Beyond School Desegregation: Examining Educational Access and Opportunity in the Mid-20th Century

• In Event: The Administrative State of Education in the 20th Century

Abstract

Given all that we know about Black educational history, we know less about the relationship between increased federal government intervention and African American educational opportunity in the mid-20th century. This paper extends what we know about the intersection of Black educational history and the history of federal educational policy and programs by examining the origins of Upward Bound. By focusing on Upward Bound, we understand how the federal government interacted with local schools and higher education institutions to advance opportunity, and we can consider how deficit notions undergirded such efforts. Delving into the history of Upward Bound yields insight into how and why the Black freedom struggle intersected with, led to, and caused policy, institutional, and social changes.

Author

• Michelle A. Purdy, Washington University in St. Louis
  Presenting Author