Urban Rev DOI 10.1007/s11256-015-0334-9
No Longer Silent: An Autobiographical/Biographical Exploration of a School Desegregation Experience Vicki R. Lind1 • LaVerne Bell-Tolliver2
Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract The following article explores the experiences of one of the authors who desegregated a junior high school during the early 1960s. The article is written as an auto/biographical study and resulted from the collaboration between two university professors. We believe this dualistic approach, grounded in ecological theory and referencing culturally responsive pedagogy, allowed us to explore the experiences of desegregation from a unique perspective. Two primary themes emerged from this study: silenced and giving voice. These themes will be defined and explored and implications will be offered. Keywords African American Culturally responsive pedagogy Desegregation Music Race Student The following article is an auto/biographical study that resulted from the collaboration between two faculty members at an urban university. During the fall of 2011, the two of us met for the first time. I (LaVerne) have been a member of the Chancellor’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock since its inception in 2007. The chancellor, Dr. Joel Anderson, called on faculty members across the campus to join a discussion on the subject of race in order to explore ways to ultimately resolve what he considered to be Arkansas’ biggest and most enduring problem. He challenged us with the statement, ‘‘You have to face it to fix it.’’ By way of introduction to new participants in the fall of 2011, the chancellor asked me to tell my story of desegregating Forest Heights. & Vicki R. Lind
[email protected] 1
Department of Music, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock Arkansas 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock, AR 77204, USA
2
School of Social Work, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University, Ross Hall 417, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA
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During that brief presentation, I talked about the role music played in helping me go through the experience a little easier. Dr. Vicki Lind, a music professor, became fascinated upon hearing the role of music in my life and later invited me to join her for coffee and a chat. We have continued chatting since that time. After our initial conversation, we agreed to collaborate on an auto/biographical study focusing on my experiences at Forest Heights Junior High School. I (LaVerne) was eager to join Vicki in writing an article primarily because of the challenges and frustrations I experienced in previous years as I attempted to write from an autobiographical perspective, or the researcher as self. Before my mother passed away, she frequently encouraged me to write about the Forest Heights experience. During my failed writing attempts I only succeeded in saving the material on my computer; my past seemed to catch and overwhelm me in a sea of emotions. My style of writing even seemed to regress. Vicki’s more objective position and presence as a researcher, however, seemed to free me somewhat from becoming so emotionally connected to the memories of that experience. This method allowed me to respond to the questions being asked without having to think about what seemed to be the most important things readers would want to know. I (Vicki) moved to Little Rock in 2011 and joined the Chancellor’s Committee on Race soon afterwards. My research interests have focused on race, ethnicity and culture, and music learning; being a part of the committee has been an incredible opportunity for me to connect with faculty members with similar interests. At one of my first meetings, Dr. LaVerne Bell-Tolliver described her experiences as the first (and only) African-American student to desegregate a Little Rock junior high school. As she talked, she mentioned her experiences in the choir as being one of the few bright spots in what was otherwise a traumatic experience. I was fascinated with LaVerne’s comments and left the meeting with several questions running through my mind. Because I am a music teacher, I was particularly interested in what made the choir class different. Was it the teacher, was it the students, or was it music? I also wondered what led people to create such a hostile school environment, and I wondered if there might be parts of LaVerne’s story that would help us avoid making similar mistakes 50 years later. I emailed LaVerne and asked if we could meet; I wanted to hear more of her story. We met on campus for coffee and LaVerne told me what it was like for her to desegregate Forest Heights Junior High School. Originally, we met to discuss her experiences with music in the choral classroom. Our conversation broadened, however, and we found ourselves discussing many aspects of schooling and desegregation. We agreed to continue meeting, hoping that we could find a time and place to tell her story. This paper is a result of our on-going collaboration. I (Vicki) felt privileged to be a part of this process. LaVerne openly shared her very personal and moving story with me, and she has trusted me to be a part of the story telling. We both believe there is an important purpose in documenting her experiences at Forest Heights Junior High School and we are committed to telling this story as truthfully as possible. Her story is a part of the American history that documents the realities of prejudice and discrimination. Through her experiences, I have come to better understand the impact of these injustices on our children and I better understand the inequality that still exists in American schools today.
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Theoretical Perspective This study was guided by ecological theory. As a social worker, LaVerne’s work has focused on theories related to African American families and environmental stressors. Her work has been grounded in ecological theory among others (BellTolliver et al. 2009). Ecological theory is defined as a model for looking at the complex layers of societal influences upon child development. In developing the theory, Bronfenbrenner (1986), looked at the interactions among individuals, families, communities, and the larger environment as well as the immediate environmental influences. The microsystem level includes the child within the context of the nuclear family. The interactions between parent and child prepare the child to face what he/she encounters in other settings (Bronfenbrenner 1979). The next layer is the mesosystem. For the child, this tends to be the individual’s school environment, including interactions with teachers and fellow students. The exosystem level is that environment in which the child is not directly involved; however, it may have an indirect impact on the child. For example, the child’s parents may work outside of the home. What happens in the work setting tends to influence or affect what happens at home. The chronosystem level is that layer that allows one to explore what has occurred either over time or at certain points in time. One is able to consider how specific periods of time, such as the civil rights era or the period of desegregation in Little Rock, impacted LaVerne’s life and the lives of others who desegregated the schools (Bronfenbrenner 1986). Finally, the macrosystem extends to the largest form of a system, to include one’s interactions with large entities such as school districts, governments, court systems, etc. (Poehlmann et al. 2010) Vicki’s work in education, specifically in the area of culturally responsive pedagogy (Villegas and Lucas 2002; Gay 2010) and music learning served to guide the interview questions and informed the data collection. The theory of culturally responsive pedagogy is based on the belief that students’ cultural orientations must be taken into consideration when designing and implementing classroom practices. Butler et al. (2007) specifically looked at music learning and culturally responsive pedagogy in a 2007 study, investigating how race, ethnicity and culture can mediate and impact the interactions among teachers, students, content, context, and instruction and thus influence music learning.
Purpose of Study The purpose of this inquiry was to explore LaVerne’s experiences as she desegregated a previously all white junior high school. This research was guided by two questions I (Vicki) had in mind when I initially contacted LaVerne. First, I wanted to understand how her experiences with desegregation impacted her life. Acknowledging that this is one person’s story and that the story can’t (and shouldn’t be generalized), I also wanted to know what we could learn from LaVerne’s experiences that might help us better understand students today.
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Conversations between the co-authors allowed us to discuss, among other topics, how one’s worldview is altered by one’s surroundings or circumstances. We took the opportunity to explore how LaVerne’s worldview and self-image were influenced by her experiences as the only African American student placed in an all-White academic environment. Review of the Literature Our literature review will begin with a section written to provide the reader with the context for this study. Following the brief discussion of the historical events leading up to desegregation in Little Rock, we have provided our reader with an overview of literature specifically focusing on the impact of desegregation. The Effects of Desegregation on African American Students The historical event of desegregation may be seen as occurring on a large scale macrosystem model level, in that the courts and school systems across the country were influential in either bringing about new rulings that led to laws or were responsible for carrying them out in their school districts. At the same time, those changes had significant chronosystem level ramifications for the children and families who previously experienced life largely within one racial frame. Scholarly writing on the subjects of both segregation and desegregation has been in abundance since the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. In a fairly early study, Katz (1964) reviewed the effects of desegregation on the academic achievement of African Americans. Silverman and Shaw (1973) focused on the effects of sudden mass school desegregation and the interactions and attitudes of African American and Caucasian students during this process, while Braddock and Dawkins (1984) studied the long-term effects of desegregation on African Americans in the south. Stephan (1978) evaluated the outcome of the predictions that were made with regard to desegregation and the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Topeka decision. Several scholars including Drury (1980), Shaw (1974) and Williams and Byars (1968, 1970) have explored the impact of desegregation on the self-esteem of African American Students. The results of both quantitative and qualitative studies investigating desegregation over the past 50 years have been mixed. Kurlaender et al. (2005) and Williams and Byars (1970) reported positive outcomes of desegregation in their research while others, including Drury (1980), Patterson et al. (2008), Stephan (1978) and Williams and Byars (1968) reported negative outcomes. The results of studies conducted by Noblit and Mendez (2008) and Reber (2005) indicated desegregation actually resulted in ‘‘re-segregation.’’ With regard to this current manuscript, we chose to explore the literature that discussed how students were affected by their experiences attending schools where the majority of the student body was of a single race or ethnicity that differed from their own. Specifically, we explored the literature that discussed the influence of desegregation on academic performance and self-esteem. In order to situate the literature review within the context of this current study, we began by providing
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information on the events that were taking place in Little Rock, Arkansas at the time LaVerne attended an otherwise all White school. The Historical Context: Little Rock, Arkansas On the hills of the Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, the public school system of Little Rock began to make plans to desegregate the schools. A statement was made in 1954 that the Little Rock public schools would desegregate. Virgil Blossom, superintendent of schools at that time, designed a phase-in plan that would begin desegregation in the elementary schools. In spite of tremendous negative pressure, and after several court delays and appeals, the desegregation of Little Rock public schools began in the fall of 1957 (The Central Arkansas Library System 2014). Desegregation in Little Rock did not begin at the elementary school level (e.g., Dollarway School District and Dallas Independent School District), as was the case in several schools in other parts of Arkansas and across the south, but was first implemented at Central High School. Newspaper and television accounts documented a violent beginning to desegregation in Little Rock and, amidst much controversy; Governor Orval Faubus halted the process by ordering Central High School closed during the 1958–59 school year. Ultimately, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Faubus’ order, and the schools were re-opened in 1959 (Forster 9/5/1960). As a result of that year’s closure of the high schools, desegregation did not begin in junior high schools until the fall of 1961, a delay of 1 year. This delay was requested by the Little Rock School Board and approved by Judge Gordon E. Young of the U.S. District Court (Arkansas Democrat (9/10/1961) The rationale for the delay was that the desegregation process at the high school level had not taken place smoothly, and that an additional year was needed to ensure the next phase, that of desegregation of the junior high schools, would meet with success (Arkansas Gazette 6/14/1960). As a result, 39 students who attempted to desegregate the junior high schools all met with defeat when they met with the Little Rock School Board (Arkansas Gazette 6/14/1960). Desegregation did not happen quickly or easily; however, the process continued and by 1961, junior high schools were included in the desegregation plan (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 1977). The Little Rock School Board successfully thwarted attempts to have a sudden mass influx of African American students, such as was mentioned by Silverman and Shaw (1973) when they agreed to follow the orders of the Federal District Court and Act No. 461 of 1959, the Arkansas Pupil Assignment Law, a law that arose from a case in which students in Dollarway, Arkansas were previously prohibited from enrolling in all White schools based solely on their race (271 F.2d 132:Parham Dollarway School District, v. Dove, 10/8/ 1959). The Little Rock School Board decided to use that law, however, to adopt additional regulations in order to assign only the African American students they believed met certain personality and academic criteria they established for admission to previously all White schools (Arkansas Gazette (5/21/1960; Resolution of Board of Directors, Little Rock School District 3/24/1960).
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Among the records studied were personal data; attitude as judged by the students’ teachers; special abilities, if any; school and extra curricular activities; attendance records; scholarship and intelligence, achievement and other standardized test data. With reference to the present sixth and ninth grade students, there were also considered school preference indications and standardized personality evaluations (Minutes of the Little Rock Board of Education Executive Session, May 23, 1961, p. 1). The Influence of Desegregation on Academic Performance Since its rocky inception, desegregation has been the topic of numerous research articles. Katz’s (1964) review of the literature found several factors that negatively affected academic performance. Social threats, described as ‘‘a class of social stimulus events that tend to elicit anxious expectations that others will inflict harm or pain’’ (1964, pp. 381, 382) tended to result in a feeling of anxiousness, fear of performing well academically, and fear of both social rejection and disapproval from peers and teachers. These social threats at this exosystem level were seen as having the potential to occur at any time, or on a constant basis. Students might feel helpless to prevent the threats from happening or becoming more real. Katz also reported that feelings of inferiority were found to negatively influence academic achievement. These threats and fears might lead to academic failure, increased anxiety, shame, and possibly a display of negative behaviors for some students. Cohen et al. (1987) found teacher expectations, classroom climate, and the grade level of the children when desegregation occurred to contribute significantly to the students’ academic achievement. Although teacher expectations and classroom environment tended to apply more to Asian students than to African American students in this study, the findings do have implications for all students. The Influence of Desegregation on Self-Esteem From a developmental perspective, by the time an adolescent reaches junior high or middle school, one’s self-esteem and academic performance are largely influenced by the individual’s relationships with peers and teachers. Bronfenbrenner described this level of involvement as the mesosystem (1986). Erik Erikson identified the period of time that youth are in grades 7–9 as the psychosocial stage of identity versus identity confusion (Munley 1975). The adolescent must move towards what has been described as a largely unconscious process of developing a sense of self and self-worth in order to progress to the next stage of intimacy versus isolation (Hoare 2013). Adolescents in general are about the business of establishing who they are, identifying their values and beliefs, and exploring a sense of identity. Hoare indicated that Erikson saw the stage of identity—as is the case of all of the stages—as one that is not completed; rather, it is, in essence, a journey that is begun in this adolescent period. The way in which one has effectively moved through previous stages influences each subsequent stage. It is helpful to consider this developmental theory as one considers the effects of the mesosystem, for example the child’s school, on the individual. To the extent
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that the person feels competent and actively engaged in the activities of one’s life, the more comfortable the adolescent feels with his or her life (Hoare 2013) Williams and Byars (1968) suggested that students tended to evaluate themselves on the basis of what others think and verbalize about them. They found self-esteem in males decreased during the course of de-segregation, while the self-esteem of the female participants in their study increased. In contrast, Stephan (1978) noted that self-esteem for African American students in general was higher prior to rather than after desegregation. Self- esteem is derived, at least in part, as a matter of the development process and consequently as a result of establishing racial and ethnic identity. Wakefield and Hudley (2007) defined this as ‘‘the sense of belonging that an adolescent feels toward a racial or ethnic group as well as the significance and qualitative meaning that the adolescent assigns to the group membership’’ (p. 148). For African Americans and other minorities, part of that identity involves making some determination of what being a member of a certain racial or ethnic group means to them (Wakefield and Hudley 2007). Adolescents are influenced by the messages they receive about themselves from people within their environments including teachers, and peers. The atmosphere and interactions a student would experience in a de-segregated school would, therefore, play a large role in determining how successful they would be at developing a healthy sense of self-esteem. Home et al. (2005) used a qualitative approach with regard to exploring the reactions of students who attended racially mixed schools. The unique aspect of this study was that the students were interviewed as adults. The researchers interviewed 245 graduating high school students of the class of 1980: 137 Caucasian, 81 African American, 21 Hispanic/Latino, 1 Asian, and 5 ‘‘other’’. Although all of the students were reported to have been grateful to have the opportunity to attend desegregated schools, several described the process of attending as at times being painful, thus having somewhat of a negative influence on their levels of self-esteem. Nevertheless, they believed the de-segregated experience helped them to become better equipped to live in the larger world. I mean, that it’s a world view thing… it’s not just a sociological little experiment, it’s your entire world view is altered by who you’re growing up with, and it’s not just who you’re going to school with, but who you’re growing up with, who are you sharing every minute of your day and every secret that you have…when you have that experience, that alters your entire world view, which then is the lens that you’re operating through every day (Holme et al. 2005, p. 18). The reference to worldview was particularly significant for our study. Discussions about the literature and the subsequent conversations between the co-authors allowed us to discuss how one’s worldview is altered by one’s surroundings or circumstances. Specifically, we took the opportunity to explore how the worldview and self-image of one of the authors were influenced when she was placed as an adolescent into an all-Caucasian academic environment.
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Method This study, in a broad sense, was designed as a narrative inquiry. Narrative inquiry is defined by Clandinin (2013) as ‘‘an approach to the study of human lives conceived as a way of honoring lived experience as a source of important knowledge and understanding.’’ Clandinin continued by stating that most narrative inquiries begin with telling stories and storytelling is where the two of us began. We met on several occasions and talked about our lives. Although most of the conversations focused on LaVerne’s experiences desegregating Forest Heights Junior High, we also talked as friends recounting our individual stories of growing up in the 60s. Much as Clandinin described, the two of us engaged in a ‘‘difficult, time-consuming, intensive, yet, [more] profound’’ time of living, telling, and retelling the stories of desegregation. Although we could have chosen to allow this manuscript to serve simply as a biography, we both agreed that making that type of decision would essentially reinforce the challenges I (LaVerne) faced as a young student: I would maintain a passive voice in the process. Vicki, as solo author would retain the authority and power over the content of the manuscript of my life’s experiences. That was not a good fit for either of us. We therefore opted to write from the auto/biographical position. As a result of LaVerne’s dual role as primary participant and a co-researcher, we were granted a waiver by the Institutional Review Board and we scheduled a time to meet to conduct an initial interview. Our first interview was 1 h and 18 min in length and focused primarily on LaVerne’s experiences at Forest Heights Junior School. The second interview was 45 min in length and centered on music, spirituality, and relationships. A final interview, lasting 50 min, culminated with a discussion about college and adult life. Two broad research questions framed this inquiry: (a) what was the effect of desegregation on this student’s life? (b) what can be learned from those experiences as we continue to struggle with issues of diversity in education? After each meeting, I (Vicki) transcribed the interviews and forwarded the transcriptions to LaVerne for verification. We both read through the manuscripts independently, looking for patterns and identifying pertinent themes. Together we discussed our findings and agreed upon the following themes: silenced, giving voice, resilience, music, spirituality, family/relationships, and stress. Again, we worked independently to code the transcripts. As we began comparing our coding, we found a great degree of inter-rater reliability. With the exception of a few short segments, we coded the interviews similarly throughout the three interviews. As is frequently the case, we found that some of the concepts tended to overlap and eventually we identified ‘‘silenced’’ and ‘‘giving voice’’ as two key themes. As co-researchers, LaVerne and I agreed to collect additional data including newspaper articles and pictures documenting desegregation in Little Rock in the 1960s (Roberts 2002). Together, we searched the holdings of UALR’s Ottenheimer Library, the Mosaic Templar Cultural Center, the Butler Center, located at the Arkansas Studies Institute, and the Arkansas History Commission, collecting data specifically detailing the 1961 desegregation of the middle schools in Little Rock.
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We searched for additional supporting documentation, including photographs and newspaper accounts related to desegregation and the racial tension prevalent in Little Rock during LaVerne’s childhood.
Findings As mentioned previously, we began this inquiry looking at the experiences of a single student desegregating a junior high school. During one of our early conversations, the word silenced emerged as a dominant theme. The effects of being silenced had both immediate and long term implications for LaVerne, and thus, we chose to frame our discussion on the impact of being silenced and juxtaposing this concept with a second theme that emerged from the interview data, that of ‘‘giving voice.’’ Silenced ‘‘Silenced’’ was found, by far, to be a major theme of these discussions. For the purpose of this paper, silenced is defined as (1) not having or being given the opportunity to express an opinion, desire, or wish; (2) when given the opportunity to voice a statement, the statement is somehow minimized or diminished and otherwise seen as unworthy of being heard; (3) having become so conditioned to not being heard that the individual silences him or herself. As the interview excerpts bear witness, I (LaVerne) was raised by authoritarian parents, a style of parenting described as ‘‘demanding and directive (Shears et al. 1997, p. 179). This form of parenting did not appear to be unusual with African American families in the 1950s. It tended, however, to engender children to become silenced in the face of accepting the decisions of others (Peterson et al. 1997). Thus, when the subject of transitioning from elementary to junior high was raised, there was no real discussion. …My parents chose for me to attend…when I was in the sixth grade, I was the president of the student council in my elementary school (Stephens) and we took a walk, as a school, to what I thought would be my new school. That was Dunbar Junior High. That is a tradition that occurred during that time. The sixth grade class would leave and go to Dunbar and we would tour. I thought that was where I was going to attend only to find out during the summer that was not the case. My parents drove us [siblings]…to Forest Heights. That was the way that I knew, during the summer, that I was going to be going there. My dad said, ‘‘This is your new school.’’ At that time, my family was very authoritarian, there were no questions about ‘‘what do you mean,’’ ‘‘what are you talking about,’’ any of those. That would not have been acceptable. That was where I was going. Cottle [as cited in Silverman and Shaw (1973), p. 141] made a profound statement that captured at least a portion of the reason I (LaVerne), and perhaps
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others in similar situations may have continued to feel silenced when I began attending a newly desegregated school. The sadness of the drama is that it takes place with almost no psychological preparation and with no time devoted to the resolution of human and institutional complications. Yet as though by some magic, students are supposed to live peaceably and to learn something. The drama’s irony is that where schools in the past have exulted in their socializing function, when integration becomes a reality they hurriedly retreat to their fundamental didactic activities. School boards try to combine the races in varying ratios— advantageous to the whites but justified by national or regional proportions— with the hope that somehow the kids will work it out (1967, p. 22). That lack of preparation appeared to be the case for me (LaVerne) and may also have been the case for my fellow students. People at the school, unless they were at the opposite end of the socioeconomic rim, generally would not yell out or call me different names or something along that line. …Those who were more wealthy would tend to ignore me. I just wasn’t there. And then, others were those who pushed me or called me different kinds of names or whatever. …It was a daily occurrence that someone would say something. When I was in class, … there might be a friendly person or two who would … speak or who might talk or something along that line. But, when we left class – that relationship was not there. Those people who saw me as a nice target would pretty much be there on a daily basis. When we were walking, someone might push another person on me and might say, ‘‘Is that black going to rub off on you?’’ or might say a word or two, you know that was negative…something along that line. That would be pretty, pretty frequent. I could never tell when it was going to happen but would know to always be prepared for that particular thing. According to Hoare (2013), youth are influenced by what others say about them, about their talents, traits, and potential future possibilities. The infusion of such messages, meanings, and images is of paramount importance (p. 56). LaVerne was not prepared for the harshness of the school environment but learned to quietly maneuver the halls of the building. The messages she received were negative and minimized or negated any positive messages she may have received from her elementary school teachers and peers. The sub-theme of adaptation or selfreinforcement of silence was written about during the early days of desegregation by Katz (1964). His description of ‘‘unrealistic inferiority feelings’’ (p. 387) mirrored my own (LaVerne) as he discussed the fact that the African American child’s feelings of inferiority might be the result of having to emotionally accommodate the roles that are imposed upon them by the majority Caucasian culture. The effects of feeling inferior often resulted in feelings of humiliation and limited selfdevelopment (Katz 1964; Drury 1980). We read personal accounts of both subtle and overt racism that occurred during desegregation. Shuah (as cited in Patterson et al. 2008) reported an overt racist form of silencing as he described a scene from his classroom with a Caucasian teacher.
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The teacher said, ‘‘Shut up. I don’t know what you people were used to doing at Douglass, but things are going to be different here’’ (p. 82). LaVerne was pushed and shoved in the hallway and taunted by her classmates, yet she described a quieter form of discrimination as most painful. I think the thing that was most. …cruel, and you probably don’t think about that, is the total absence of friendship …being ignored as I was. When I was being ignored by people or no one chose to sit with me or whatever, that was very painful. Consequently, for instance when I was at lunch I had a lunch table. No one sat at the lunch table. Or when I was at an assembly, initially, I think it wasn’t until I was in high school that someone sat in my row. You know I would have a row to myself. And you know the teachers just didn’t do anything to umm… to change that or to say, ‘‘This is what we are going to do. We are not going to tolerate this,’’ or something along those lines. They just allowed things to happen. If they saw someone push me, they didn’t intervene. If they saw an empty row, they didn’t say, ‘‘let’s fill it in,’’ or those kinds of things; specifically, the homeroom teacher or someone along those lines…it just didn’t happen. …No one intervened… no….no…they had opportunities to intervene if the situation was occurring in or around their rooms. That didn’t happen. … OK so, the REALLY bad, probably the worst one was when I was either the 7th or 8th grade… there was a math teacher that I had. Math was never my strong suit, but I could tell you, I could mark the day and the time, when it went to the bottom of my list. There was a math teacher and I was struggling trying to figure out what is she talking about…. The teacher said something along the line of, ‘‘Well everybody knows that such and such equals such and such, like whatever the problem was’’ and I said ‘‘right and she said ‘‘WRONG!’’, and that just shut me down. I remember my head falling to the desk and that was it. Lights out for math of any kind… math from that moment on shut me completely down. Stephan and Rosenfield (1978) suggested that stress may have been magnified for students who lived in segregated communities and were then involved in school desegregation. They concluded that the lack of daily interaction with individuals from different races and ethnicities decreased the possibility that they would learn how to socialize and work with them on a constructive basis. During the summer before my fourth grade year, my (LaVerne) family moved from our African American neighborhood to a part of Little Rock that was under-going desegregation. None of the encounters I experienced with other races in that new neighborhood were positive. Growing up during this time of transition in the south was stressful, yet LaVerne’s experiences in elementary school were overall very positive. She was elected by her fellow students to serve as student council president and she felt valued by her teachers. Dingus (2006) found that African American teachers during the time of segregation were considered to be human resources to their students. Dixon (2003) also found African American educators to teach the whole student—
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as opposed to the subject—and were considered as being compassionate about their students. Compassionate teachers were a significant resource for LaVerne during her elementary school days, a resource that was missing during her junior high school experience. In complete opposition to this principle, LaVerne recounted an incident in history class that was particularly poignant and reinforced her feeling that she didn’t matter to her classmates or her teachers. …one of my teachers in the American History class asked us to go back home and ask what was our background. What countries did our families come from? Then, she wanted us to make a report the next day. So, I went home and I asked my parents, and this was the first time I recall ever hearing anything about slavery, ever hearing anything about ‘‘you have African blood in you’’ and you also have Caucasian blood in you’’ …and they said I had Cherokee blood. They kind of explained that and I was totally in awe—I had never heard any of that. It was such an excellent question. I went to school the next day and I was ready to make my report, raised my hand and she absolutely never called on me, never. … I was ready to tell my story and pretty soon I realized, ‘‘She is not going to call on me.’’ I just put my hand down and realized, ‘‘I’m really not here, in a sense.’’ What I have to say doesn’t matter. As LaVerne told me this story, I was struck by how much she wanted to share her story with the class. But as was her experience time and time again, a teacher who did not seem to care silenced her. Giving Voice A second theme that emerged from the data, giving voice, in some ways seems in opposition to the concept of being silenced. LaVerne was certainly silenced by the circumstances surrounding desegregation; yet, there were instances when she ‘‘had a voice’’. For the purpose of this paper, ‘‘giving voice,’’ is defined as a method of expressing one’s words, thoughts, feelings, or ideas. The term ‘‘giving voice’’ actually emerged from one of our conversations about music. In a small way, Vicki’s professional background in music and her curiosity about the role music played in my life served as the catalyst for this study. In our conversations, I talked about how I was able to verbalize my thoughts, voice my pain, or otherwise, cope with the daily stresses of life. Even when I couldn’t say something, I could sing. Something else was expressing my emotions. I was allowed to be able to voice it through that, the passion, the anger, whatever—could come through [the music]. …. it has [music] been a part of me throughout my life. It has helped in some ways to keep me sane. It has helped to give me hope—I know I’m overusing that word—but it’s true for me, to use those words from what you said earlier, it gave me a voice to move through. At one point I asked LaVerne if there were any other subjects that stood out in her mind as particularly good or particularly bad. ‘‘English was particularly positive simply because I love to read. I even enjoyed the Greek mythology. I seemed to
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understand it in a way some people didn’t. Occasionally the teacher would call me up in the class with a couple other people and we would read out the parts. That was my stint at acting (laughter) I enjoyed that part.’’ Again, the text reveals the importance of hearing one’s own voice. In both choir and English, LaVerne was allowed to participate and use her voice. When later asked to talk about what she took away from her experiences, LaVerne again pointed out the importance of having a voice, ‘Well, one thing I would say is ‘‘to listen’’—as we talked about feeling that powerlessness, the voicelessness, it is important that each child has the opportunity to be heard. And I’m not waiting for that child to say, ‘‘I need to talk’’ because there aren’t many children that are going to say, ‘‘Well, I have something to say.’’ Connecting to Culturally Responsive Pedagogy It is important to acknowledge my (Vicki) work in teacher education, specifically in the area of culturally responsive pedagogy and music learning (Butler et al. 2007). My interest in culturally responsive teaching influenced my questions and was frequently the topic of our conversations. Additionally, my background influenced how I viewed and interpreted the data. The theory of culturally responsive pedagogy is based on the belief that students’ cultural orientations must be taken into consideration when designing and implementing classroom practices. (Villegas and Lucas 2007; Gay 2010) In Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice, Geneva Gay (2010) outlined pedagogical practices designed specifically to improve the educational experiences for minority students. A key component described by Gay requires that teachers see cultural differences as assets rather than liabilities. Culturally responsive teachers use the ‘‘cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them’’ (p. 31). Culturally responsive teachers use a variety of instructional strategies connected to different learning styles and they incorporate multicultural information, resources, and materials throughout the curriculum. Caring is a characteristic often cited as important in teaching and LaVerne used the term to describe her African American elementary teachers ‘‘…the teachers all seemed to share one thing in common. That was they demonstrated they cared for each student. They could be very stern, and indeed the majority of them seemed to be very stern. But at the same time, the nurturing or the care, the compassion for students was seen throughout the teachers that I had.’’ The description of her teachers is echoed by Patterson et al. (2008). ‘‘Teachers at Douglass School created a community of learners where students supported and helped each other with assignments. Strong relationships were forged between teachers, parents, and students and the broader community.’’ Coats (2010) confirmed this in her study of students who recalled the characteristics of African American teachers in segregated schools. Teachers who were seen as being caring, actively involved with the students and with the community, and teachers who were seen as professionals were considered to be those who were effective teachers of African American students.
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Gay (2010) outlined the power of culturally responsive caring and described caring as ‘‘a value, an ethic, and a moral imperative.’’ Caring, the type of caring described by Gay as a major pillar of culturally responsive teaching, refers to active engagement. Teachers who exhibit culturally responsive caring are those who show compassion and take action on behalf of their students. Unfortunately, LaVerne did not experience active caring as she moved to the junior high school, where no African American teachers were present. Not only did LaVerne recount incidents that exhibited overt racism, she also described more subtle instances when her teachers chose not to take action on her behalf. Whether teachers were apathetic about LaVerne’s plight or chose not to intercede for other reasons, the results were the same; she faced most of her junior high days alone and silent. It’s hard to imagine going through school without talking to friends or answering questions in class, yet this was the reality for her with very few exceptions. Those exceptions were limited to singing in choir, reading aloud in English class, and speaking Spanish. During these times, LaVerne could use her voice and in so doing, felt some sense of relief. Music was particularly important and served as an oasis. ‘‘Those songs gave me hope, even when I didn’t see that tangibly. The music gave me hope and …I had a sense of OK, I’m valuable in some sort of way.’’ Connecting to students’ cultural heritage is an important component of culturally responsive pedagogy and music made that connection. I think that we underestimate the power, the healing power of music. Although, it has been talked about in different ways, certainly from an African American perspective, which is mine, we talk about the history of music and struggle and all of that. We’ve talked about how music has been one of those pieces that survived and transcended from the Mother land, Africa, even to this place. Our love of music didn’t just start during slavery. That is amplified, and it says to me that, from my point of view, music was one of those things that allowed me to latch on to it and to ground myself and to use it as a way of – not just surviving but even adapting. And, it gave me a sense of peace and hope throughout my life. It is important, when considering culture and education, to recognize the systemic cultural bias prevalent in schooling. We know that our schools were founded on a Eurocentric model and that the primarily European and middle-class origins are ‘‘so deeply ingrained in the structures, ethos, programs, and etiquette of schools that it is considered simply the ‘normal’ and ‘right’’ way to structure education. (Gay 2010, p.9) While we understand this system is flawed, particularly when we look at culturally responsive pedagogy, it is hard for many of us to grasp the depth of the problem. LaVerne provided insight into the issue as she described her need to adapt in order to survive in a system that made her feel ‘‘less than’’ those around her. According to Banks (1991), schools ‘‘should reflect the interests, experiences, and goals of all the nation’s citizens and should empower all people to participate effectively in a democratic society.’’ Unfortunately, Forest Heights Junior High School did not live up to this ideal in 1961 and we are still struggling to find ways to make this ideal a reality. As LaVerne stated in one of our interviews:
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You know the intriguing thing about African Americans is that being raised here in this country, we are taught, now, largely by Caucasians or by other people—including African Americans, who have learned about the majority culture the majority history but haven’t had a chance to learn about ourselves unless we take some extraordinary measures to learn what it means to be African, you know, or from an African people. And so, interestingly enough, many of us grow up not only not knowing about their culture, but in a sense, rejecting that culture of which we are a part. It’s kind of—it does a number on us to put it plainly, but it is very complex to think about a group of people who are historically from another land, another people but yet that is still a part of us yet we don’t know that part. So, in a sense we begin to see ourselves through someone else’s mirror, through someone else’s picture.
Conclusion My (Vicki) participation in this study has been life changing. As a teacher, I have worked to insure equal opportunities in my classroom and I have focused my career on equity and access to high quality education for all children. I have, however, studied the issues surrounding race and ethnicity and schooling from the outside. I am a White, middle class American who has experienced the privileges associated with my ethnicity and socio economic standing. LaVerne, although also middle class, has, as an African American, let me into a world quite different from my own by sharing with me the realities of prejudice and bigotry. I found early on that I could ask LaVerne anything and she would respond without malice or judgment. In fact, she appreciated some of the harder questions (hard for me to ask) as they allowed her to dig a little deeper and talk about some of her more painful experiences. Throughout this process, we have developed a relationship that is both trusting and respectful. When Vicki initially suggested meeting with me for the purposed interviews I (LaVerne) was excited about the possibility that I might be able to finally put my story into print. We talked first, however, about the fact that I would not like to be considered a passive participant in the process. As I look back on those early conversations, I realize now that I was taking steps to ensure that my voice was heard. Those efforts to be heard throughout my life may also be described as a component of developing resilience. Choosing to find ways to be heard, whether through music, engaging in faith activities, or now through participating in this autobiographical/biographical process engenders resilience. Making those choices may well have served as protective factors that prevented me from experiencing even more adversity than occurred by providing methods of coping with distress (Patterson 2002). Vicki and I have worked together to ensure that the past is not repeated. Because she is able to have a more neutral role in this narrative, Vicki was able to ask questions that drew memories and thoughts I might not otherwise have recalled. In addition, her questions allowed me to—for the most part—move from using the language of a 7th or 8th grade student to communicate the information I hoped to impart. Coauthoring this manuscript afforded me with the opportunity to
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offer a different perspective than those who believed segregation provided positive effects for students of all races (Kurllander et al. 2005). The literature validated some of the experiences that occurred with me (LaVerne) during my junior high years. Just as Katz indicated in his 1964 review of how racial desegregation affected the academic performance of African Americans, it certainly had a negative impact on mine. I received substantially lower grades in junior high school than I had received in elementary school, but this alone doesn’t paint a clear picture. The grades could have been the result of different expectations, newer materials, teacher prejudice, or simply the change between elementary school and junior high. The larger impact, for me was on my self-identity as a student. I didn’t believe I could succeed in the academic environment. The constant experience of either facing social threats or anticipating them interfered with my classroom performance. I was naturally a quiet, rather shy person even in elementary school. There, however, I had teachers—all African American— who were rather nurturing even as they set high standards for me. Beyond the academic environment, I noticed that several African American teachers were connected with community organizations of which I or my family and I were a part (for example, one was a Girl Scout Leader who participated in our camping activities, and others were a part of a local church, where I attended Vacation Bible School. Another teacher even invited me to sing at one of her organization’s programs). The lack of compassion I sensed in the majority of the junior high teachers, when combined by my expectations of when the next act of animosity would occur, tended to impede much of ability to achieve at a high level. As I mentioned earlier, I became so anxious that I eventually developed ulcers by the ninth grade. My grades in elementary school were significantly higher than what I received in several of my junior high classes, yet the larger impact for me was on my identity as a student. My need to survive daily took priority over academic achievement. According to ecological theory, what I was facing by peers and teachers at a meso-system level was causing internal physical distress at a microsystems level. Unfortunately, even though I also had the emotional support of my local church congregation and family members, the negative distress of being alone every school day outweighed that support. I believe another related barrier existed that prevented me from achieving academic success. This had to do with my level of self-confidence or self-esteem. I do not believe I ever knew I had the ability to succeed in junior high. Although I recall winning a few spelling contests in class at elementary school, or seeing on my national achievement tests that I was above grade level in reading, I did not recognize that this meant I performed well in school. I remember being very surprised, indeed shocked and embarrassed as well, when in the fifth grade my teacher informed me I was the only one in her class who had grades high enough to run for, and win, the office of president of the school’s student council for the sixth grade. As mentioned earlier, this study is the result of a series of interviews between two colleagues. It is not our intent to generalize the findings to a larger population, but rather to present LaVerne’s narrative within a larger framework. As is the case in interview research, it is not possible to adequately capture the ‘‘truth’’ involved in
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this account; the data is drawn from the memories of experiences that happened 50 years ago. We have, however, drawn upon a substantial body of literature to substantiate LaVerne’s memories, thoughts, and feelings. We acknowledge that others have desegregated schools in different parts of the country, and their experiences were most likely different, yet as Dingus (2006) pointed out, it is important for individual or minority voices to be heard in the discussion regarding school desegregation. ‘‘Narratives of African American teachers, students, and parents provide counter-story, perspectives that challenge, expand and de-center national narratives as the exclusive domain of dominant cultural forces, accounting for the experiences of those closely related and most impacted by school desegregation’’ (p. 213). Recommendations for Further Study Recommendations for further study include expanding the study to include additional students representing racial or ethnic minority groups who experienced similar ‘‘first’’ or ‘‘only’’ experiences in desegregating schools to determine if the themes are generalizable, and also to explore those students’ perceptions of the long term effects of school desegregation on their lives. This study has potential implications for current students who may experience rejection, insults, and other forms of mis-treatment/abuse as a result of being considered different in some way. That difference may or may not be related to race or ethnicity. It is therefore recommended interventions be explored that would encourage and support the clinician’s use of listening to and honoring the stories of all people. Additional study is also recommended to explore effective and creative methods of expressing appreciative inquiry or professional curiosity for the narrative lives of students in academic settings. These interventions are needed to minimize the trauma and enhance children and youths’ potentials for success. This current study suggests that allowing students to have the opportunity to ‘‘give voice’’ will help them to become resilient in the face of adversity.
Appendix Questions (and follow ups) Pertaining to Themes of ‘‘Silenced’’ and ‘‘Giving Voice’’
Question: Tell me a little about …what got you to the point where your parents decided to send you to Forest Heights Junior High. Question: You say that [a memory of being accepted by a group of people in an organization] was extremely important to you, do you think that was because of how you felt during your junior high years?
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Question: … let’s just talk about what it was like for you after you walked into school with your mom and then you had a girl say ‘‘hi’’ to you, and then what happened after that? Question: How frequently did the kids call out? Was it a daily occurrence, did it happen all the time pretty much? Question: Even when you are walking between classes, and the students are yelling out or pushing, no one tried to intervene? Question: When you were in junior high, how …you said you came from an authoritarian family…. How much did your parents know about what you were experiencing? Question: VL So did you ever have anybody to talk to? When you made the decision to skip lunch, did you have any friends you could confide in? Question: VL So, what …what other subjects, do you remember any other subjects standing out in mind as particularly good or particularly bad? Question: That kind of goes with my question, I think, I was getting kind of a recurring theme that you just never had a voice… Question/Comment: Even in the English class, you are talking about being able to read parts and to have a voice and in the math class, you tried to have a voice and she shut you down. It’s hard for me to picture not being able to talk and not have anybody to talk to, I wonder if that—how you react to that if it makes sense.
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