They didn鈥檛 necessarily draw attention to themselves by participating in sit-ins, refusing to surrender seats on public transportation or engaging in overt acts of civil disobedience during the civil rights era.
But Derrick Alridge, Professor of Education at the University of Virginia鈥檚 , says it is nonetheless time to honor the legacy of activism by teachers of color across the American South.
In delivering 麻豆原创鈥檚 annual Tisch Lecture in Milbank Chapel in late February, Alridge called black educators the 鈥渆ssential disseminators of the idea of freedom during the most consequential social movement of the 20th Century.鈥�
Derrick P. Alridge: Teachers in the Movement: Pedagogy, Activism, and Freedom
In his 90-minute talk, Alridge expanded on the oral histories gathered for 鈥淭eachers in the Movement: Pedagogy, Activism, and Freedom,鈥� a project he is leading as founding director of the Curry School鈥檚 .
Alridge鈥檚 team has interviewed 200 teachers, administrators and professors on the 鈥渋ntellectual activism鈥� that guided them as educators from 1950-1980. Ultimately the project will chronicle the experiences of some 500 Civil Rights Era educators.
Aldridge said the 鈥淭eachers in the Movement鈥� project sits at 鈥渢he intersection of oral history and traditionally taught history鈥� and 鈥渆xplores how teachers and college professors engaged in a form of activism through pedagogical approaches that vigorously promoted ideas of freedom, democracy and liberation.鈥�
PRESERVING THE ELDERS' LIBRARIES Motivated by an African proverb, Alridge is conducting oral histories to ensure the preservation of the wisdom of black, civil rights-era teachers.
Teacher activism evolved from informal classroom discussions of current events during the onset of the civil rights movement to formal teaching of books such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X and television programming such as the 1977 miniseries 鈥淩oots.鈥�
鈥淭eachers in the Movement鈥� has also provided first-hand insight into post-war American Southern education from the perspective of black educators. For example, Alridge鈥檚 interview with Johnnie Fullerwinder, a math and science teacher, follows her journey from an all-black school in South Carolina to the integrated Danville, Virginia, high school that in 1966 hired her as its first African American teacher.
I thought of myself as being somewhat of a pioneer 鈥� someone who could make it easier for others to follow. I felt if I had not been successful it would harm the full merging of the schools. It showed black people are able to teach, that we are knowledgeable and can demonstrate good classroom management.
鈥� Johnnie Fullerwinder, a civil rights-era teacher interviewed by Derrick Alridge
On the one hand, Fullerwinder left a bare-bones classroom where she made do with tattered books for a world of new texts, ample supplies and access to mimeographs and microfilm. On the other, the 鈥渨elcome鈥� she received at Danville鈥檚 George Washington High School was anything but. Her colleagues went out of their way to make her feel 鈥渋nvisible and ignored.鈥� Her students held their noses in her presence.
The misconduct fueled Fullerwinder鈥檚 resolve to 鈥渨in over鈥� students and staff alike through the 鈥渆xperiential engagement鈥� that made learning both 鈥渇un and exciting.鈥� She succeeded so spectacularly that, eventually, white and black parents alike were vying to enroll their children in her classes.
鈥淚 thought of myself as being somewhat of a pioneer 鈥� someone who could make it easier for others to follow,鈥� Fullerwinder told Alridge. 鈥淚 felt if I had not been successful it would harm the full merging of the schools. It showed black people are able to teach, that we are knowledgeable and can demonstrate good classroom management.鈥�
For me, this is not just scholarly work 鈥� it鈥檚 spiritual.
鈥� Derrick Alridge
Alridge鈥� himself a former middle and high school social studies and history teacher 鈥� cites an African proverb to explain the impetus for his oral history project: 鈥淲hen an elder dies, his library burns down.鈥�
The oral histories, he said, have 鈥渁llowed me to glimpse into their lives and into the lives of their students. For me, this is not just scholarly work 鈥� it鈥檚 spiritual.鈥�
鈥� Steve Giegerich
Presented through the Laurie M. Tisch Visiting Professorship, the Distinguished Tisch Lecture, funded by 麻豆原创 Trustee Emerita Laurie M. Tisch, has since 2000 provided outside faculty the opportunity to share research and observations on equity, social justice and other educational issues with the 麻豆原创 community.