Active but Unnoticed: Integrating African Americans, Early Childhood Educators, and Preschoolers in Play Movement Historiography

• In Event: Education Reform at the Turn of the 20th Century

Abstract

Using Philadelphia from 1880-1917 as a case study, this paper explains how play and playgrounds became a typical component of American children’s educational experiences though a consistently undervalued one. Integrating early childhood educators, African Americans, and young children into American play movement historiography, it describes the ways that these previously unrecognized play advocates supported and shaped the development of play-focused education and play space in Philadelphia contributing to the success of efforts that had both positive and negative effects on actual children, schools and communities.

Author

• Deborah S. Valentine, Saint Joseph's University