Educational Organizing Against Charter Reform in New Orleans: Learning From Black Teacher Associations and Community Allies

• In Event: Teachers Unions, Race, and Education Research: Innovations in Grassroots Organizing for Equity

Abstract

The first set of co-presenters examines black teacher associations in the Deep South, using New Orleans as a focal point. Drawing on critical race theory (Lynn & Dixson, 2013), primary and secondary historical documentation (DeVore & Logsdon, 1991; Middleton, 1984), and oral history, they chart the research and activism of groups such the Louisiana Colored Teachers Association and others. They reveal that early teacher associations struggled to create libraries in black schools, support black teacher preparation, review textbooks for racially distorted representations, equalize salaries and facilities, challenge white supremacist legislation, and train grassroots community leaders. Such initiatives often were linked with historic civil rights organizing, whether the Streetcar Strike of the 1860s or the resistance of Homer Plessy and the Citizens Committee in the 1890s (Fireside, 2004).

This history provides context for critiquing the racial restructuring that occurred in 2005 when black veteran teachers in New Orleans were fired en masse and singularly blamed for the problems in New Orleans Public Schools (Author A, 2007, 2011, 2012). Presenters challenge this misguided action—the mass firing was deemed illegal (Civil District Court, 2012)—by exploring efforts by United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO), the city's teacher union, and grassroots allies to promote racial and educational equity in schools and communities. This includes analysis of not only UTNO's activism, but also the allied work of Urban South Grassroots Research Collective (Author A et al., 2010; Author A & USGRC, 2013) and media activism through New Orleans Imperative, a radio program focused on education reform in the city and hosted by a longtime New Orleans teacher, administrator, union member, and activist (Author B, 2013).

Authors

• Kristen L. Buras, Georgia State University

• Raynard Sanders, The New Orleans Imperative