Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Curriculum and Instruction (Education)

This exploratory and descriptive study illuminates the lives of African American female teachers who lived in the upper Ohio River Valley between 1875 and 1915. Existing current research depicts teachers in the South and urban North during this period. This study highlights teachers from northern, small to midsized cities in order to bring them into the historical record and direct attention to their contributions to education. The focus of this historical, intrinsic, embedded, single-case case study was on the social profile, educational opportunities, teaching experiences, and support networks of Pocahontas Simmons Peyton, Susie Simmons (Jones?), Bernadine Peyton Sherman, Mary Peyton Dyson, Anna Stevens Posey, and Elizabeth Jennie Adams Carter. Three additional themes emerged from the data. They involved inconsistent community attitudes, male-defined perspectives, and multigenerational connections and successes.The case for this study was bounded by time, place, race, gender, and occupation. The units of analysis were selected from a pool of 27 names using the maximum-variation purposeful sampling method. The central research question asked how the women operated within the educational systems of the three-state area of western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and southeastern Ohio. The researcher employed multiple methods of data collection in order to triangulate the data and provide rich description of the women within the context of the bounded system. The findings suggest that these women were part of a tradition of exemplary service to education. Although they were unique, these women shared characteristics with teachers in other areas of the country. With one exception, they worked in segregated schools with poor to adequate resources. Each woman had a range of educational options open to her, but not all options were available in each location. The women were skilled at using support networks and their own abilities to navigate within the educational (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David F. Bower Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Rosalie Romano Ph.D. (Committee Member); Adah Ward Randolph Ph.D. (Committee Member); James O'Donnell Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; American History; Black History; Education History; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2009, Educational Leadership

Many Americans in the nineteenth century argued for limited education for blacks –or no education at all for African Americans in the south. As a result, black churches took up the role and pushed for education as a means to liberate African Americans. The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church stands as a good exemplar for a black denomination that explicitly expressed in their policies that they understood the connection of education to African American liberation. This study is a historical analysis of the AME Church's advocacy of African American empowerment through education from 1816 to 1893. In the AME Church's nineteenth century doctrinal statements and publications the leaders explicitly stated that education was a necessary component for black liberation. In this dissertation I argue that, although there were other organizations that pushed for African American education in the nineteenth century, the African Methodist Episcopal Church stood at the fore in advocating for education and connecting it to African American liberation. My primary question is: How did the AME Church connect their advocacy for black education to liberation for African Americans in the nineteenth century? The dissertation will explore two aspects of liberation in the nineteenth century. During the first half of the nineteenth century–from the AME Church's founding in 1816 through the end of the Civil war in 1865 –the Church worked toward a liberation that was focused on the abolition of slavery and overcoming racial oppression. In the latter half of the nineteenth century from 1865 to 1893 –with the death of Bishop Payne– the AME Church focused on a liberation that was geared toward the notions of uplift and self-agency within the black community, namely black social, economic, and political advancement. The last chapter will examine how this historical analysis has implications for transforming African American education in present times. The text will examine the black chu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kate Rousmaniere PhD (Committee Chair); Mark Giles PhD (Committee Member); Kathleen Knight-Abowitz PhD (Committee Member); Carla Pestana PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; African History; American History; American Literature; American Studies; Bible; Black History; Education; Education History; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; History; Literacy; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multicultural Education; Philosophy

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2015, Leadership and Change

This study is a leadership biography which provides, through the lens of Black feminist thought, an alternative view and understanding of the leadership of Black women. Specifically, this analysis highlights ways in which Black women, frequently not identified by the dominant society as leaders, have and can become leaders. Lessons are drawn from the life of Anna Julia Cooper that provides new insights in leadership that heretofore were not evident. Additionally, this research offers provocative recommendations that provide a different perspective of what leadership is among Black women and how that kind of leadership can inform the canon of leadership. Cooper's voice in advocacy, education, community service, and involvement in the Black Women's Club Movement are the major themes in which evidence of her leadership is defined. This leadership biography moves beyond the western hegemonic point of view and the more traditional ways of thinking about leadership, which narrowly identify effective leaders and ways of thinking about leadership development. The findings of this study propose an alternative view of leadership that calls attention to the following critical elements: 1. Black women carry the co-identifers, gender and race, which continue to be nearly nonexistent in leadership theories, discourse, and mainstream leadership literature. 2. The positivist view, as being the only legitimate knowledge claim, must continue to be challenged. 3. There is a need to correct and update our history, making it more inclusive of all human beings. This leadership biography centers on the notion that Cooper, as a quintessential leader, remains paradoxical. For the most part, she continues to be an unknown figure to most Americans, both Black and White. Yet, remnants of Cooper's ideology and leadership are prolific. It is precisely this dissonance between Cooper the undervalued figure and Cooper the scholar/activist leader that is being analyzed in this study. Under (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jon Wergin Ph.D (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre Ph.D (Committee Member); Barbara Nevergold Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Biographies; Black History; Black Studies; Continuing Education; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Gender; Gender Studies; Higher Education; History; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2010, Leadership and Change

This dissertation examines the history and impact of color-blind educational reform in the post-Brown era on racial inequality of educational opportunities and outcomes in America's public schools. Through the lens of critical race theory and race critical theory, the dissertation employs a dual analysis. A macro analysis of the evolution and impact of colorblind educational reform on the national level is juxtaposed with a micro, case-study analysis of the history of color-blind educational reform at a historically Black high school. The historical analysis of the relationship between race and education encompasses intellectual and social aspects of education in the U.S. during the pre-Brown era, however, this dissertation's primary interest is on the past forty years, 1970 to the present. The dissertation draws on the work of traditional critical race scholars, critical race theorists in education, and critical theory pedagogues. Largely informed by document and policy evidence, the aim of the macro analysis is to reconstruct the history of education in the U.S. from a race-critical perspective. While archival evidence is very important to the microanalysis, the locus of analysis at the micro level centers on the narrative, antenarrative, microstoria, and lived experiences of the people most closely associated with the case study. By making the people its focus, the dissertation uncovered nuanced understandings and submerged interpretations that provide valuable insight into the relationship between race, education, and educational reform in the African American community. The resulting narrative exposed the racialized oppression of color-blind educational reform and the effects of internalized racism, and suggested the need for a counterhegemonic culture and emancipatory pedagogy in predominantly African American schools, thus revealing hopeful possibilities in the development of a race-critical twenty-first century conscientization. The electronic version of thi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Chair); Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Member); Heather Andrea Williams PhD (Committee Member); George W. Noblit PhD (Other) Subjects: African Americans; American History; Black History; Education; Education History; History; School Administration; Secondary Education; Teaching; Vocational Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, History

This dissertation focuses on the development of the Lost Cause mythology in North Carolina between the 1880s to the 1920s. The Lost Cause is a racist and inaccurate view of the Civil War years promoted by Neo-Confederate Southerners. This dissertation argues that the Lost Cause developed primarily through the efforts of Neo-Confederate organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy. These individuals built a compound-public space that united grassroots movements with official governmental figures to promote the Lost Cause mythology. The formation of this compound-public space and its impact on the Lost Cause provided the necessary cultural support for the development of a Democratic-backed white supremacist campaign in North Carolina in 1898 conducted to reduce the political power of Republicans and African Americans, and to re-establish Democratic hegemony. This dissertation explores the ways in which Neo-Confederates constructed the compound-public space including: the role of politics, gender, religion, education, the media, and Confederate monuments with the express goal of increasing the political power of the Democratic Party.

Committee: Joan Cashin (Advisor); John Brooke (Advisor); Stephanie Shaw (Committee Member); Paula Baker (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Black History; Education History; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Journalism; Mass Media; Modern History; Religion; Religious History; Teacher Education; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This historical research study situates the pedagogical work of Dr. Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs (1915-2010) within the histories of art education. By situating a Black women art educator into the histories of art education during the 1940s-1960s, the history of art education must be reconsidered. By tracing and crafting a bridge from the work of Carter G. Woodson and the concept of fugitive pedagogies to Dr. Burroughs, a clearer picture of the art classroom within de facto segregated high schools emerges. Utilizing alternative historical methods such as microhistory, critical fabulation, and place-based methodologies, Margaret's educational career comes into focus, challenging the dominant narratives within histories that continue to obfuscate the work of Black art teachers. The analysis first looks at Margaret's biographical information prior to becoming a teacher, including her experiences within the school systems of Louisiana and Chicago. From there, I trace the ways that art education became a major theme in her life, and the ways that her art teachers worked to provide her the opportunity to become an art educator. The second section focuses on two different layers of analysis: one utilizing the tenets of fugitive pedagogies to deepen our understanding of Margaret's work in her high school classroom; the second focusing on the importance of place and how being in Bronzeville and dedicating herself to her community impacted her and gave her a reason to leave the classroom and become the head of the DuSable Museum of African American History.

Committee: Joni Acuff (Advisor); Clayton Funk (Committee Member); Shari Savage (Committee Member); James Sanders III (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Art Education

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2020, Educational Theory and Social Foundations

The purpose of this oral history is to document the lived experience of the learning environment of African American students and culturally specific practices of African American teachers who taught in the legally segregated Louisvlle Central High School. Historically, segregated African American schools have been depicted as inferior educational institutions. By offering a counter-narrative of educational success within a segment of the African American community in the Jim Crow South the central thesis of this oral history is a counter-narrative to the suppositions of cultural deficit as the primary theory explaining the achievement gap between the majority population and minorites. By exploring the lived experience of the characteristics of the school culture and environment and the characteristics of those responsible for teaching, this oral history adds to the body of literature which shows that the achievement gap cannot be adequately explained by reference to cultural deficit. Moreover, the counter-narrative points toward significant issues pertaining to education and justice. As a legal, constitutional matter by legally denying free and equal access to public institutions and the public sphere de jure segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and was thereby unconstitutional. In striking down legal segregation Brown established an equal civil right to equal access and thus formal equality of opportunity. As an educational matter (as opposed to a strictly constitutional one), however, the findings of this oral history, that the educational environment of Louisville Central High School was not culturally and educationally deprived, suggests that the quality and effectiveness of education is a matter that is independent of the strictly legal matter of the right to formal equality of opportunity as equal access. While being of the greatest significance for a democratic and just society, the civil right to free and equal acces (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dale Snauwaert (Committee Chair); Edward Janak (Committee Member); Vicki Dagostino (Committee Member); Fuad Al-Daraweesh (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Education History; Educational Sociology; Teacher Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, EDU Policy and Leadership

This study assesses the historical and educational implications of a ‘griotic' methodology that was employed by free African Americans in the antebellum North. This griotic methodology involved a textual production of history by and for African Americans that was derived from a West African oral/performance basis of history. The study therefore examines how a distinctive approach of history production developed among free African Americans from the late 1700s through the 1830s as they appropriated, engaged and/or countered prevailing European American discourses. Most important to the study is how these early intellectuals sought to vindicate, historicize and liberate themselves through re-presenting the idea of ‘Africa' as the metaphorical source and destiny of their race. Educational implications of this griotic methodology are subsequently highlighted in the study as it is applied as pedagogy in a post-secondary classroom to empower African African students. In order to establish an endogenous prism through which to examine this distinctive African American methodology, this study integrates a number of qualitative and historiographical components: an intellectual autobiography of the author who is an African American male educator; oral histories of African and African American history professors; and assessments of recent African American scholarship that focus on early African identity politics in the Americas. From these analyses, the author delineates and employs a ‘griotic' framework that involves a dialogue between the present and past, to chart how a West African oral/performance basis of history ascended into the textual productions of Olaudah Equiano, John Marrant, Peter Williams Jr., William Hamilton, Jacob Oson, David Walker and Maria Stewart. The historical usage of this ‘griotic' methodology is then emphasized within these works as a liberatory praxis by which early free Africans empowered their identity politics. While this African American appr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Antoinette Errante Ph.D. (Advisor); Leslie Alexander Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ousman Kobo Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Education; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Ethnic Studies; History; Multicultural Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Educational Policy and Leadership

The guiding purpose of this study was to explore and investigate the social, cultural, and educational worlds of Anne Moody, Daisy Bates, and Angela Davis from 1940-1970. The autobiographies served as cultural artifacts and historical narratives of specific times, events, and aspects in the authors' lives. In choosing to conduct the study using a qualitative paradigm, I was not only able to examine how these three African- American women navigated and negotiated the worlds of race, class, and gender during the period of 1940-1970, but was also able to offer descriptive details of the multiple meanings of their lived experiences during the Educational Reform, Civil Rights, and Black Nationalists/Power movements that took place during the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Utilizing the fields of educational anthropology, the politics of education, educational history, policy studies, the history of African American education and the qualitative research methods for education. This study examined the autobiographical works of Anne Moody, Daisy Bates, and Angela Davis as sites: (1) to explore the dynamics and impact of racial and school segregation and efforts toward racial and school desegregation, (2) to describe and understand the Higher Education experiences of the writers, and (3) to examine the cultural and social lives of the three authors.

Committee: Antoinette Errante (Advisor) Subjects: Education, History of