School Desegregation: Oral Histories toward Understanding the Effects of White Domination

236 Pages·2015·1.924 MB·English

by  George W. Noblit (eds.)

School Desegregation
BREAKTHROUGHS IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
Volume 4
Series Editor:
George W. Noblit, Joseph R. Neikirk Distinguished Professor of Sociology of
Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
In this series, we are establishing a new tradition in the sociology of education. Like
many fields, the sociology of education has largely assumed that the field develops
through the steady accumulation of studies. Thomas Kuhn referred to this as ‘normal
science.’ Yet normal science builds on a paradigm shift, elaborating and expanding
the paradigm. What has received less attention are the works that contribute to
paradigm shifts themselves. To remedy this, we will focus on books that move the
field in dramatic and recognizable ways—what can be called breakthroughs.
Kuhn was analyzing natural science and was less sure his ideas fit the social
sciences. Yet it is likely that the social sciences are more subject to paradigm shifts
than the natural sciences because the social sciences are fed back into the social
world. Thus sociology and social life react to each other, and are less able separate
the knower from the known. With reactivity of culture and knowledge, the social
sciences follow a more complex process than that of natural science. This is clearly
the case with the sociology of education. The multiplicity of theories and methods
mix with issues of normativity—in terms of what constitutes good research, policy
and/or practice. Moreover, the sociology of education is increasingly global in its
reach—meaning that the national interests are now less defining of the field and more
interrogative of what is important to know. This makes the sociology of education
even more complex and multiple in its paradigm configurations. The result is both
that there is less shared agreement on the social facts of education but more vibrancy
as a field. What we know and understand is shifting on multiple fronts constantly.
Breakthroughs is to the series for works that push the boundaries—a place where all
the books do more than contribute to the field, they remake the field in fundamental
ways. Books are selected precisely because they change how we understand both
education and the sociology of education.
School Desegregation
Oral Histories toward Understanding the Effects of White Domination
Edited by
George W. Noblit
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-94-6209-963-0 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-94-6209-964-7 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-94-6209-965-4 (e-book)
Published by: Sense Publishers,
P.O. Box 21858,
3001 AW Rotterdam,
The Netherlands
https://www.sensepublishers.com/
Printed on acid-free paper
Cover image by Echo Lilly Wilson
All Rights Reserved © 2015 Sense Publishers
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the
exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and
executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
For the Millennial generation and Chloe, Clayton and Ben—our
contributions to that generation. May your efforts be guided
by love for humanity rather than fear.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ix
Prologue: “I Began to See”: Barbara Lorie on School Desegregation xi
George W. Noblit and Jennifer Gorham
1. Introduction: School Desegregation and White Domination 1
George W. Noblit
Part 1: The Shift to Desegregated Schools
2. Remembering Pre- and Post-Desegregation in Northeastern
North Carolina 21
Sherick Hughes and Amy Swain
3. Educational Apartheid in Macon/Bibb County, Georgia:
An Oral History of Desegregation and Resegregation 37
Ashley P. Murray and Delores D. Liston
4. Segregation and Desegregation in Parsons, Kansas: Memories
of Douglass School 1908–1958 – Narrative of Marietta Smith 51
Jean Patterson
5. A Historically Black High School Remains Intact: We Weren’t
Thinking about White Students 63
Gerrelyn Patterson
Part 2: Student Experiences
6. The Final Days of Douglass School: The Narrative of Andrew
“Chip” Johnson 79
Jean Patterson
7. Dan Edwards Remembering Desegregation in Tampa: Introduction
and Commentary by Barbara J. Shircliffe 89
Barbara J. Shircliffe
8. Educational Apartheid in Macon/Bibb County, Georgia:
An Oral History of Desegregation and Resegregation,
Part II – Alethea’s Story 103
Ashley P. Murray and Delores D. Liston
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
9. Marilyn Matthiew: Remembering Desegregation in Tampa:
Introduction and Commentary by Barbara J. Shircliffe 117
Barbara J. Shircliffe
10. Just Let Them Have the School: A White Student’s Perspective
of School Desegregation 129
Gerrelyn Patterson
Part 3: Implementation and Administration of Desegregated Education
11. Ambivalence, Angst, and Hope: Black Principals in Mississippi 145
Natalie Adams and James H. Adams
12. “It’s Time to Make Things Right”: Symbolic Order and the
Limits of Imagination 159
Kate Willink
13. Implementing the “Law of the Land”: White Superintendents
in Mississippi 179
James H. Adams and Natalie Adams
Conclusion: White Backlash and Educational Reform – Then and Now 195
George W. Noblit and Matthew Green
Contributors 223
viii
PREFACE
This book is written for the Millennial generation. The Millennial generation,
tragically, has inherited a history of education reform and policy that is based in a
lie. The lie is that schools lost their way with school desegregation and that teachers
and students, and especially students of color, are responsible for a failing education
system. This was, and is, a lie. The lie was told by whites who were concerned that
equity would uncut their control over education and undercut the domination of
whites over American culture and politics. Many whites literally hate this statement.
They call it the ‘race card’. The race card scares whites because it trumps statements
that deny, or do not speak of, race differences. Often such denials of race take
the form of universal statements, such as “America stands for liberty”. The ‘race
card’ points out that there is not one America, America stands for suppression and
oppression of some groups, and some have more liberty than others. The evidence
for this is everywhere. Study after study shows the racial, class, language, and
gendered stratification of the United States.
Teachers and students, especially students of color, have never had the power
to make the educational system do anything. The power belongs to white elites, to
school boards, to state governments, to the Federal government, to policymakers,
to business leaders—whites are the dominant group in all these categories. Thus
we must revisit the idea that education lost its way with school desegregation. The
data for this assertion is simply not there. Student capability was increasing when
the lie was first told, contrary to what the lie says. Thus the lie had to be about
something else—and was. It was about reasserting white domination over education
and undercutting educational and race equity.
The lie led to 40 years of school reform that had little impact on educational
outcomes. It wasted untold dollars and an unknown number of student futures. But
white domination, in the form of federal centralization of policy and tight linkages of
education to business interests, has been reasserted. Equity is all but dead—we have
instead an achievement gap that seems intractable. There are moments and places
where the gap reduces but these are never sustained. It is now seen as a fact of life
when in fact it is the primary systematic outcome of white led school reform. No
other outcome is as systematic. There is no outcome that shows school reform was
effective for all children, regardless of political rhetoric.
The book counters the lie. It says that school desegregation was resisted and
undercut by whites. Thus school desegregation was never fully implemented—
whites stopped that from occurring. Whites are responsible for the outcomes
of school desegregation not people of color, not educators. Further, whites are
responsible for the 40 plus years of backlash to school desegregation. They—we—
are responsible for the current plight of our schools. White elites sacrificed all to get
control, to undercut equity. It is a well-kept secret that student achievement continues
ix