally introduced to the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1849 in Roberts v. City o f
Boston, where the father of 5-year-old Sarah Roberts, who was Black, attempted to have
her enrolled in one of the closer schools designated for Whites. However, Justice Shaw of
the Massachusetts Court argued that “the standard o f equality implied not that all men
and women were legally clothed with the same civil and political powers, but that all
were merely entitled to equal consideration and protection for their maintenance and
security” and asserted that “school segregation was for the good of both races”
(Alexander & Alexander, 2001, p. 499-500).
Despite the passage of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in
1868 and the notion that “separate schools were inherently unequal” in the Brown
decision, the hope and promise associated with the passage of these laws have been
limited by their interpretation and ambiguity regarding what Harris (1995) described as
“this entangled relationship between race and property” (p. 277). She concluded,
“American law has recognized a property interest in whiteness that, although
unacknowledged, now forms the background against which legal disputes are framed,
182
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
argued, and adjudicated” (p. 277). Based on the study finding’s, this notion of Whiteness
as property transcends American jurisprudence and was also discussed by participants in
terms of narratives that illustrated privilege for Whites and racial discrimination toward
Blacks in their everyday work as educational professionals. In Derrick Bell’s article
entitled, “Property Rights in W h ite n e s s he explained a key purpose of racial
discrimination is “to facilitate the exploitation o f black labor, to deny us access to
benefits and opportunities that would otherwise by available, and to blame all the
manifestations o f exclusion-bred despair on the asserted inferiority of the victims” (p.
71).
Participating superintendents shared examples of denied benefits and opportunities,
particularly as they left their segregated communities and became a part of the
desegregated world where they were limited in their ability to find jobs or enjoy the same
authority their White counterparts had in the similar positions. In suggesting that she
sometimes felt “like the problems started with desegregation,” Dr. Baker said, “I think
some of us thought desegregation was going to give us something that it didn’t give us
and . . . there were certain positions you didn’t get because you weren’t White.” And
even once they got the positions, Black educators were often restricted in their ability to
share and implement their vision for fear of being prevented from doing what they
wanted to do. According to Dr. Marshall, “Black superintendents, many of them . . .
didn’t have the same power base as White superintendents to make certain kinds of
decisions,” such as “the authority to hire and control their situation as some of my White
friends [did].”
183
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
White is Right
In addition to limitations on Black life, the notion of Whiteness as a property right
reinforces the idea that White is better or that “White is right.” This normativity of
Whiteness possess the “ability to seem perspectiveless, or transparent” while all other
“nonwhite” groups are “defined in terms of or in opposition to Whiteness— that which
they are not” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001, p. 78, 80).
In his revolutionary work, The Miseducation o f the Negro (1916), Carter G. Woodson
suggested:
The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the
thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worthwhile, depresses
and crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that
his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards o f other
people (p. xiii).
One of the interesting things that emerged among the participant responses was the value
they placed on their schooling because it provided them with the “ability to compete with
Whites.” For example, Dr. Wells used Whiteness as the standard for intelligence and
competence when she declared, “I always felt that I was as smart and capable as any
White person.” Dr. Clark commented that one o f the first things she realized when she
attended a predominately White institution was that “[Whites are] not smarter than
anyone else.” Similarly, Dr. Lewis regarded one of the benefits o f desegregation was not
merely being around White people, but having the chance “to get in a wider society and
see that they are no superhuman beings.” This conceptualization of Whiteness as the
standard by which all others should be measured was captured in Dr. Steele’s comment
184
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
that “the day I will be ashamed of being Black is when I do something foolish and
disgrace everybody that looks like me. Then I don’t want to be Black ‘cause I don’t want
to bring that disgrace. But they ain’t going to let me be White.”
In examining the role of Whiteness as property, and its normativity as the standard by
which Others are measured, it is important to acknowledge the powerful role of
Whiteness, both historically and in the present. That examination must include how
Whiteness as a property right works to perpetuate systemic discrimination and
subordination within our educational institutions. As Harris (1995) explained:
Whiteness as property has carried and produced a heavy legacy . . . It has blinded
society to the systems o f domination that work against so many by retaining an
unvarying focus on vestiges of systemic racialized privilege which subordinates those
perceived as a particularized few—the Others. It has thwarted not only conceptions of
racial justice but also conceptions of property which embrace more equitable
possibilities (p. 290).
Unfortunately, barriers to these equitable possibilities are also created and sustained by
what CRT scholars describe as the principle of interest convergence.
Interest Convergence
Pioneered by Derrick Bell, interest convergence, also referred to by CRT scholars as
material determinism, is the thesis that “the majority group tolerates advances for racial
justice only when it suits its interest to do so” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001, p. 149). Bell
(2004) identifies the Brown decision as a classic example of interest convergence at
work. In his book, Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board o f Education and the Unfulfilled
Hopes fo r Racial Reform (2004), he questioned the motivation behind Brown and
185
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
described it not as a manifestation of the nation’s desire to provide equal educational
opportunities for Black students, but an anticommunist, foreign policy decision that was
essential to improving America’s image as a nation that purported the virtues o f freedom,
equality, and democracy for all its citizens. Despite what may be the perceived intent
behind the Brown decision, the slow going “deliberate speed” by which the process of
desegregation took place, when it did take place, was also limited by attempts to
resegregate children within the desegregated schools. As Bell (2004) indicated:
Faced with the necessity of complying with school desegregation plans, school
officials adopted plans that merged interest-convergence components with the
willingness to sacrifice the interests o f black parents and children by, in effect,
maintaining important aspects o f segregation within racially balanced schools (p.
123-4).
Study findings demonstrated several examples o f this maintenance of segregation, or
what Eyler, Cook, and W ork’s (1996) defined as resegregation, the “process by which
students are separated into racially or ethnically isolated groups within desegregated
schools.” In Dr. Cooper’s claim that “W e’ve never truly integrated,” she justified her
observation by the fact that,
We mixed children . . . and even though they were in the same school, you would still
see honors classes that looked one way and regular classes that looked differently. So
I think the commitment has never been there truly to true integration.
She did mention, however, a school board for which she worked that made a genuine
effort to facilitate integration, which impressed her because “they were aware that there
186
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
was the inclination for people who felt forced to go to school with people unlike
themselves would find ways of being in the building, but never in the same classes.”
More extreme examples of the utilization of interest convergence strategies illustrated
how state, local, and school district officials implemented desegregation efforts only to
the degree that Whites benefited through continued racial separation and/or additional
funds and resources for White schools and students. In addition to recalling the
prevalence o f mixed schools that housed segregated classrooms within his local school
district, Dr. Lewis recounted the tactics school officials employed to ensure the
undersubscribed White schools were not closed as a result of the district’s desegregation
plan.
The Black schools, because o f containment, were oversubscribed, so . . . they did
what they call intact busing, which means when you get to the White school, you go
to your own separate classroom, and you are segregated there. You have a separate
recess where you’re segregated there. You have a separate lunch where you’re
segregated there. Then you get on your bus and come back to [own neighborhood].
Although these isolated instances o f maintaining the status quo may seem
inconsequential to some, as Dr. Kenneth Clark noted, “It is difficult to understand that
these attempts, busing, affirmative action, or devices, or words, or approaches, are used
to disguise the continuation of American racism.” Thus, the acts of resegregation within
“desegregated” schools and intact busing can be interpreted as manifestations of deepseated racism, which are able to persist under the noble banner o f desegregation so long
as the rights and desires of Blacks (ability to attend desegregated schools) align with the
interests of Whites (ability to have White children not interact with Blacks).
187
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This convergence o f interests also supported the maintenance of desegregation plans,
which ironically provided more money for schools, but either never reached the
historically disadvantaged Black students they were designed to help, or was used to keep
those very students out of the White schools. According to Dr. Lewis, the only
individuals who benefited from his local district’s desegregation plan were the students
who were able to attend magnet schools, which received more funding, although they had
an admissions process that allowed them to screen out applicants. Another issue he had
with the desegregation plan was the inequitable funding formula applied to county
[predominately White] districts versus city [predominately Black] districts.
County school districts got either one and a half or twice the ADA [average daily
attendance] for every Black youngster accepted. If [city schools] were getting $5000
for a student, then the county would get either $7500 or $10,000 to accept that
student. The problem was, [the school] then could spend that money on anything they
wanted. So what happened? New buildings went up. Teacher salaries went up. But it
didn’t specifically go to the Black youngsters.
According to Dr. Lewis, it was also common for county school districts, which were
predominately White, to pay city schools, which were predominately Black, “to accept
their Black youngsters so they wouldn’t have to teach them.” In addition to this
maneuvering at the local school district level, this particular Midwestern state chose to
violate the constitution rather than to fund the federal mandate to desegregate its schools.
Dr. Lewis explained, “In the beginning years, the federal government had to take funds
out o f the treasury because the [State] Legislature wouldn’t appropriate the money .”
188
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This refusal by democratically elected officials to comply with laws designed to
provide educational opportunities for all children, regardless of race, begs the question of
whether or not desegregation is an appropriate goal for Black children, families, and
communities, particularly when its benefits to historically marginalized students is
questionable. According to Bell (1995),
The educational benefits that have resulted from the mandatory assignment of black
and white children to the same schools are also debatable. If benefits did exist, they
have begun to dissipate as whites flee in alarming numbers from school districts
ordered to implement mandatory resassignment plans (p. 26).
Bell (2004) noted that “when districts finally admitted more than a token number of
black students to previously white schools, the action usually resulted in closing black
schools, dismissing black teachers, and demoting (and often degrading) black principals,”
an observation that was also supported by superintendent narratives, (p. 124). Dr. Lewis
stated matter-of-factly, “That’s the way it happens. When integration comes, whatever
was Black. . . that gets closed.” He added:
Many o f the professors who taught at [the teachers college for Blacks] had to then go
back into the high schools. The president o f [the teachers college for Blacks], Dr.
Johnson . . . was given a central office do-nothing position and then someone with a
M aster’s degree, a [White] high school principal, was named president of [the newly
desegregated teachers college].
This story not only illustrates the principle o f interest convergence, but also how
Whiteness was exercised as a property right for the individual who became president of
the desegregated Teachers College. This account also debunks the myth of meritocracy
189
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
since the Black college administrator who was demoted to a central office position earned
a doctorate, while the White high school principal only had a M aster’s degree.
Dr. Baker remembered wondering what would happen once the Black and White
school districts in her community would desegregate, “How would the Black district be
treated? W ho would surface at the top? And you know who surfaced - the Whites were in
charge.” She also expressed her concern over whether or not with profession can recover
from the significant loss of Black educators.
Frankly, there is a decline in the number o f African Americans in administration.
Decline in the number in the superintendency . . . W e’ve got to find a way to train
more Black teachers. Because some of our children, particularly in urban areas or
anywhere, they’re not going to see a teacher that looks like them during their whole
career.
Unfortunately, this considerable decline in Black teachers and administrators became
what Tillman (2004) described as the “(un)intended consequence” o f the Brown decision.
Speaking as a former civil rights attorney, Bell (2004) concluded,
[We] made some effort to stem the loss of black teachers and principals through
litigation, but I am afraid our main emphasis was on desegregating the schools. In all
too many cases, black faculty and administrators, along with the children they served,
were secondary to our priority; desegregating the schools (p. 124-5).
Regarding the employment status o f Blacks post desegregation, another area where we
see the phenomenon o f interest convergence at work is in the terms and conditions
necessary before Blacks were considered for and hired for superintendent positions.
M oody’s (1971) seminal study on Black superintendents found that African American
190
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
were mainly assigned to areas with growing urban areas, increasing minority populations,
and riddled with financial problems. Unfortunately, Dawkins (2004) reported similar
more than three decades later, which was also confirmed by data collected in this study.
According to Dr. Young, in 1981,
Unless you were going to an all Black school district, nobody offered you a job then .
. . Nobody would offer you a job if you were not going to an all Black community
where the economic base is gone, money is tough. You just, you know, there were not
jobs for us. None.
Dr. Lewis observed, “Usually they don’t allow you to be a Black superintendent until the
district is in disarray.” He discovered this seeming prerequisite firsthand in the school
system he led where “infrastructure had just disintegrated” and “the board was fighting
among itself.” In fact, he added, “there are some school districts . . . you know you need
not apply.” He noted that all but one of the African American superintendents who lead
districts in his particular state are responsible for systems that are majority Black. Dr.
Steele summed it up best when he posed the question, “How many Black superintendents
do you know who have been named superintendents of wealthy, thriving school
districts?”
Permanence o f Racism
For my mom, it was a very sort o f tense, awkward situation in the beginning. But I
remember her talking about the two or three White teachers at the desegregated
school the first year who befriended her. A nd 1 guess those, you know, are the people
who believe in racial equality and integration. One o f them became a good frien d o f
hers. The principal, she said, d id n 7 speak to her, you know, sort o f an older, rural,
White man that had little to do with her. She taught kindergarten and first grade. She
said, " It’s really interesting, you know, little kids don 7 see color or differences except
what I suppose they learn from parents. ”
191
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
A nd there was a situation where she said it was a little boy, who was in kindergarten,
and it was the end o f the school day, and he was waiting fo r his mother to pick him up
. . . She said he came up to her and he was holding her hand and, you know, touching
her and all. He said, “Just two o f us here, you and me, and you a nigger. ” A nd so she
said, “He d id n ’t even understand what the word meant, ” cause h e ’s hugging her
while h e ’s saying it (laughing). A nd so she said she knew at that point, the word was
one he had learned from his parents, and it had no meaning fo r him beyond that.
So I asked her, “D id you say anything to anybody? ” A nd she said, “No. ” It was ju st a
revelation to her [about] how racism g e ts . . . happens in homes and families, and
kids become victims o f it even when they really don 7 know what the meaning is
behind it. He clearly didn 7 know what a nigger was. He ju st knew the word
(laughing). H e ’s hugging her, and rubbing her, and talking about (laughing) “Yes,
ju st two o f us here, and you a nigger. ” (more laughter).
-D r. Wells recounting her m other’s experience as a Black teacher in a newly
desegregated White elementary school.
According to one of CRT’s founding fathers, Derrick Bell (1992), “racism is a
permanent component o f American life” (p. 13). Although some critics o f CRT argue that
this pessimistic view o f race relations in American limits CRT’s ability to offer viable
solutions in solving America’s race problems, it is important to acknowledge and
understand this premise to effectively adopt a “racial realist” of our nation’s systems and
structure. Racial realists believe “racism is a means by which society allocates privilege
and status” and that “racial hierarchies determine who gets tangible benefits, including
the best jobs, the best schools, and invitations to parties in people’s homes” (Delgado &
Stefancic, 2001, p. 17). Thus, racial realism asserts the discourse of racism should not be
limited to “blatant acts o f hate” or “broad generalizations about another group based on
the color of their skin,” (Lopez, 2004, p. 69-70), but rather the ways in racism is
systemically connected to the “distribution of jobs, power, prestige, and wealth”
(Crenshaw et al., 1995, p. xiv).
192
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Although study findings included numerous examples of individual acts o f racism,
stereotyping and discrimination, narrative data and emergent themes also revealed
participant perceptions regarding the ways in which “racist hierarchical structures govern
all political, economic, and social domains” (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004, p. 27) According
to DeCuir and Dixson, “ Such structures allocate the privileging of Whites and the
subsequent Othering o f people of color in all arenas, including education” (p. 27). Dr.
Cooper commented, “Race is always going to be a factor in this country.” She argued that
public schools are being used as “tools to craft a caste system” divided according to racial
and socioeconomic lines, and described this as America’s “deep-seated” desire “to ensure
the stratification of society."
According to Dr. Young, this social stratification along racial lines is no coincidence,
based on his experience and observation o f the realities in the schools. He explained,
Class is a big part o f it, but w e’re not India, where it’s a caste system. W e’re in
America, and a lot of that is simply driven by race. And it’s m an’s inhumanity
towards man in its full magnificence. W e always need to feel better than somebody, it
seems, whether we do it through the caste system, in a place like India, or we do it
through race and ethnicity . . . over here. I mean, it’s the same thing, you know,
different ways o f expressing the same thing.
Dr. Steele asserted that the America’s public school system is the perfect example of
a sorting machine that is successful at doing what it was created to do, “ sort and sift and
put people in boxes.” However, he explains that the system must be transformed from
one that relies on “strong backs and weak minds” to one that prepares students to use
their intellect and creativity to compete on a global scale. Lopez (2003) argued that as
193
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
educational leaders, we have a duty to “transform schools from being sorting mechanisms
in the larger global market—where people of color, women, and the disenfranchised are
prepared to fit a particular role in society” (p. 71).
But how do people of color, women, and the disenfranchised resist these hierarchical
systems and structures in public education that support and recreate the existing social
order? Although Dr. Marshall described America’s “dealing with racial issues and
categorizing people” as “boring,” “ineffective,” and “costly,” it is still very much an
actuality for this nation’s Black population. Recognizing that pervasive racism is part of a
Black person’s reality requires coping skills, which also emerged among the study’s
findings. Participants spoke about the need for Black children to know and understand
how to deal with the realities of racism. Dr. Clark remembered her parents teaching her
“things you have to know and what you have to do to get through” as a Black person in a
W hite-dominated world. She also emphasized the importance of Black kids attaining
these coping skills today and having individuals “who can help them to cope . . . and
learn about not reacting.” As Dr. Baker concluded, racism is “somebody else’s problem,”
but it’s “your reality.” She explained, “You can’t change it no matter what you would
want.”
194
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER 7
IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS: TOWARD A
POLITICAL RACE DISCOURSE IN EDUCATION
“Our society is in desperate need o f rejuvenating itself, in need o f resistance, o f
positive and constructive social policies. Our schools, our neighborhoods, our society
as a whole must be mobilized. We cannot be apologetic about freeing ourselves from
this damage which is being done to our children and to the very fabric o f our
society. ”
-D r. Kenneth Clark, 1995, Keynote Address, Brown v. Board o f Education: Housing
and Education in the Year 2000
School desegregation continues to be a complex issue in the field of education, and
my curiosity surrounding the Brown decision and efforts to create racial balance in
schools led me to a dissertation study that has also served as a personal journey. My
attempt to critically reflect on how desegregation policies impacted my schooling and
personal development compelled me to discover how those before me experienced
schooling in the era of segregation. I began to ask my father, grandmother, aunts, friends,
and members of my local community, who attended segregated Black schools, to
describe their classrooms, teachers, and community prior to desegregation. I became
fascinated and intrigued with the fondness of their memories and how strikingly different
their experiences seemed to be from those of so many Black children today.
195
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
My interest in these stories and perspectives served as the genesis for this research,
and was influenced greatly by my standpoint as a Black woman and mother o f two young
boys, one o f whom has just begun to navigate the public education system.
Unfortunately, this very system has been criticized for its inability to provide a quality
education to its students, especially African American children, and although
desegregation and school choice policies have been heralded as ways to improve Black
student achievement, the evidence is still debatable and lacking.
In this chapter, I reflect on my own standpoint and role as a researcher, why I chose
to study this topic, and what I learned from it. I begin with a review o f the purpose and
design o f the study followed by a summary of key assumptions, findings, and
understandings. Next, I present the implications o f my findings, which include suggested
contributions to theory and practice, as well as policy and future research. Finally, I
conclude this study with a personal reflection on how the rich narratives from the past
have shaped my hope for the future.
Assumptions, Findings, and New Understandings
This research developed as a result of my interest in desegregation policy, school
choice, and Black student achievement. As the researcher and human instrument used to
collect data in this study, I carried with me my standpoint as a Black woman, my
experiences as a Black student, and my assumptions about the implications of school
desegregation on Black students, families, and communities. Coupled with my review of
related research and literature, three key assumptions directed the creation o f my research
questions, and ultimately, the findings reported in this study.
196
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Value in the Standpoint and Lived Experiences o f Black Superintendents
The findings of this study were presented according to participant standpoints and
lived experiences in segregated schools and their reflections and perspectives on the
implications o f desegregation policy. My decision to conduct a qualitative study utilizing
standpoint theory as a framework was based on my assumption that standpoints, whether
based on race, class, gender, or even profession, have inherent value, and can support,
enhance, or disrupt our understanding o f “the everyday world” (Smith, 1987). Although 1
do not presume that certain groups of individuals can or should be essentialized
according to their shared race, class, gender, or profession, I do believe that collective
experiences of privilege, oppression, celebration, and suffering are important to
increasing our awareness and understanding o f how differently the world may appear
depending on where you stand.
My assumption in the value o f standpoints and lived experiences were supported by
my findings, which suggest the need to interrogate mainstream notions that may not be
grounded in the experiences o f the very people about which the research claims to
examine. For example, individuals who never attended segregated Black schools produce
much o f the literature that speaks to the inferior education offered in these schools prior
to desegregation. I don’t dispute the authenticity of these observations, as I never
attended a segregated Black school myself. However, the findings of this particular study
countered the widely accepted notions of the inferiority of all Black schools, lack of
qualifications o f Black teachers during segregation, and the low self-concept of Black
students who were not allowed to attend all White schools.
197
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
In fact, participant reflections o f their lived experiences in segregated schools
supported existing historical accounts and frameworks for African American education
and educational leadership (Anderson, 1988; Foster, 2005; Hale-Benson, 1986; Irvine,
1990; King, 2005; Lomotey, 1990; Murtadha & Watts, 2005; Pollard & Ajirotutu; 2000;
Ratterey, 1990; Scott, 1980; Shujaa, 1994; Walker, 1996; Walker 2003; W alker 2005),
such as the notions of institutional and interpersonal caring (Walker & Archung, 2003),
the communal nature of learning (Gadsden, 1994), and culturally relevant and responsive
pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1994; Ladson-Billings, 2000; Lee, 1994). The findings also
challenged the prevailing notion that the Brown decision and resulting school
desegregation plans are an effective way to promote racial justice and ensure all students
have access to a quality education.
Relationship between Racial Standpoint and Views on Race-Conscious Policies
My second assumption was that there would be a strong correlation between an
individual’s racial standpoint and their opinions on race-conscious policies. I based this
presumption on my review of literature that revealed a seeming disconnect between
supporters and critics of school desegregation and choice plans. For example, the hope
and optimism that many Black Americans embraced in reaction to the Brown decision
has faded, only to be replaced by “mixed feelings” that acknowledge both the progress
that has been made through the courts, as well as the political and community resistance
that continues to defer the dream o f racial equality and integration.
The perceived benefits and consequences of desegregation have fueled a debate
among scholars that appears to be divided along the lines of political philosophies,
research traditions, and racial standpoints. Generally speaking, several White scholars
198
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
with an orientation toward civil and equal rights have been strong advocates for
integration and diversity (Kozol, 2005; Orfield & Eaton, 1996; Wells, 2002;) while
Black, critical theorists and historians have begun to examine more closely the case for
desegregation and its implications for Black children, families, and communities
(Ladson-Billings, 1999, 2000, 2006; Shujaa, 1994, 1996; Tillman, 2004; Walker, 1996,
2003, 2005).
Although both groups claim to support efforts toward social justice and racial
equality, the frameworks they utilize to examine and interpret the effects o f desegregation
policy, as well as their preferred strategies for pursuing this quest for racial justice and
equality, are strikingly different. What accounts for this distinct difference of opinion on
matters of race-conscious education policy among individuals who appear to have the
same end goal in mind? How were these opinions formed and authenticated? And most
importantly, which group is right? These are just some of the burning questions that
emerged for me throughout the development o f this research, and would be interesting
questions to explore in future studies.
Reflections and Perspectives on Desegregation Policy: The Counternarrative
The third and final assumption I held during the conception o f this study was the
notion that the data gathered and analyzed from the participating superintendents would
result in a collection of narratives that could potentially expand our understanding o f why
the promise o f Brown remains unfulfilled. Further, I believed that race and racism would
play a role within these stories, which is why I selected critical race theory as a
methodological and interpretive framework for the study.
199
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Study findings supported this assumption and furthered the case for the need to center
race and racism in the discourse of desegregation and other race-conscious education
policies. More specifically, three themes emerged as counternarratives to the commonly
held assumptions that Black schools must be diversified, that desegregation was a
solution to many of the challenges facing Black students, and that after enjoying a period
o f integration, schools are now resegregated. In contrast, and in the words o f the
participating superintendents, I identified three statements that crystallized three distinct
perceptions that were striking in their contrast to the mainstream desegregation literature:
(1) “There is nothing wrong with something being all Black,” (2) Sometimes you feel
like the problems began with desegregation,” and (3) “W e’ve never truly integrated.”
New Understandings
Although Orfield (1996) argued that “the memory of good Black schools is not
entirely inaccurate, b u t. . . obscures the substantial educational gains o f Blacks in the
desegregation era,” it is important to interrogate whether or not these perceived gains
outweigh the costs suffered by Black students, families, and communities (p. 84). The
findings o f this study seem to disrupt Orfield’s perception o f “substantial educational
gains” in light of the subsequent closure o f Black schools; loss o f Black educators; and
overrepresentation of Black students in low-ability tracks, special education programs,
and behavioral schools. Ironically, the suffering o f the very sense of inferiority and
diminished self-concept among Black students the Brown decision sought to remedy, are
significant considerations that must be made during any discussion concerning the
possible benefits o f desegregation.
200
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
While some may argue that desegregation efforts that do not result in integration may
seem like a step back to “separate but equal,” Bell (1995) observed that “ some Black
educators, however, see major educational benefits in schools where Black children,
parents, and teachers can utilize the real cultural strengths of the Black community to
overcome the many barriers to educational achievement” (p. 26). Thus, the arguably
unintended downsides o f desegregation policy, coupled with the Black community’s
obligation to bear the burden o f integrating oftentimes hostile all-White schools,
illustrates the duplicitous nature o f school desegregation policy as it relates to Black
students, families, and communities. Bell (2004) recalled an old Black woman, who when
asked her opinion concerning the country’s public schools sadly replied, “We got what
we fought for, but we lost what we had” (p. 125).
Review of the Methodology
As indicated earlier, the aim o f this qualitative study was to document and explore the
lived experiences o f Black school superintendents concerning desegregation policy,
public school choice, and its perceived impact on the education of Black children. The
questions that served as a heuristic to guide the research were: (1) How do the standpoint
and lived experiences o f Black school superintendents before, during, and after
desegregation influence their perspectives on Black student achievement?; (2) In what
ways can the standpoint, lived experiences, and perspectives o f Black superintendents
provide insight to Black families concerning school choice and achievement?; (3) In what
ways do the lived experiences of school desegregation provide insight for how Black
educators and families respond to school choice policy and policies designed to improve
201
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Black student achievement?; and (4) How should the next generation of Black educators
and community leaders move forward to improve Black student achievement?
Interviews, Counterstories, and the Reflexive Journal
It was important both conceptually and methodologically to ground this study with
participant reflections on segregated schooling and desegregation policy. Despite the
extensive literature that exists concerning the virtues and challenges of desegregation
efforts for Black students, the narratives and shared realities of Black educators who have
personally and professionally experienced the significant strides and unfulfilled promises
of desegregation are absent. For this reason, I used network and purposeful sampling to
select eight participants who had retired from the superintendency, were self-identified as
Black or African American, and could recall personal experiences as K-12 students
attending all Black segregated schools and desegregation as either students or educators. I
captured their stories and responses through audio-recorded, in-person, semi-structured
interviews that lasted between 1 to 2 and one-half hours, and analyzed this data using
standpoint theory and critical race theory.
Despite my nervousness in preparing to meet and interview the selected participants,
based on their expertise, reputations, and extensive accomplishments, I immediately felt
comfortable and connected to all but one interviewee, as soon as the conversation began.
I struggled a bit with one interview, where the individual seemed somewhat skeptical or
unsure of my intent and the direction o f my research, but in every other case, I was put at
ease by the participant’s eagerness to share their personal stories and thoughts in such a
relaxed and informal manner. When I thanked each respondent for her or his willingness
to participate in the study, several commented that they always tried to take the
202
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
opportunity to help and support the next generation of African Americans, just as
someone had helped them get where they are today.
My esteem for these superintendents and appreciation for their time and honesty
contributed greatly to my desire to ensure their stories and perceptions were portrayed
accurately and respectfully. I grappled with the discomfort of allowing someone who
didn’t identify with the Black standpoint transcribe the audio recordings, and ended up
transcribing four o f the interviews that I found to be especially personal and honest
regarding matters of race and racism myself. The richness of the responses and narratives
collected resulted in more than 150 pages of transcribed data, which led to many side
trips and interesting distractions. Nevertheless, critical race theory provided a
methodology and framework that helped me to collect and examine the data
systematically
I utilized critical race methodology to give voice and meaning to the complex issues
of race and racism in education and identify counter stories that moved beyond the
traditional assumptions and objective truths commonly found in the desegregation
literature. In spite of the increasing reach of CRT in education, important discussions
centered on race and racism in education are still missing from the fields o f educational
leadership, administration, and policy (Lopez, 2003; Rusch, 2004). Therefore, I sought to
give voice to Black school superintendents by constructing narratives and
counternarratives that aimed to provide context, awareness, and insight to stakeholders
who are interested in better understanding the implications of desegregation policy for
Black students, and all students who have and continue to be discriminated against as a
203
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
result of racism. I also maintained a reflexive journal to minimize my potential bias and
persistently confront my role as the research instrument.
Limitations o f Methodology
While collecting and analyzing my data, I discovered rather quickly that my guiding
questions were much too broad. I believe this was because I underestimated the depth and
richness o f the responses, reflections, and narratives that would be amassed from the
eight study participants regarding their segregated schooling experiences and thoughts on
desegregation alone. My proposed research purpose and questions included exploring a
link between the issues of desegregation and school choice. As the interviews progressed,
I found that the interviewee’s responses to questions about choice and desegregation were
varied and short on depth. I often wondered if my interview protocol included the right
questions. As I reviewed the data and struggled to answer the question on choice and
desegregation, I came to the conclusion that the assumptions that guided my third
research question were flawed or premature.
Although there are several books and studies that explore the various intersections
between school choice, racial segregation, resegregation, and Black student achievement
(Bell, 2004; Bush, 2004; Chavous, 2004; Du Bois, 1935; Fuller, Elmore & Orfield, 1996;
King, 2004; Mickelson, 2005; Rofes & Stulberg, 2005; Scott, 2005; Shujaa, 1996; Wells;
1993; Wells, Holme, Lopez, & Cooper; 2003), I felt it was important to focus this work
on the rich narratives and perspectives o f the participating Black superintendents as they
related to school segregation and desegregation before attempting to analyze how these
experiences informed their thoughts on school choice.
204
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Implications
“The hierarchy o f power that is most effective in separating potential allies in the
United States is race . . . . Race reveals the distributional inequities within our various
social institutions. . . but race can be more than a diagnostic tool. Relegated to the
margins o f society, communities o f color can fin d there a free space ’from which
they can critique established hierarchies and creatively imagine a new w a y ” (Guinier
& Torres, 2002, p. 130).
This study contributes to the existing knowledge base concerning Black education
and desegregation plans and policies by utilizing “voices o f color” to document and
explore the counter stories of former Black superintendents who attended segregated
schools and witnessed firsthand the complex legacy of school desegregation. It also gives
voice to the missing perspective o f the Black school superintendent, which offers
significant insight into the salience of racism in education, and their thoughts on how
Black parents, educators, and communities can mobilize to support the academic
achievement and life chances o f Black students, which in turn benefits all children. The
findings revealed how the use o f storytelling and race-based methodologies can enhance
the way we frame and understand Black education within the context of race and racism,
equipping both educational researchers and leaders with the tools needed to better
understand and serve the next generation o f Black students.
The research also reveals how racial standpoints and lived experiences shape
individual perspectives concerning desegregation, thus demonstrating the need to center
race and racism within the discourse o f desegregation and other race-conscious education
policies. The findings from this study are open to multiple interpretations that lead to
varying implications, depending on the standpoint of the reader. To support my personal
and professional commitment to carry out the moral activist role of critical race
205
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
scholarship (Ladson-Billings & Donner, 2005), I am focusing on implications for theory,
practice, policy and future research.
Implications fo r Theory
Analyzing and interpreting the study findings through a critical race theoretical
framework provided significant insight into how the role of race and racism limit the
ability o f desegregation policy to be used a tool for racial justice. As recommended by
DeCuir and Dixson (2004), I elected to focus on aspects of critical race theory in this
research that have not been utilized as extensively as counterstorytelling and the
permanence o f racism in the field o f education. By employing all five tenets o f CRT in
my data analysis, I was able to identify and better understand why the promise o f Brown
remains unfulfilled, particularly when I engaged in a closer examination of the
relationship between desegregation policy and the principle of interest convergence.
Although interest convergence may seem like a viable political strategy for oppressed
groups who desire to further their interests by aligning them with those of the dominant
group, its potential is limited by the reality that “the interests of the majority group
tolerates advances for racial justice only when it suits its interest to do so” (Delgado &
Stefancic, 2001). It would, however, be interesting to theorize how interest convergence
components could inform the manner in which communities of color propose and initiate
efforts designed to ensure equitable educational access and outcomes for their students.
For example, the development and support of independent Black institutions or
ethnocentric charter schools could possibly gain support from policymakers and
politicians from the dominant group who promote a school choice agenda. But at the
same time, communities of color must accept the reality that according to the principle of
206
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
interest convergence, their needs and desires are contingent upon the interests of those
who control institutional systems of power and privilege.
Since racism is pervasive and likely permanent, Whiteness remains a property right,
and color-blindness, neutrality o f the law, and meritocracy remain distant realities, it is
important and necessary to center and utilize race as a way to resist the notions o f power
and privilege that are unwittingly and wittingly used to damage the self-concept o f Black
students, suppress the expectations of their abilities, and further the assumption that
Blackness is inherently deficient, lacking, or incapable. Based on these realities, coupled
with the salience o f racism in educational systems and institutions, I recommend the
move toward theorizing a political race discourse in education. This step challenges and
furthers critical race studies by emphasizing the need to turn theory into practice in a way
that serves the very communities that CRT is intended to uplift and empower.
In their book, M iner's Canary: Enlisting Race to Transform Democracy (2004), legal
scholars Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres introduce the concept o f political race, which
they define as a framework that looks “to the places where race, politics, culture and
economics intersect. Political race is not something you are; it’s something you do” (p.
107). Although they settled on the term political race, which they acknowledged as
“subject to ambiguity,” it represents the concept they initially coined as political
blackness. They explain, “while we moved to the more inclusive nomenclature of
political race, blackness— and the experience o f black people— is nevertheless at the
heart o f our argument” (p. 14).
In building upon this conceptualization of political race, a political race project is an
attempt to transform the discourse about race by identifying power relationships in light
207
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
of America’s history as it relates to race and politics (Guinier & Torres, 2002). As a
“multi-step progression from race consciousness through social justice critique to
democratic experimentation,” a political race project: (1) recognizes, as an asset, the
potential solidarity and connection that those who have been raced often experience, (2)
articulates a broader social justice agenda that includes discovering “how the construction
and uses o f race have historically operated to prevent authentic and strategic linkages
between communities that have more in common that is normally supposed,” and (3)
demonstrates a willingness to experiment with new democratic practices (p. 95-6).
Based on the findings o f this study, and what appears to be (to use Derrick B ell’s
words) an “elusive quest for racial justice” in education, I believe a political race
discourse that helps to conceptualize a grass-roots political race project would help
communities o f color identify strategies that would reclaim agency to parents, restore
advocacy for students, and represent the activism that is required and expected o f critical
race scholarship. Conceptualizing and operationalizing this notion of political race in
education can create opportunities for parents, schools, and communities who feel
powerless and disenfranchised, to engage in conversations designed to identify and
develop strategies that will improve educational access and outcomes for their children.
Guinier and Torres (2002) argue for “a more populist response to hierarchies of
power” and suggest individuals representing communities of color lead this agenda for
social justice. More specifically, they advocate the following:
A coalition that explicitly starts first with race and then moves to class and gender
while never losing sight of race. For a progressive cross-racial coalition to emerge,
whites need to engage with race, and blacks need to engage with a more inclusive
208
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
vision o f social justice. Both types o f engagement require a different understanding of
the meaning of race and its relationships to power (p. 31).
They assert that the powerless can resist domination and oppression through “collective
acts of resistance” and “through struggle can create symbols and narratives that justify
and support the vitality of their efforts. One way to resist power-over is to lay its
narrative bare” (p. 141).
Implications fo r Practice
The notion of resisting power-over by laying its narrative bare is a powerful concept
that I believe should be applied in the practice of preparing and developing educational
leaders. As Lopez (2003) stated,
We have a duty to transform schools from being sorting mechanisms in the larger
global m arket. . . However, we cannot adequately prepare future leaders to achieve
these goals if we avoid exposing them to issues of race, racism, and racial politics and
demonstrate to them how these issues still permeate the educational landscape (Parker
& Shapiro), (p. 71)
The use o f counternarratives and voices o f color in educational leadership courses and
programs can create new opportunities to facilitate and foster discussions of race, culture,
and politics in education. Several of the findings in this study provide great examples for
how counter story tel ling, grounded in the experiences of people o f color, may prove to be
a powerful a tool used to promote and provoke reaction, response, and reflections that can
lead to different ways of understanding and meaning-making. These accounts can provide
insight to future educational leaders that will better prepare them to work with students
and communities of color.
209
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
However, it is important that the use o f these counternarratives be shared within the
context of larger race-based methodologies, which “arise because existing theoretical
models and methodological discussions are insufficient to explain the complexity of
racialized histories, lives, and communities” (Pillow, 2001, p. 186). Thus, educational
researchers and leaders must actively challenge and critically assess the traditional,
mainstream methodologies and epistemologies used in education research to better
determine the aims and goals of our research and practice. According to Pillow (2001),
“such absence of engagement allows and perpetuates a categorization o f race-based
research work as simply identity work, standpoint theories, or counterstances” (p. 183).
She added that race-based methodologies “offer a larger a critique of the epistemological
and methodological foundations of social science research, i.e., a powerful critique that is
of considerable significance to all researchers” (Pillow, 2001, p. 183).
Exposing aspiring educational leaders to alternative ways of living, knowing, and
understanding, as uniquely experienced by individuals who are similarly raced or
racialized, better prepares these students to lead in diverse schools and communities.
According to Rusch (2004), “Respected leaders in the profession suggest that faculty
hold some responsibility for children’s academic failure because we ill-prepare aspiring
administrators to work in diverse and dynamic communities (Bjork & Ginsberg, 1995)”
(p. 16). When the findings o f a nationwide study of educational leadership faculty
revealed minimal discourse related to race, Rusch (2004) asserted, “If educational
leadership faculty members wish to keep the idea o f a dynamic democracy going, we
must couple our privilege to know with the responsibility to learn” (p. 43). This requires
the willingness and ability of teachers and educational leaders to learn and demonstrate
210
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
what participant Dr. Clark described as the skill of identifying and developing the
potential o f the Black student. Perhaps laying bare the narrative of White privilege,
coupled with exposure to counternarratives and race-based methodologies, will prepare
future educational leaders to acknowledge and embrace this fundamental responsibility.
Implications fo r Policy
Voluntary desegregation plan and programs that are currently operating in school
districts across America are faced with the possibility of being deemed unconstitutional,
furthering the concerns of many about the dismantling of desegregation. As a result, the
viability of desegregation policy and the conceptualization of race-conscious education
policy are particularly relevant in light o f the current cases from Seattle, Washington and
Louisville, Kentucky pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, which challenge the use of
race in school admissions policy, based on the notion of a “color-blind” constitution.
Although all desegregation plans, nor the implementation and administration o f these
plans, are not created equal, officials at the school district, local, and state levels will
need to take a close look at whether or not their respective desegregation plans have led
to the outcomes that were intended by Brown v. Board o f Education. Have their plans
realized the gains that were intended by Brown, or have they been subverted as a result of
interest convergence components that have contributed to what I have described in this
study as vestiges o f desegregation? Moreover, will policymakers acknowledge the
historical, social, and political context o f desegregation efforts in order to avoid
perpetuating the (un)intended consequences that Black communities, educators, and
children have suffered and are still trying to overcome?
211
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The research suggests that these questions and more like them should be presented to
policymakers and those who influence policy, before blindly supporting race-based
education efforts without critical reflection o f how these policies have impacted the
communities they were designed to serve in the past. Unfortunately, the solutions are not
clear, but the discourse generated as a result of these questions may reveal opportunities
to improve education policy created to benefit historically marginalized and
disenfranchised students, the teachers who teach them, and the schools they attend.
Implications fo r Future Research
This qualitative study was in no way intended to establish the case for or against
school desegregation or school choice. Rather, it was an attempt to document and explore
the standpoints, experiences, and perspectives of eight, retired, Black school
superintendents on issues o f segregation, desegregation, school choice, and Black student
achievement. Their unique responses and narratives, and the emergent themes presented
in this study, are not to be generalized or even essentialized as the standpoint of all Black
school superintendents. However, future research that examines the role of the racial
standpoints o f educational leaders, and how these vantage points help shape and develop
their perceptions and opinions o f desegregation policy and other race-based education
policies, would serve as a great contribution to the field. Another area of inquiry that
could benefit the field would be to identify how educational leaders o f color, similar to
those in this study, were/are able to successfully or unsuccessfully address the needs of
underrepresented and/or marginalized students, despite the racial and social stratification
that arguably exists within their places o f work.
212
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
A provocative observation developed as I reviewed my reflexive journal. The
observation centered on the process of me, a Black researcher, studying the thoughts,
opinions, and narratives of individuals o f the same race. I frequently mentioned perceived
feelings of mutual trust, support, and comfort with the study participants, which I
attributed to our shared racial identity and shared experiences based on that particular
identity. I related strongly with one superintendent’s desire not to “do something foolish
and disgrace everybody that looks like me” and wondered if this was only the case with
individuals o f underrepresented races or other non-dominant groups, such as women. Do
members o f White dominant culture ever worry about “embarrassing their race” or feel
the burden o f representing their entire race? What about White researchers who study
members o f their own race? Are they concerned or confronted with challenges to their
objectivity and potential bias as a researcher based on the racial identity they share with
their participants? Furthermore, in what way does the privilege o f dominance influence or
not influence the research process? These are just some of the questions that I believe
would prove to be both insightful and provocative, particularly in the areas of qualitative
inquiry and studies in education.
Finally, the use of critical race theory as a methodological and interpretive framework
in studies that interrogate the intersections between race, policy, and politics in education
are also important for expanding the scope o f research that gives voice to “voices of
color” and increases our awareness and understanding of racial standpoints distinctive
from our own. As such, it would be interesting to replicate this study with participants
that represent other communities o f color, particularly Latino communities, whose
213
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
students are currently experiencing overwhelmingly high levels of segregation within
many o f our nation’s public schools and school systems.
As indicated earlier, although this study sought to learn more about the connections
between school choice, desegregation, and Black student achievement, the richness o f the
data collected did not lend itself to a sufficient analysis or discussion of participant views
on school choice. However, future research that examines these relationships would
greatly inform our understanding of the implications of school choice for communities of
color, and the broader goal of racial justice.
Conclusion
The realities of racism are key to explaining the existence o f the assumptions and
perceptions that Blackness is inherently deficient, the implication of desegregation policy
was, and continues to be, problematic, and that our nation’s public schools and school
systems are still not integrated today. Although many scholars continue to argue and
advocate for race-conscious education policies designed to promote integration, how
valuable are these strategies when they are forced, contrived, and resisted by those who
do not want their children to attend school with “other people’s children?” (Delpit, 1995).
African Americans and communities of color, in general, can no longer expect the
system to be changed in favor o f students of color by those who currently exercise the
privilege and power over the policymaking, funding, and administration o f these systems.
We have witnessed for too long that the system is successful, and as Dr. Steele described,
“doing exactly what it was intended to do,” that is sift and sort children according to their
present situation and perceived future capabilities. There must be a grass-roots movement
214
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
developed, replicated, and supported at various levels to include students, parents,
educators, school board members, and other policymakers that acknowledges the reality
of racism and interrogates the vestiges o f segregation and desegregation.
By enlisting race as a political tool, resisting the power that so easily besets
communities o f color, and mapping out a transformative agenda for social change in
education, we can “free ourselves from the damage which has been to our children” and
support them in their pursuit of a quality education.
215
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
AFTERWORD
This dissertation study was developed as a result of my interest in Black education
and its current state of affairs within the larger context o f public education in America.
As indicated in the preface, the national media coverage, celebrations, and local
community discussions held in recognition of the 50-year anniversary Brown v. Board o f
Education compelled me to learn more about this landmark decision, and why the
promise o f equal educational opportunities for all children, regardless o f race, was
seemingly unrealized more than 50 years later. I began to read more about Brown I,
Brown I f the cases that led up to Brown, and the subsequent Supreme Court decisions
that appeared to dismantle Brown. I then read books and articles on desegregation,
resegregation, and racial separation in today’s public schools, or what Kozol (2005)
referred to as “the restoration o f apartheid schooling in America.”
Although I was troubled by the disheartening data that demonstrated how racially
isolated so many o f our nation’s schools were, I was further disturbed by the fact that the
burden o f desegregating schools always appeared to be placed on Blacks, although this is
the very population that integration was historically intended to help. Furthermore, these
desegregation plans and tactics have seemingly failed to curb the growing “Black-White
achievement gap;” underachievement of the African American male; overrepresentation
o f Blacks in special education, behavioral programs, high-school drop-out counts; and the
list goes on. As such, this complex of legacy of Brown, coupled with the current debate
216
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
surrounding race-conscious education policies, makes for interesting research papers and
conversations, but these startling anecdotes and statistics mean so much more as they
directly affect the everyday lives and the very future of Black children, families, and
people across our nation. What are the options for a Black mother or father faced with
these widely documented bleak prospects for her or his child’s education? What am I to
do as a mother of Black children, when to use Lisa Delpit’s words and posit Katherine
Richardson Bruna’s question, other p e o p le ’s children happen to be my very own?
Although I am left with many o f the same questions I had before I began this study, I
do know that there is a need for a broader counternarrative for Black education, coupled
with what the Commission on Research in Black Education (2005) describes as, “a
transformative research and action agenda for the new century.” One that does not
perpetuate a master narrative that uses “racially neutral” terms to identify Black children
as “low-income,” “at-risk,” or “disadvantaged” and Black communities as “ghettoes,”
“projects,” and “poor neighborhoods” (King, 2005, p. xv). As Ladson-Billings (2005)
noted, “There is no language of excellence, hope, and promise aimed at Black people and
their circumstances.” She continued, “In those instances in which Black people excel we
are quick to identify individuals as exceptions or suggest group excellence is not as
significant as other fields of human endeavor” (p. xv).
It is my hope that the stories, interpretations, and new understandings reflected in the
pages of this study contribute to a “language o f excellence, hope, and promise” as it
pertains to both the history and future o f Black education in America. Perhaps it will help
others to realize that these voices, experiences, and perspectives are not uncommon, just
commonly unheard.
217
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
A P P E N D IX A
LE T T E R TO P A R T IC IP A N T S
218
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
May 1, 2006
Superintendent Name
Mailing Address
Dear Superintendent,
I am conducting a dissertation study currently entitled Perspectives o f Black School
Superintendents: On Desegregation, School Choice, and Black Student Achievement in partial
fulfillment o f the requirements for the Doctor o f Education degree at University o f Nevada, Las
Vegas. I invite you to participate in this study and would greatly appreciate your contribution to
this very important research project.
The purpose o f my study is to explore the lived experiences o f self-identified Black educators
who have served as superintendents. I believe the narratives, oral histories, and experiential
knowledge o f Black superintendents will provide the wisdom and insight missing from the
current discourse concerning the impacts o f desegregation and school choice policy as it relates to
Black student achievement.
Your participation will include submitting an autobiographical sketch o f your personal and
professional background and being interviewed in-person for approximately 90 minutes. A 5 to
15 minute follow-up phone conversation may be added if deemed necessary after the interview.
You may be vulnerable to som eone’s determining who you are and what y ou ’ve said, but I will
protect you from this possibility as much as possible by using a pseudonym for your name and for
the district you led. I will also give you a hard copy o f the transcript o f your interview so you can
make any necessary changes.
This study will be shared with my dissertation committee and other appropriate members o f the
University o f Nevada, Las Vegas community. The dissertation that results from this work will be
published in hard copy and microfiche, which will be housed on the UNLV campus.
I greatly appreciate your giving time to this study, which will help inform the next generation o f
Black educators and scholars, such as myself, on the implications o f these very' important issues.
I will follow-up this correspondence by telephone in the coming days. If you have questions in
the meantime, please feel free to call me at (702) 555-1212 or e-mail me at shorsfordtf cox.net.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Respectfully,
Sonya Douglass Horsford
Doctoral Candidate
Department o f Educational Leadership
University o f Nevada, Las Vegas
219
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
A P P E N D IX B
INFORMED CONSENT
220
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Department of Educational Leadership
INFORMED CONSENT
T IT L E O F STU D Y :
P ersp ectiv es of B lack School S u p e rin te n d e n ts: O n D eseg reg atio n ,
School C hoice, a n d B lack S tu d e n t A chievem ent
IN V E S T IG A T O R /S : S onya D ouglass H o rsfo rd , S tu d e n t R e se a rc h e r; D r. E d ith R u sch ,
F acu lty A d v iso r
C O N T A C T P H O N E N U M B E R : (702) 555-1212________________________________________
P u rp o se of th e S tu d y
You are invited to participate in a research study. The purpose o f this study is to describe and
examine the lived experiences and perspectives o f Black school superintendents concerning
desegregation efforts, public school choice, and Black student achievement.
P a rtic ip a n ts
You are being asked to participate in this study because you have achieved the supcrintendency,
are self-identified as Black, and can recall personal experiences as a K -12 student prior to and/or
during desegregation, which have contributed to your current thoughts and perspectives on school
desegregation, public school choice, and Black student achievement.
P ro c e d u re s
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to answer questions presented in an
in-depth one-on-one interview with me, the researcher. The interview will be audio taped and
should only take 90 minutes to complete. You may also be asked to participate in a 5 to 15
minute follow-up phone conversation with me to clarify any information you provided in the first
interview.
B enefits o f P a rtic ip a tio n
There may be no direct benefits to you as a participant in this study. However, we hope to learn
more about the best ways to view desegregation and school choice policy in order to improve
educational outcomes for all students who may not be doing well under the current system.
R isk s o f P a rtic ip a tio n
Risks associated with participating in this study are minimal. It is possible you may become
uncomfortable answering som e o f the questions asked. If so, you are encouraged to discuss this
with me. I will explain the questions to you in more detail. Please note that all information
gathered in this study will be strictly confidential.
C o st/C om pen sation
There will not be financial cost to you to participate in this study. The study will take about 2
hours o f your time. You will not be compensated for you time.
221
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Department of Educational Leadership
IN F O R M E D C O N S E N T
T IT L E O F S T U D Y :
P ersp ectiv es o f B lack School S u p e rin te n d e n ts: O n D eseg reg atio n ,
School C hoice, a n d B lack S tu d e n t A chievem ent
IN V E S T IG A T O R /S : S onya D ouglass H o rsfo rd , S tu d e n t R e se a rc h e r; D r. E d ith R usch ,
F ac u lty A d v iso r
C O N T A C T P H O N E N U M B E R : (702) 555-1212
C o n ta c t In fo rm a tio n
If you have any questions about the study, you may contact me, Sonya Douglass Horsford, at
(702) 555-1212. For questions regarding the rights o f research subjects, you may contact th e
U N L V O ffice fo r th e P ro tectio n o f R esea rch S u b je cts a t (702) 895-2794.
V o lu n ta ry P a rtic ip a tio n
Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may refuse to participate in this study or in any
part o f this study. You may withdraw at any time without prejudice to your relations with the
university. You are encouraged to ask questions about this study at the beginning or any time
during the research study.
C o n fid en tiality
All information gathered in this study will be kept completely confidential. No reference will be
made in written or oral materials that could link you to this study without your prior permission.
All records, including audio tapes, digital audio recordings, transcripts, and notes will be stored in
a locked file cabinet in my home office. I am requesting your permission for the archival o f these
records at UNLV so they will be available as part o f an historical record for future research and
scholarship.
P a rtic ip a n t C o n sen t
I h ave re a d th e above in fo rm a tio n a n d a g ree to p a rtic ip a te in th is stu d y . I am a t least 18
y e a rs of age. A copy o f th is fo rm h as b een given to m e.
Signature o f Participant
Date
Participant Consent to Audio Record (Signature)
Participant Name (Please Print)
222
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
A P P E N D IX C
SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
223
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Semi-Structured Interview Protocol
Interviewer: Sonya Douglass Horsford
Personal and Professional Information
1.
Tell me about yourself. Where are you from originally? Where did you attend
primary /secondary school? Where did you attend college? Where do you call home?
2.
In terms o f race, and identity, what does it mean to be Black? How do you define
Blackness? At what point did you begin to identify yourself as “Black?”
3.
When did you know you were going to be an educator? Why this field?
4.
Tell me about your professional experience as an educator. A superintendent. What was
your proudest moment? Most frustrating moment or aspect?
Lived Experience: Before and After Desegregation
5.
Tell me about your memory o f the Brown decision? How old were you and where were
you attending school? Describe the climate o f your community, the country as you
remember it.
6.
What did Brown mean or represent to you during this time? Your family? Your
community?
7.
What educational choices were available to you before Brown? After Brown?
8.
In the context o f Brown, what do you remember most about your own educational
experience as a child?
a.
b.
9.
How did these experiences shape the person you are now?
How did they shape you as an educator?
Upon reflection, and fifty years after Brown, what does the decision represent to you
now? How does it influence your thoughts on desegregation?
Black Student Achievement and School Choice
10. Discuss the achievement/opportunity gap between black and white students? Why aren’t
Black students performing at higher levels? W ho’s to blame?
11. Does public school choice policy (e.g. magnets, charter schools, Afrocentric immersion
schools.) help Black students?
12. What are the strengths o f public school choice plans? The weaknesses?
13. If you had to craft a school choice plan, what would it look like?
224
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The Future o f Public Education for Black Students
14. Where do you see the public school system headed in the next 5 years? 10 years?
15. “Today’s Black students have been given equal opportu n ities to quality education.” Do
you agree with that statement?
a.
If so, what needs to happen for those opportunities to translate into successful
ou tcom es ?
b.
If not, how will they be able to access those opportunities?
16. Today, what advice would you give a Black parent with a student who is struggling
academically or socially in a public school?
17. What advice would you give that student?
18. What advice would you give the next generation o f Black superintendents who are
committed to improving educational outcomes for Black students?
###
225
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
REFERENCES
Aleman, E. (2004). Mexican American school leadership in south Texas: Toward a
critical race analysis of school finance policy. PhD Dissertation, University of Texas
at Austin, Austin, TX. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations database.
(Publication No. AAT 3128863).
Alexander, K., & Alexander, M. D. (2001). American public school law (5th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomsan Learning.
Alridge, D. P. (1999). Conceptualizing a Du Boisian philosophy of education: Toward a
model for African-American education. Educational Theory, 49(3), 359-380.
Alston, J. (1996) Black female school superintendents and success: A study of
perceptions regarding constraints and facilitators encountered en route to the
superintendency. PhD Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University,
Pennsylvania. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations database. (Publication
No. AAT 9702243).
Anderson, E. (2004). Feminist epistemology and philosophy o f science. The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2004 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed ),
URL=http://pi ato.Stanford, edu/archi ves/ sum2004/entri es/femi ni sm -epi stem ol ogv/> .
Anderson, J. D. (1988). The education o f Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. Chapel Hill:
The University of North Carolina Press.
Asante, M. K. (1994). The Afrocentric project in education. In M. J. Shujaa (Ed.), Too
much schooling, too little education: A paradox o f Black life in White societies (pp.
412). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc.
Bell, D. (1987). A nd we are not saved: The elusive quest fo r racial justice. New York:
Basic Books.
Bell, D. (1992). Faces at the bottom o f the well: The permanence of racism. New York:
Basic Books.
Bell, D. (2004). Silent covenants: Brown v. Board o f Education and the unfulfilled hopes
fo r racial reform. New York: Oxford University Press.
Brooks, R. (2004). Brown v. Board of Education fifty years later: A critical race theory
perspective. Howard Law Journal 47(3), 581-626.
226
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Brown v. Board o f Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
Brown v. Board o f Education, 349 U.S. 294 (1955).
Brown, F. (2005). African Americans and school leadership: An introduction.
Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(4), 585-590.
Bulkley, K. E., & Wohlstetter, P. (Eds.). (2004). Taking account o f charter schools:
What's happened and what's next? New York: Teachers College Press.
Bush, L. (2004). Access, school choice, and independent Black institutions: A historical
perspective. Journal o f Black studies, 34(4), 386-401.
Carbado, D. W. (2002). Afterword: (E)racing education. Equity & Excellence in
Education, 35(2), 181-194.
Chavous, K. P. (2004). Serving our children: Charter schools and the reform o f
American public education. Herndon, VA: Capital Books, Inc.
Chubb, J. E., & Moe, T. M. (1990). Politics, markets, and America's schools.
Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.
Clark, K. (1995). Beyond Brown v. Board o f Education: Housing and Education in the
Year 2000. Keynote Address. Institute on Race & Poverty. Retrieved January 28,
2007 from http://wwwl.umn.edU/irp/publications/linking.htm#clark.
Collins, P. H. (1990). Black fem inist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics
o f empowerment. New York: Routledge.
Crenshaw, K. W. (1995). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and
violence against women of color. In K. Crenshaw, N. Gotanda, G. Peller, & K.
Thomas (Eds.), Critical race theory: The key writings that form ed the movement.
New York: The New Press.
Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dawkins, G. D. (2004). A study of Black superintendents in Michigan. EdD Dissertation,
Wayne State University, Michigan. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations
database. (Publication No. AAT 3130334).
DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004). "So when it comes out, they aren't that surprised
that it is there": Using Critical Race Theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism
in education. Educational Researcher, 33(5), 26-31.
227
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (Eds.) (2000). Critical race theory: The cutting edge (2nd
ed ). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (Eds.). (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. New
York: New York University Press.
Dempsey, V., & Noblit, G. W. (1993). Cultural ignorance and school desegregation:
Reconstructing a silenced narrative. Educational Policy, 7(3), 318-399.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1935). Does the Negro need separate schools? Journal o f Negro
Education, 4(3), 328-335.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1994). The souls o f Black folk. New York: Dover Publications.
(Original work published in 1903).
Eaton, S. (1996). Slipping toward desegregation: Local control and eroding desegregation
in Montgomery County. In G. Orfield & S. Eaton (Eds ), Dismantling
desegregation: The quiet reversal o f Brown v. Board o f Education. New York: The
New Press.
Eaton, S., & Meldrum, C. (1996). Broken promises: Resegregation in Norfolk, Virginia.
In G. Orfield & S. Eaton (Eds.), Dismantling desegregation: The quiet reversal o f
Brown v. Board o f Education. New York: The New Press.
Fairclough, A. (2004). The Costs o f Brown: Black teachers and school integration. The
Journal o f American History. 91.1 (2004): 31 pars. 8 Jan. 2007
<http://www.historycooperative.org/cgibin/justtop. cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.history cooperative, org/journals/j ah/91.
l/fairclough.html>.
Fairclough, A. (2001). Teaching equality: Black schools in the age o f Jim Crow. Athens,
GA: University o f Georgia Press.
Faltz, C. J., & Leake, D. O. (1996). The all-Black school: Inherently unequal or a culturebased alternative? In M. J. Shujaa (Ed ), Beyond desegregation: The politics o f
quality in African American schooling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Finn, C. E., Manno, B. V., & Vanourek, G. (2000). Charter schools in action: Renewing
public education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fordham, S. & Ogbu, J. (1986). Black students’ school success: Coping with the “burden
o f ‘acting W hite.’ Urban Review, 18(3), 176-206.
Foster, L. (2005). The practice o f educational leadership in African American
communities o f learning: Context, scope, and meaning. Educational Administration
Quarterly, 41(4), 689-700.
228
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Fuller, B., Elmore, R. F., & Orfield, G. (Eds.). (1996). Who chooses? Who loses?:
Culture, institutions, and the unequal effects o f school choice. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Fuller, B., Gawlik, M., Gonzales, E. K., & Park, S. (2004). In K. E. Bulkley & P.
Wohlstetter (E ds), Taking account o f charter schools: What’s happened and what's
next? New York: Teachers College Press.
Gadsden, V. (1991). Literacy and the African American learner. Theory Into Practice,
31(4), 275.
Gadsden, V. (1994). Literacy, education, and identity among African-Americans: The
communal nature o f learning. In M. J. Shujaa (Ed.), Too much schooling, too little
education: A paradox o f Black life in White societies. Trenton, NJ: Africa World
Press, Inc.
Glesne, C. (1999). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (2nd ed.). New
York: Longman.
Green v. County School Board o f New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968).
Griffin v. County School Board o f Prince Edward County, 377 U.S. 218 (1964).
Hakim, S., Seidenstat, P., & Bowman, G. W. (Eds.). (1994). Privatizing education and
educational choice: Concepts, plans, and experiences. Connecticut: Preagar
Publisher
Hale-Benson, J. E. (1986). Black children: Their roots, culture, and learning styles.
Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
Harding, S. (1991). Whose science Whose knowledge? Thinking from women's lives.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Harris, C. I. (1995). Whiteness as property. In K. Crenshaw, N. Gotanda, G. Peller, & K.
Thomas (Eds.), Critical race theory: The key writings that form ed the movement.
New York: The New Press.
Henderson, R. D., Greenberg, N. M., Schneider, J. M., Uribe, O., & Verdugo, R. R.
(1996). High-quality schooling for African American students. In M. J. Shujaa
(Ed.), Beyond desegregation: The politics o f quality in African American schooling.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Hochschild, J. (1997). Is school desegregation still a viable policy option? Political
Science & Politics, 30(3), 458-466.
229
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Hunter, R. C., & Donohoo, S. (2005). All things to all people: Special circumstances
influencing the performance of African American superintendents. Education and
Urban Society, 37(4), 419-430.
Irons, P. (2002). Jim Crow's children: The broken promise o f the Brown decision. New
York: Viking Penguin.
Irvine, J. J. (1990). Black students and school failure: Policies, practices, and
prescriptions. New York: Greenwood Press.
Jones-Wilson, F. C. (1990). Race, realities, and American education: Two sides o f the
coin. Journal o f Negro Education, 59(2), 119-128.
Kane, P. R., & Lauricella, C. J. (2001). Assessing the growth and potential o f charter
schools. In H. M. Levin, (Ed ), Privatizing education: Can the marketplace deliver
choice, efficiency, equity, and social cohesion? Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Kemerer. F. (2001). The legal status of privatization and vouchers in education. In H. M.
Levin, (Ed.), Privatizing education: Can the marketplace deliver choice, efficiency,
equity, and social cohesion? Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
King, J. B. (2004). Fulfilling the hope of Brown v. Board of Education through charter
schools. In E. Rofes & L. M. Stulberg (Eds.), Emancipatory promise o f charter
schools. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
King, J. E. (Ed.). (2005). Black education: A transformative research and action agenda
for the new century. Washington D. C.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Kozol. (2005). The shame o f the nation: The restoration o f apartheid schooling in
America. New York: Crown Publishers.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers o f African American
children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1999). Just what is critical race theory and what's it doing in a nice
field like education? In L. Parker, D. Deyhle & S. Villenas (Eds.), Race i s . . . race
isn't: Critical race theory and qualitative studies in education. Boulder, CO:
W estview Press.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2000). Culturally relevant pedagogy in African-centered schools:
Possibilities for progressive educational reform. In D. S. Pollard & C. S. Ajirotutu
(E ds), African-centered schooling in theory and practice (pp. 223). Westport, C T:
Bergin & Garvey.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2000). Fighting for our lives: Preparing teachers to teach African
American students. Journal o f Teacher Education, 51(3), 206-214.
230
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2005). The evolving role o f critical race theory in educational
scholarship. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 5(1), 115-119.
Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. F. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education.
Teachers College Record, 97 ( 1), 47-68.
Lee, C. D. (1994). African-centered pedagogy: Complexities and possibilities. In M. J.
Shujaa (Ed.), Too much schooling, too little education: A paradox o f Black life in
White societies. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc.
Levin, H. M. (Ed.). (2001). Privatizing education: Can the marketplace deliver choice,
efficiency, equity, and social cohesion? Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage
Publications.
Lomotey, K. (Ed.). (1990). Going to school: The African American experience. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press.
Lopez, G. R. (2003). The (racially neutral) politics o f education: A critical race theory
perspective. Educational Administration Quarterly, 39( 1), 68-94.
Lopez, G. R. & Parker, L. (Eds ). (2003) Interrogating racism in qualitative research
methodology. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Lynn, M., & Adams, M. (2002). Introductory overview to the special edition o f critical
race theory and education: Recent development in the field. Equity & Excellence in
Education, 35(2), 87-92.
Madhubuti, H. R. (1994). Cultural work: Planting new trees with new seeds. In M. J.
Shujaa (Ed.), Too much schooling, too little education: A paradox o f Black life in
White societies. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc.
Manno, B. (1999). Accountability: The key to charter renewal: A guide to help charter
schools create their accountability plans. Washington, DC: The Center for
Education Reform.
Margonis, F., & Parker, L. (1999). Choice: The route to community control? Theory Into
Practice, 35(4), 203-209.
Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (1999). Designing qualitative research (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Matsuda, M. (1995). Looking to the bottom: Critical legal studies and reparations. In K.
Crenshaw, N. Gotanda, G. Peller, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Critical race theory: The
key writings that form ed the movement. New York: The New Press.
231
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Matsuda, M. J., Lawrence, C. R., Delgado, R., & Crenshaw, K. W. (Eds ). (1993). Words
that wound: Critical race theory, assaultive speech, and the First Amendment.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Merrifield, J. (2001). The school choice wars. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.
Mickelson, R. A. (2005). Are choice, diversity, equity, and excellence possible? Early
evidence from post-Swann Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2002-2004. In J. Scott’s
(Ed.) School choice and diversity: What the evidence says. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Miron, G., & Nelson, C. (2004). Student achievement in charter schools: What we know
and why we know so little. In K. E. Bulkley & P. Wohlstetter (Eds ), Taking
account o f charter schools: What's happened and what's next? New York: Teachers
College Press.
Moody, C. D. (1971). Black superintendents in public school districts: Trends and
conditions. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Morris, J. E. (2001). Forgotten voices of Black educators: Critical race perspectives on
the implementation of a desegregation plan. Educational Policy, 75(4), 575-600.
Murtadha, K., & Watts, D. M. (2005). Linking the struggle for education and social
justice: Historical perspectives of African American leadership in schools.
Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(4), 591-608.
Nathan, J. (1996). Charter schools: Creating hope and opportunity fo r American
education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Ogbu, J. (2003). Black American students in an affluent suburb: A study o f academic
disengagement. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Orfield, G., & Eaton, S. (Eds.). (1996). Dismantling desegregation: The quiet reversal o f
Brown v. Board o f Education. New York: The New Press.
Parker, L., & Lynn, M. (2002). W hat’s race got to do with it? Critical race theory’s
conflicts with and connections to qualitative research methodology and
epistemology. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 7-22.
Parker, L., Deyhle, D., & Villenas, S. (Eds.). (1999). Race i s . . . race isn't: Critical race
theory and qualitative studies in education. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed.). Newbury
Park CA: Sage Publications.
232
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Petrovich, J., & Wells, A. S. (E ds). (2005). Bringing equity back: Research fo r a new era
in American educational policy. New York: Teachers College Press.
Pillow, W. (2003). Race-based methodologies: Multicultural methods or epistemological
shifts? In Lopez & Parker (Eds.), Interrogating racism in qualitative research
methodology. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Plessyv. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).
Pollard, D.S., & Ajirotutu, C. S. (Eds.). (2000). African-centered schooling in theory and
practice. Westport, CT. Bergin & Garvey.
Ratterey, J.D. (1990). African American achievement: A research agenda emphasizing
independent schools. In K. Lomotey (Ed.), Going to school: The African American
experience. Albany, NY: State University o f New York Press.
Reed, A. (1997). W.E.B. Du Bois and American political thought: Fabianism and the
color line. New York: Oxford University Press.
Robinson, S., Gault, A., & Lloyd, S. (2003). Black superintendents: Progress and
challenges: A demographic snapshot o f school districts led by NABSE
superintendents'. The Education Trust.
Rofes, E., & Stulberg, L. M. (Eds.). (2004). The emancipatory promise o f charter schools
Toward a progressive politics o f school choice. Albany: State University of New
York Press.
Roithmayr. (1999). Introduction to critical race theory in educational research and praxis.
In L. Parker, D. Deyhle & S. Villenas (Eds.), Race is . . . race isn't: Critical race
theory and qualitative studies in education. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Rusch, E. A. (2004). Gender and race in leadership preparation: A constrained discourse.
Educational Administration Quarterly, 40, 14-46.
Saddler, C. A. (2005). The impact of Brown on African American students: A critical
race theoretical perspective. Educational Studies, 37(1), 41-55.
Sanders-Lawson, E. R. (2001). Black women school superintendents leading for social
justice. PhD Dissertation, Michigan State University, United States. Retrieved from
ProQuest Digital Dissertations database. (Publication No. AAT 3021840).
Schneider, M., Teske, P., & Marschall, M. (Eds.). (2000). Choosing schools: Consumer
choice and the quality o f American schools. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
233
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
School choice: Doing it the right way makes a difference: A report from the National
Working Commission on Choice in K-12 Education. (2003). Washington D C: The
Brookings Institution.
Scott, H. J. (1975). Black consciousness and professionalism. The Journal o f Negro
Education, 44(3), 432-440.
Scott, H. J. (1980). The Black school superintendent: Messiah or scapegoat?
Washington, D C.: Howard University Press.
Scott, H. J. (1983). View o f Black school superintendents on school desegregation.
Journal o f Negro Education, 52(4), 378-382.
Scott, H. J. (1990). Views of Black school superintendents on Black consciousness and
professionalism. Journal o f Negro Education, 59(2), 165-172.
Scott, J. T. (2005). School choice and diversity: What the evidence says. New York:
Teachers College Press.
Shujaa, M. J. (Ed.). (1994). Too much schooling, too little education: A paradox o f Black
life in White societies. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc.
Shujaa, M. J. (Ed.). (1996). Beyond desegregation: The politics o f quality in African
American schooling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Shujaa, M. J., & Afrik, H. T. (1996). School desegregation, the politics o f culture, and the
council o f independent Black institutions. In M. J. Shujaa (Ed.), Beyond
desegregation: The politics o f quality in African American schooling. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.
Smith, D. (1974). Women's perspective as a radical critique of sociology. Sociological
Inquiry, 44(1), 7-13.
Smith, D. (1987). The everyday world as problematic: A fem inist sociology. Boston:
Northeastern University Press.
Solorzano, D. G. & Ornelas, A. (2000). A critical race analysis o f advanced placement
classes: A case of educational inequality. Journal o f Latinos and Education, 7(4),
215-230.
Solorzano, D. G. & Yosso, T. J. (2002). A critical race counterstory of race, racism , and
affirmative action. Equity & Excellence in Education, 35(2), 155-168.
Spradley, J. (1980). Participant observation. Australia: Thomas Learning.
234
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Tate, W. F. (2005). Ethics, engineering and the challenge of racial reform in education.
Race, Ethnicity and Education, 5(1), 121-127.
Tate, W. F., Ladson-Billings, G., & Grant, C. A. (1996). The Brown decision revisited:
M athematizing a social problem. In M. J. Shujaa (Ed.), Beyond desegregation: The
politics o f quality in African American schooling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin
Press, Inc.
Tillman, L. (2004). (Un)intended consequences? The impact o f Brown v. Board of
Education decision on the employment status of Black educators. Education and
Urban Society, 36(3), 280-303.
US Charter Schools: Overview o f Charter Schools. Retrieved February 12, 2006, from
http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/index.htm
Virginia Pupil Placement Act o f 1964
Walker, E. V. S. (1996). Can institutions care? Evidence from the segregated schooling
of African American children. In M. J. Shujaa (Ed.), Beyond desegregation: The
politics o f quality in African American schooling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin
Press, Inc.
Walker, V. S. (2003). The architects o f Black schooling in the segregated south: The case
of one principal leader. Journal o f Curriculum & Supervision, 19( 1), 54-72.
Walker, V. S. (2005). Organized resistance and Black educators' quest for school
equality, 1878-1938. Teachers College Record, 107(3), 355-388.
Walker, V. S. & Archung, K. N. (2003). The segregated schooling o f Blacks in the
Southern United States and South Africa. Comparative Education Review, 47, 2140.
Weil, D. (2000). Charter schools: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO,
Inc.
Wells, A. S. (1993). Time to choose: America at the crossroads o f school choice policy.
New York: Hill and Wang.
Wells, A. S. (Ed.). (2002). Where charter school policy fails: The problems o f
accountability and equity. New York: Teachers College Press.
Wells, A. S., Holme, J. J., Lopez, A., & Cooper, C. W. (2003). Charter schools and racial
and social class segregation. In R. D. Kahlenberg (Ed.), Public school choice vs.
private school vouchers. New York: The Century Foundation Press.
235
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Woodson, C. G. (1990). The mis-education o f the Negro. Trenton, NJ: Africa World
Press. (Original work published in 1933).
Yancey, P. (2004). Independent Black schools and the charter movement. In E. Rofes &
L. M. Stulberg (Eds.), Emancipatory promise o f charter schools. Albany, NY: State
University o f New York.
236
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
VITA
Graduate College
University o f Nevada, Las Vegas
Sonya Douglass Horsford
Home Address:
4120 Birchmont St.
Las Vegas, Nevada 89130
Degrees:
Bachelor o f Arts, Speech Communication, 1997
Second Major: Journalism and Technical Communication
Colorado State University
Master o f Public Administration, 2002
University o f Nevada, Las Vegas
Special Honors and Awards:
Barbara L. Jackson Scholar, University Council for Educational Administration
Social Context Research Fellow, American Educational Research Association,
Division G, Social Context of Education
Dissertation Title: Vestiges of Desegregation: Black Superintendent Reflections on
Complex Legacy o f Brown v. Board of Education
Dissertation Examination Committee:
Chairperson, Dr. Edith A. Rusch, Ph.D.
Committee Member, Dr. Robert McCord, Ed.D.
Committee Member, Dr. James R. Crawford, Ph.D.
Committee Member, Dr. Laurence Parker, Ph.D.
Graduate Faculty Representative, Dr. Helen Harper, Ph.D.
237
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.