Performing Oral Histories of a Historically Black High School in Georgia

• In Event: 47.083 - Performing Dissertation Research and Liberating Academic Writing

Abstract

The researcher will perform testimonies from his oral history dissertation project on the experience of six former students at Lucy Craft Laney, a Historical Black High School in Georgia with the intent to illuminate their necessary voices. Theoretically drawing upon critical race theory (Bell, 1992; Delgado, 1995; Dixson, & Rousseau, 2006; Ladson-Billings, 2003, 2009; Ladson- Billings & Tate, 2006; Yosso, 2006), the researcher disrupts the majoritarian narrative to illuminate how the powers-that-be could silence the voices of marginalized Black people of the Lucy Craft Laney High School community. Methodologically, the researcher uses oral history (Brown, 1998; Janesick, 2007; Leavy, 2011; Perks & Thomson, 1998; Ritchie, 2003) to collect counterstories (Bell, 1992; Delgado, 1995; Dixson, & Rousseau 2006; He & Ross, 2013, 2015; Solorzano & Yosso, 2002, 2009) which enable six former students who thrived at Lucy Craft Laney High School to challenge majoritarian deficit-oriented stories told through the powers-that-be and perpetuated by deficit-oriented policies. In order to suspend (Tuck, 2009) retribution to his participants, certain aspects of the counterstories were fictionalized and any content that might have tendencies to damage their careers or reputations was omitted. Following The Principles and Best Practices for Oral History adopted by the Oral History Association in 2009, the researcher collected his participants’ in-depth accounts on the past without making commentary on contemporary events.

Six findings have emerged from the inquiry. Racism, white supremacy, majoritarian tales, perpetuation of fear, and hate propaganda have been overtly and covertly beamed into deficit mindsets. Media outlets in the local community place a dark cloud on Lucy Craft Laney High School and its students as a degenerative pestilence. Counterstories challenge voices in power, disrupt the majoritarian narrative, shine light on necessary voices of the underrepresented, and galvanize a positive social and educational change. There is power in knowing and passing down the legacy of Lucy Craft Laney High School. Laney is a place where several types of curriculums are embodied: a place that embodies a curriculum of love where odds are stacked against and where love and dream prevail, a place that embodies a curriculum of insurgency where courage, wisdom, and strength are regained to strive for what one stands for, a place that embodies a curriculum of necessary voices where silenced struggles are heard and felt, and a place that embodies too many curriculums to name them all. Nevertheless, all the curriculums can be felt in the hearts of the graduates of Lucy Craft Laney High School.

The theme of enlightenment is interwoven throughout, showing that we all can learn once we step out of the shade and into the light. Each chapter begins with relevant poetry written by African Americans which ties in the theme of “the Light” throughout. In Epilogue, the researcher has composed letters to Black boys, Black girls, and Black teachers in the South with the intent to bring the light of the legacy of Miss Lucy Craft Laney and pass it on to enlighten hopes and dreams for all to shine.

Author

• Marquez Hall, Richmond County School System