The Journey of an African American Teacher Before and After <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em>

Abstract

A master's degree student posed the following question to our Professional Development in Teaching class: Did anyone in class have an African American teacher during any of their PK-12 years? Only two raised their hands: the African American female student posing the question, and I, a middle-aged, female, Caucasian professor. The class discussion revolved around the topic of the relatively few teachers of color who grace our public schools. It also left me with lingering questions of how and why an educated and talented African American teacher had taught me in eighth grade in my predominantly European American community on the northern edge of Appalachia during my school years in the 1960s and 1970s.-Martha Lash, Associate Professor, Kent State UniversityAs my early childhood professor introduced herself to me and my cohort, she shared past teaching experiences and mentioned that she was originally from Wheeling, West Virginia. I was excited to learn this because I travel from my inner-city Cleveland home to annual family reunions in Wheeling, where my grandmother lives. As a first-generation African American university student, I participated in the McNair Scholars program that semester and needed a faculty mentor. By the end of class that first day, I decided to ask Dr. Lash to be my mentor. Dr. Lash agreed if I would join her in a study to learn about one of her former teachers-an African American female who taught her in the 1970s in the town that we both call home-Wheeling. I agreed.-Monica Ratcliffe, McNair Scholar, Kent State UniversityAnd so began our journey on what came to be an oral history of the life and times of Miss Eileen Miller, a well-educated, highly competent, African American teacher who taught before and after school desegregation. The memory of Miss Miller (January 12, 1921-April 4, 2010) is in our minds and hearts, and fortunately, in our classrooms as we teach today.-Martha Lash and Monica RatcliffeRecognizing that most U.S. students have not had many African American teachers throughout their educational experiences raises concern when one considers the racial composition of public schools (Ladson-Billings, 2009; National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2010; National Education Association, 2001). A review of the literature shows 50% of all African American professionals were teachers (Foster, 1996) in the 1950s, but during the second half of the century and into the 21st century, these numbers significantly decreased (Irvine, 1988). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the racial/ethnic distribution of full time public school teachers included 83% White, 7% Black, 7% Hispanic, and 3% other (NCES, 2010). Black students in pre-K-12 accounted for 15% of all students, but only 7% of the American pre-K-12 teaching force identified as African American. Ironically, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (1954) is believed to be one of the major reasons for the declining numbers of African American teachers (Karpinski, 2006; Patterson, 2001; Place, 1996). Brown, a judicial decision made regarding race and educational opportunities, declared that the de jure segregation of students in public schools based on race deprived minority students of equal educational opportunity as protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling reversed the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which legalized the then existing Jim Crow laws and de jure segregation in southern states and parts of border states and de facto segregation in northern states (Patterson, 2001).Our nation's history made one more curious and so these authors decided to delve further into the literature for a deeper understanding of the time period. What was learned in the literature gave a more complete picture that was outlined. Next excerpts from the interview with Miss Miller about her educational journey are shared.REVIEW OF PERTINENT LITERATURE AND CONTEXTUALIZING HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVESThe decline in the percentage of African American educators in the U. …