Buried History of Black Public High Schools During Segregation:

• In Event: U.S. Education Systems and Anti-Black Racism

Abstract

Current perceptions about public education of Black Americans focus mainly on disparities and deficiencies. At the historical heart of these concepts is the assumption that segregation and under-resourced public education were the foundations of these disparities. We acknowledge the damaging effects of segregation and lack of resources but confirm the observation of Vanessa Siddle Walker (1996) that historians overlooked the resilience of Black educators before desegregation. We also recognize the deprivation and formidable array of problems faced by Black schools. However, we offer a counternarrative of developments in the Jim Crow era, namely, that Black-led schools in more populated areas of the South and Border states took advantage of human resources to overcome discrimination and lack of economic resources. Black university graduates were barred from jobs in the white establishment because of race. This injustice allowed Black-led public schools in more populated areas to hire the cream of the talent in Black society – including some of the best administrators and teachers in the country. In Kansas City 40% of teachers in a segregated high school had Master’s degrees as early as 1933, whereas teachers in local White schools had bachelor’s degrees.

In the past decade, the Internet has made available new information on many black schools of high-quality that were merged or closed or during desegregation. Tens of thousands of Black teachers lost their jobs, contributing to a stigma on the teaching profession for African Americans and shortages of Black teachers that continue to the present. Using data compiled from archival research on Black public high schools (leadership, curricula, alumni features), our paper assesses the curricula, educational policies, and special roles of Black principals during the Jim Crow era, in order to determine patterns of political socialization that influence Black civil rights leaders’ leadership traits. Curricula were as vast as to include classical studies and to include trades. Black principals’ responsibilities were greater than those of White principals, as among other things, they needed to seek external financial support and often served as the prime interface for the African American population with White political leaders.

More specifically, by focusing on the exploration of the early backgrounds of civil rights leaders from the South and Border states, we suggest that Black public high schools are formative political socialization agents. Their study yields new insights on the probable role of Black high schools in preparing and motivating the civil rights pioneers, both men and women. We suggest that the quality of their schools prior to desegregation contributed to the number and effectiveness of civil rights leaders in the campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s.

These leaders demonstrated a range of skills, as well as courage, as they sought to mobilize the African community against heavy odds. However, large gaps in information remain, regarding this important but largely buried chapter of Black educational history. Expanded research is needed to take advantage of the experience and knowledge of graduates of the schools and other relevant observers, while their witness remains available. Herein, we pursue this research journey to explore these schools through the initial lenses of their notable alumni.


Reference

Walker, Vanessa Siddle. 1996. Their Highest Potential: An African American School Community in the Segregated South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Authors

• Shayla C. Nunnally, University of Tennessee

• Frank T. Manheim, George Mason University