Pedagogies of Care and Justice: African American High School Art Teachers During the Civil Rights Era in the Segregated South

Abstract

This study examines the art pedagogies at Southern African American high schools during the civil rights era (1955–1969). I examine three segregated high schools located in South Carolina as a lens to highlight art pedagogies that were practiced; I expose counterstories by three former students, a student teacher, and the wife of an art teacher; I support my findings by reviewing archival data; and I illustrate how several caring African American Art Educators contributed to the agency of African American Students to achieve racial equality and justice. By locating these counterstories alongside an African American care-and-justice framework developed by Siddle Walker and Snarey, I discuss how exemplary art teachers’ pedagogical practices actualize and expand care and racial equality.