African American Women in the Superintendency: The Intersection of Race and Gender

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Issues at the Top: School Board Governance and Women in the Superintendency

Abstract

This paper as part of a larger study presents a first-person account of a female superintendent’s implementation of pedagogy of African American educational leadership influenced by the work of early twentieth century African American women educators. In the study, the existence of African American educational leadership is documented through examination of writings of African American educational leaders, women and men, from two time periods; 1865-1954 and 1954-2010 and through interviews with African American female superintendents to identify descriptions of the cultural, social, and pedagogical characteristics of African American educational leadership that mold and inform their leadership practices.

Authors

• Eva C. Smith, Berkeley School District #87

• Susan J. Katz, Roosevelt University