Exploring the Survival of Historically Black Schools Amid Recurrent Waves of School Closures

• In Event: Equity in the Crosshairs: Leadership, Closure, and Advocacy in Contentious Times

Abstract

When institutions that sustain communities and cultures are under attack, it is crucial to learn from those that have survived nearly a century, despite political fluctuation. Utilizing a mixed methods approach including survival analysis methods with public school (NCES) and community census (ACS) data, paired with interview and observation data, this paper explores the household, community and school factors that contribute to school survival- highlighting historically Black schools that have survived over seventy years, amidst oscillating legal decisionmaking. Findings indicate that the alignment of community interest to specialized career programs, along with the integration of neighborhood-based third spaces (e.g. block clubs, libraries, parks, home associations)- acquired through complex networks of cultural leaders -attributes to greater survival.

Author

• Ja’Nya Banks, University of California - Berkeley