Biographies of Educator Activists in Milwaukee: The Alternative Schools of the 1970s

• In Event: Justice, Activism, and Action

Abstract

Milwaukee has a history of alternative schools. The alternative school movement was founded by educator activists in the 1970s. In order to better understand the roots of the alternative schools of the 1970s, this study examined the biographies of parents and teachers who founded the alternative schools. Oral history narratives along with documents and data from informal and formal archives were used to craft biographies of the founders. Retrospective interviews of activists reveal the ideologies of democracy, community and freedom as core values for the activists which were then reflected in the school curricula and in the flexible school structures linking the biographies of educator activists with the schools they founded.

Author

• Raji Swaminathan, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee