Teaching Desegregation Stories

• In Event: “The South Has a Gravity”: Teaching Social Studies in the Soul of America

Abstract

In this paper, we share initial findings about teacher experiences planning and implementing curriculum developed in direct response to the members of the Memphis 13 who desegregated our local Memphis, Tennessee schools in 1961. We draw on King’s Black Historical Consciousness framework. Of the eight principles of the framework evident in our project, we highlight “Community, Local, and Social Histories” and “Black Joy and Emotionality”. The principle of “community, local, and social histories” illuminates stories of ‘regular’ people, especially children, who have been change-makers who fought injustice in everyday ways. The principle of “Black joy and emotionality” highlights the “resolve, joy, and emotionality in the past and present” (King, 2023, p. 4) of Black communities.
We employed critical-action research methodology to capture our work with community leaders and educators, as we collectively share accountability for improving educational outcomes (McCarty & Lee, 2014). Participants include two curriculum specialists from the school district and National Civil Rights Museum, and five teachers. Data for this project includes archived notes, materials, reflections, and transcriptions from meetings, individual interviews, and audio and video recordings from curriculum development workshops, which followed a focus group where participants listened to members of the Memphis 13 share what they hoped for in the curriculum.
This project focuses on the experiences of ‘regular’ people by highlighting narratives of school desegregation that are not typically told (Ladson-Billings, 2004) and centering narratives of children. Educators in the study wanted to ensure that the curriculum centered agency and the role of community members who supported The Memphis 13. They then developed a second and fifth-grade curriculum that centered the collective action of the students, their families, educators, principals, and community members. These stories were conveyed through a primary sources gallery walk emphasizing the role of children and collective effort needed for desegregation. One teacher underscored the close contextual relevance of the gallery walk by having it conclude in the school’s cafeteria, where there was a wall-sized mural of the children who first desegregated their school.
Duncan et al. (2023) argued for centering Black joy in social studies curriculum through resistance, freedom dreaming, and Black imagination. We found that Black joy and emotionality emerged throughout the curriculum development process, which resulted in Black joy being evident in the content and pedagogy of the curriculum. The process revealed stories that centered on celebration and reclamation for the members of the Memphis 13. One member even shared how she took her own holiday in honor of the day the Memphis 13 first integrated schools. After hearing her words, the teacher curriculum writers decided to include a way for second-graders to engage in that same celebration by writing to advocate for a Memphis 13 Holiday.
In collaborating with the members of the Memphis 13, the process of curriculum development and the resulting curriculum made way for agency, diverse experiences, and radical joy. Additionally, it highlighted narratives of desegregation in the South not always told, demonstrating the deep dedication to radical change held by teachers both historical and current.

Authors

• Anna Falkner, University of Memphis

• Gina English Tillis, The University of Memphis