Oral Histories as Bloodlines, Lifelines, and Thru Lines for [Educational] Justice

• In Event: Education, Reparations, and the Elusive Quest for Black Educational Justice in Evanston, Illinois

Abstract

Purpose
In this paper, I consider how oral histories offer insight for reparatory justice and atonement (Brooks, 2004; Cha Jua et al, 2024). I explore how local racialized history and personal stories offer powerful directives for remedy and repair by asking, how can collective battle stories inform one school district’s efforts to return what’s owed to the local Black community?

Perspectives
Remedy and repair require atonement for the education debt, a series of historical, economic, sociopolitical, and moral decisions and policies that create an outstanding debt owed to Black people (Ladson-Billings, 2006). This debt is multiplied by the specific disdain for blackness that monopolizes our discourse, ideology, and practice in schools (Dumas, 2016).
I embrace Sharpe’s (2016) concept of Black annotation and redaction to “imagine otherwise,” look with care, and see beyond to make “Black life visible” (pp. 123,124). These are tools to resist and disrupt erasure, which I utilize to provide insight on how to design the new school in ways that redress for nearly 60 years of educational deprivation.

Methods & Data Sources
I listened to and for stories of Black elders and activists in Evanston, IL for eighteen months (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 2002). Listening began at three local archival sites in October 2022. Based on what I heard, and what I did not hear, I gathered additional oral histories beginning in January 2024. In sum, I explored the stories of 47 individuals; 27 were already in the archives and I gathered 20.

These oral histories were collected and synthesized to add to the historical record (Ritchie, 2005) and to inform school district plans. Oral histories ranged from 1-3 hours each, and focused on personal, familial, and communal educational experiences in Evanston. Particular attention was devoted to reflections and visions for the new school slated to open Fall 2026.

Findings
Black Evanstonians are concerned with the future. They give little credence to words, but instead want action that reflects an actualized commitment to requests they have been making across generations. In contrast to extant literature on reparatory justice and my expectations, elders and activists did not collectively desire atonement, nor an apology, but instead want restitution that demonstrates an understanding of the generational racialized harm caused by closing the neighborhood school in what was once a thriving self-sufficient enclave for Black Evanstonians. Relative to educational justice, Black Evanstonians want material realities and rehabilitative reparations (Brooks, 2004 p.156) that reflect what was stripped away when their community was decimated to facilitate school desegregation.

Significance
If the education debt is ever to be remedied, scholars must understand how historical context and oral histories can serve as invaluable directives for remedy. People often share pathways for repair if the listener seeks stories (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 2002). In this paper, I offer an otherwise, historically grounded visions, that can guide leaders of the local school district (Sharpe, 2016; Tachine and Nicolazzo, 2022). These oral histories are being shared with decision makers who are laying the foundation for the overdue return of a neighborhood school.

Author

• Shannon Paige Clark, University of Maryland - Eastern Shore