History as Guide: Untold Stories of a Community-Valued and Dismantled Historically Black School (1867–2008)

• In Event: Documenting History of Education: Methods, Narratives, and Stories

Abstract

Echoing Siddle-Walker’s (1996) findings about the community’s fondness for the Caswell County Training School (1933-1969), this paper explores a Black community’s perspective of the meaning and value of its local elementary school. John F. Cook Elementary School (JFCS) was located in the Truxton Circle neighborhood, a Black community in Washington, DC, and operated from 1867-2008. Similar to other historically Black metropolitan neighborhoods throughout the United States that were dispossessed and displaced by gentrification (Pearman & Greene, 2022), JFCS was also disproportionately impacted by standards-based reforms that ignored the racialized nature of schooling (Nasir et al., 2016). This paper shares oral history narratives of former students, parents, and staff from JFCS and seeks to better understand the school’s legacy and value.

Authors

• Danielle M. Carrier, University of Southern Mississippi

• Olufunmilayo Jones, District of Columbia Public Schools