(Re)Defining Teacher Leadership: Insights from the History of Black Teachers in the Segregated South

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Sunday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Developing and Supporting Teacher Leadership Roles

Abstract

This paper redefines teacher leadership by centering the professional, intellectual, and community practices of Black teachers in the segregated South. Using archival materials and a critical historiographical framework, it argues that dominant definitions are ahistorical and atheoretical due to the exclusion of Black educators’ foundational contributions. Applying national teacher leadership standards as analytic codes, documents from the Palmetto Education Association’s Department of Classroom Teachers (1956–1967) reveal how Black teachers enacted leadership. The findings challenge prevailing frameworks by advancing an equity-centered model rooted in intellectual agency, professional autonomy, and community commitment. This work calls for school reform grounded in Black teacher traditions and offers a reimagined vision of teacher leadership as a lever for equity, justice, and pedagogical excellence.

Author

• Miyoshi Juergensen, University of Alabama - Birmingham