“Kindle a Spirit of Emulation”: A Historical Examination of Teachers of Color, 1800s to 1970s

• In Event: Does Color Know Color? A Historical and Contemporary Examination of Teachers of Color

Abstract

While there has been a fairly significant amount of literature concerning teachers of color since 1980s, few studies or conceptual papers have looked at this topic historically over an extended period (Irvine, 1990; Stewart, Meier & England, 1989). The intent of this presentation is to examine the historical discussion about teachers of color from the early 1800s to the 1970s. My analysis of the literature explored how teachers of color were understood in relation to the concerns germane to that historical period. Patterns were identified within and across historical periods as well as within and across racial/ethnic groups.
This presentation will draw from the theoretical lens of cultural memory (Assmann & Czaplicka, 1995), which suggests that the way we come to understand a social phenomenon over a period of time encloses how we are able to conceptualize a social problem in the present. In this sense, I will show through this presentation how a particular historical narrative took shape about teachers of color by the early twentieth century. In this presentation I will address three key findings from this analysis.
First, teachers of color are almost exclusively discussed in relation to white teachers. In this context the white teacher is implicitly and explicitly discussed as culturally incompetent and some ways serving as a barrier to student achievement, whereas, teachers of color are viewed as culturally competent and responsive to students needs. Second, I found that the most entrenched historical narrative related to the teacher of color during this period was the proverbial “role model thesis.” In this sense, I found teachers of color to be routinely represented as an ideal representation for young students to emulate. Implicit in the role model thesis was the belief that underachieving students of color will be driven and motivated to succeed because of the teacher’s race/ethnicity.
Third, I will discuss how the early discourses about teachers of color vacillated between two recurring and contrasting narratives. The first is found mostly in the academic literature about African American teachers in 1930s and 1940s; specifically that teachers of color matter because they employ specific pedagogies that enable them to reach historically underserved students. In other words, more attention was given to what they did pedagogically as opposed to who they were racially. However, the more common discourse was the belief that teachers of color matter because the race of the teacher engenders in students a sense of self that changes their disposition and attitude to learning.

Author

• Anthony L. Brown, The University of Texas - Austin