Dialogical Spaces: Innovative Practices and the Development of the Alternative Black Curriculum in Social Studies, 1890-1940

• In Event: Deepening the Discourse on Black Educators’ Experiences and Pedagogy: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Abstract

During the period of 1890-1940, black women educators in public and private school settings attempted to reframe national and international education curriculum to include an accurate re-telling of the struggle of African Americans. There is a growing body of work that documents how the basic principles of the alternative black curriculum (first publicly articulated by male scholars) was supplemented and even furthered by an ongoing dialogue with the pedagogical work of African American women school founders, administrators, librarians, and teachers (Dagbovie, 2004; Brown, 2010; Snyder, 2011; Hall, 2009). I will identify this counternarrative as an “alternative black curriculum.” The alternative black curriculum comprises both the content and pedagogy these educators used to implement the curriculum.
The main objective of this paper will be to conduct a comparative analysis of three key texts that comprise the alternative black curriculum in social studies. These texts were written or co-produced by three black educators: Leila Amos Pendleton, Nannie H. Burroughs and Jessie Redmond Fauset. Leila Amos Pendleton served as a public school teacher and social activist in Washington DC. In 1912 she published a textbook entitled, “A Narrative of the Negro.” Nannie H. Burroughs served as founder and principal of the National Training School for Women and Girls. From 1916-1921, she authored an historical pageant entitled, “When Truth Gets A Hearing.” Jessie Redmond Fauset served as a joint collaborator writing multiple articles with W.E.B. Du Bois in the development of a children’s literary magazine called The Brownie Book. By comparing the similarities and differences of these key texts an understanding of the major themes of the alternative black curriculum emerge.
In the early twentieth century, black women attempted to carve out “dialogical spaces” between the fields of history and education. I define “dialogical spaces” as limited spaces where women could think, act and be acknowledged for their academic production. I will be using this as a conceptual framework to develop this paper. These spaces allowed women to challenge male sexism. In these spaces, women tried to break free from the confines that limited their policy discussion to local or state educational contexts. Usually, “dialogical” spaces were confined to areas involving the education of black children.
The major texts utilized for this paper will be a textbook, a pageant and magazine articles from The Brownie Book. As I read each of these documents I will code each of the sources assessing major trends which will further define the contours of the alternative black curriculum. By examining these curriculum documents closely a vision of how black women educators conceptualized and envisioned history will emerge. In addition, black women educators explicitly used the social studies to build and generate positive self-identity for African American children. By examining these innovative black women educators practices a more comprehensive understanding of how the social studies field develop will surface.

Author

• Alana D. Murray, University of Maryland