Constructing Possibilities for Advancing the Historical and Contemporary Relevance of Southern Black Educators’ Activism

Session Type: Working Group Roundtable

Abstract

The objective of this working group roundtable is to offer a forum for scholars, P-16 educators, and community members interested in learning more about the under-examined history and historiography of Black educators’ activism during the mid-twentieth century civil rights movement in U. S. Southern and border states. Presenters will discuss their independent historical projects and make connections to mounting controversies in the education profession today, most notably educational gag orders in P-12 schools and federal and state race-conscious admissions bans and tenure law retrenchments in higher education. Chairs and presenters will share strategies for applying history to real world concerns unfolding in real time through strategic coalition-building, innovative teacher- and community-led professional development, and youth programming in their respective locales.

Sub Unit

• Division F - History and Historiography

Chairs

• Derrick Alridge, University of Virginia

• Jon Hale, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Papers

• Civics Lessons as Activism in Alabama’s Long Civil Rights Movement - Tondra L. Loder-Jackson, University of Alabama - Birmingham

• Black Activism on Predominantly White College Campuses: Transplanting Successful Campaigns to Greater Results - Vanessa B. Garry, University of Missouri - St. Louis; Paulette Isaac Savage, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• The End of School Desegregation? School Improvement, Integration, and Equal Opportunity in Durham, NC - Vitaly Radsky, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill