61.034 - Analyzing the Arc: What History Teaches Us About Civil Rights and Educational Justice

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session presents four critical studies of educational reforms during the long civil rights movement. What looked at first like ideal educational reforms took on multiple, contested meanings as new policies were put into practice. Reforms such as school desegregation, black textbooks, and teacher certification exams designed to improve educational opportunities for children of color were found to undermine the very objectives they were designed to achieve. This session demonstrates that a critical historical perspective can revitalize contemporary studies of race, equality, and social justice in education.

Sub Unit

• Division F - Historical Inquiry in Education

Chair

• Martha Biondi, Northwestern University

Papers

• Defining Merit and Measuring Quality: New York City Teacher Policy During the Post–World War II Years - Diana D'Amico, George Mason University

• "Integrated Out of Existence": Black Debates Over School Integration in New Jersey, 1941–1955 - Zoe Burkholder, Montclair State University

• "A Chance to Be Professional": Detroit Teachers, Textbook Writing, and the Ford Foundation, 1960–1967 - Jonna Perrillo, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Dual Benefits: White Philanthropy, Black Students, and Elite K–12 Private Schools - Michelle A. Purdy, Washington University in St. Louis

Discussant

• Martha Biondi, Northwestern University