PILATE’S WINE HOUSE: REIMAGINING BLACK WOMEN EDUCATORS’ HISTORIES AND FUTURES By Renée O. Wilmot A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education – Doctor of Philosophy 2023 ABSTRACT Black women are situated at the intersection of race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and ability. Our bodies are read as vulnerable by the white supremacist patriarchal gaze (hooks, 2004; Morrison, 1998). Still, Black women have used our positionalities as teachers, matriarchs, leaders, and ministers to advocate for the liberation of ourselves, families, and communities. This dissertation uses archival research methods to delve into the lives of four prominent Black women educators: Lucy Craft Laney, Janie Porter Barrett, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Septima Clark. I ask: (1) How do these four Black women embody and utilize Black Feminist Epistemologies-- oppositional knowledges (Collins, 2002), oppositional looks (hooks, 1992), speaking and action (Lorde, 2007) towards their vision and enactment of education? (2) How can I creatively and innovatively engage with and (re)tell black women's legacies, while uplifting them as pedagogues? I take up Hartman’s (2019) practice of reading against the archive “to grapple with [its] power and authority” and to imagine the lives of Black women educators. This dissertation will concretize a new method that I developed called layered storytelling, where authentic and complex stories are depicted by layering different forms of text, such as poetry, vignettes, visual art, photography, and short stories. My dissertation unapologetically centers and uplifts the “more” of four Black women educators-- a few of the many Black women who took risks to see the fruition of their visions. Copyright by RENÉE O. WILMOT 2023 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I write, create and love in the legacy of my family. Thank you. Rufus H. Rowson Sr. (my maternal grandfather) and Fannie E. Rowson (my maternal grandmother). Parents of: Edith R. Wilmot (my mother), Nina Jefferson, Regina Brown, Denise Patterson, and Rufus H. Rowson Jr. Grandparents of Renée Wilmot (me); Nikki Jefferson and Jason Jefferson; John Brown, Becky Brown, and Joseph Brown; Kristen Patterson, Gina Patterson, Nesa Patterson, Bianca Patterson, and KJ Patterson; Alex Deloatch. Noel O. Wilmot Sr. (my paternal grandfather) and Ruby Wilmot (my paternal grandmother). Parents of: Noel O. Wilmot Jr., Lenord Wilmot (my father), and Raquel Wilmot. Grandparents of Renée Wilmot (me). I write, create and love in the legacy of my friends, teachers, and mentors. Thank you. Robyn Adams, monét cooper, LaToya Fox, Liv Furman, Alounso Gilzene, Hannah Grisham, Katierie Hill, Tamika Jarvis, Ileana Jiménez, Brittney Johnson, Mara Johnson, Nathaniel Mason, Jennifer Mathai Aldrete, Jazmen Moore Heather Moore Roberson, Jason Pacious, Monica Perkins, Christina Ponzio, Christa Robinson, Jess Vaughn, Vivek Vellanki, and Hope Walker. Dorinda Carter Andrews, Qiana Cutts, Terry Flennaugh, Alyssa Hadley Dunn, Audrey Friedman, Briona Jones, Oren McClain, Deborah McDowell, Joe-Joe McManus, Kim Parker, Tanya Trayer, Terah Venzant Chambers, Catherine Wong, and Lisa Woolfork. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................ 1 Pilate’s Playlist ....................................................................................................................... 5 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................... 6 Literature Review.................................................................................................................. 10 Sociopolitical Influences on Types of Schooling................................................................ 15 The Cultivation of the Black Teacher................................................................................. 18 The Pedagogy of Black Women Educators ........................................................................ 20 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 24 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 26 APPENDIX A: bell hooks TWEETS ........................................................................................ 30 APPENDIX B: PILATE’S PLAYLIST QR CODE ................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY & METHODS ..................................................................... 32 “Layered-Storying” ............................................................................................................... 34 Process and Compilation ....................................................................................................... 36 Phase One: Black Women Educators in the Archives ......................................................... 37 Part Two: “Layered-Storying” as a Magazine .................................................................... 38 “On Research:” A Blackout Poem ......................................................................................... 41 Blackout poetry and annotation as part of “Layering” method(ology) ................................ 44 Positionality Statement.......................................................................................................... 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 47 APPENDIX A: MAGAZINE TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................... 49 APPENDIX B: “ON RESEARCH” DRAFT ............................................................................. 50 CHAPTER 3: LUCY CRAFT LANEY (1854 – 1933) .............................................................. 53 Layer 1: “The Impossibility of being first, Black, & woman” Poem ...................................... 60 Layer 1: “The Impossibility of Being First, Black, & Woman” Methods ............................ 61 Layer 2: “A tribute” .............................................................................................................. 63 Layer 2: “A tribute” Methods ............................................................................................ 64 Layer 3: “What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be?” ....................................... 66 Layer 3: “What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be?” Methods ..................... 68 Layer 4: “The Haines Journal” .............................................................................................. 72 Layer 4: “The Haines Journal” Methods ............................................................................ 74 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 79 APPENDIX A: IMAGES FROM HAINES NORMAL INSTITUTE ........................................ 81 APPENDIX B: LAYER 4 ......................................................................................................... 84 CHAPTER 4: JANIE PORTER BARRETT (1865 - 1948)........................................................ 87 Healthy, Community-oriented Relationships ......................................................................... 89 Student Leadership ................................................................................................................ 91 Protection and Care ............................................................................................................... 92 Layer 1: “Heart to Heart Talks:” Teaching Advocacy through Open Forums ......................... 94 Layer 1: Playwriting Methods ............................................................................................ 97 Layer 2: Being an Honors Girl: Diary entry from a girl’s perspective .................................. 100 Layer 2: Methods............................................................................................................. 101 v Layer 3: Mapping Donations to the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, ................... 103 June 1, 1926 – June 1, 1927................................................................................................. 103 Layer 3: “Mapping Donations to the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, June 1, 1926 – June 1, 1927” Methods ................................................................................................. 104 Layer 4: A “Time There Will Be No Need”: Barrett’s Visions of the Future........................ 106 Layer 4: “A Time There Will Be No Need”: Barrett’s Visions of the Future Methods...... 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 110 APPENDIX A: IMAGES FROM THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR COLORED GIRLS ... 112 APPENDIX B: EXCERPTS FROM ANNUAL REPORTS USED TO CRAFT LAYER 2 ..... 115 APPENDIX C: 1926 - 1927 DONATIONS LIST USED TO CRAFT LAYER 3 .................... 117 APPENDIX D: DEED USED TO CRAFT LAYER 4 ............................................................. 119 CHAPTER 5: MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE ......................................................................... 122 Layer 1: School Timeline .................................................................................................... 129 Layer 1 School Timeline Methods ................................................................................... 130 Layer 2: “Five Little Girls & Albert Jr.” Short Story ........................................................... 133 Layer 2: “Five Little Girls and Albert Jr.” Methods......................................................... 140 Layer 3: “The Good Teacher” ............................................................................................. 144 Layer 3: “The Good Teacher” Methods ........................................................................... 145 Layer 4A: “Table of Contentment” portrait ......................................................................... 148 Layer 4B: “Table of Contentment” poem ............................................................................ 149 Layer 4A: “Table of Contentment” portrait Methods ....................................................... 150 Layer 4B: “Table of Contentment” poem Methods ......................................................... 151 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 156 APPENDIX A: IMAGES FROM BETHUNE’S SCHOOL ..................................................... 157 APPENDIX B: IMAGES USED TO CRAFT LAYER 4......................................................... 160 CHAPTER 6: SEPTIMA CLARK (1898 – 1987) ................................................................... 163 Layer 1A: “Citizenship School Pamphlet” ........................................................................... 167 Layer 1A “Citizenship School Pamphlet” Methods .......................................................... 169 Layer 1B: “Septima Clark’s Notes” ..................................................................................... 171 Layer 1B: Septima Clark’s Notes Methods ...................................................................... 173 Layer 2: “This is My Feeling” Poem ................................................................................... 174 Layer 2: “This is My Feeling” Poem Methods ................................................................. 175 Layer 3: “Septima Clark: Coming of Age, 100 Years Later” ............................................... 176 Layer 3: “Septima Clark: Coming of Age, 100 Years Later” Methods ............................. 182 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 187 APPENDIX A: IMAGES OF SEPTIMA CLARK .................................................................. 188 APPENDIX B: DOCUMENTS USED TO CRAFT LAYER 1 ............................................... 190 APPENDIX C: READY FROM WITHIN EXCERPTS USED TO CRAFT LAYER 2...............191 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 193 Discussion (Connecting Lineages) ...................................................................................... 193 Implications (Reimagining Futures) .................................................................................... 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 202 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In a 1897 speech, Mary Church Terrell1 invited Black women to collectively do more (Terrell, 1897). Black women have a legacy of doing more for our families, our communities, and ourselves- more advocacy, support, activism, teaching, and organizing. Our intersectional positionalities as Black and woman–as well as our queerness, our abilities, our religious beliefs, our linguistic liberties, our class, and our immigration statuses–place us in precarious and dynamic positions in U.S. society. Using a lens of structural intersectionality (Crenshaw, 2016), we see that Black women are targeted, facing the severe failures of an oppressive and cruel society. At the same time, Black women are often the central mobilizing leaders in the movement for Black liberation. From Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frances E.W. Harper, Mary Church Terrell, Barbara Johns, and Claudette Colvin, to Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, Charlene Carruthers, and Mariame Kaba, Black women have an undeniable legacy of activism. In alignment with Terrell’s statement, my dissertation unapologetically centers and uplifts the “more” of four Black women educators-- a few of the many Black women who took risks to see the fruition of their visions. Out of this legacy, my dissertation centers the pedagogical contributions of Black women educators. Black women hold positions of ‘multiple jeopardy’ (as noted in McCluskey, 2017, p. 11). We experience oppression in more than one way, including, but not limited to, gender and race. As early as the 1800s, prominent African-American women in the South, such as Lucy Craft Laney, Anna Julia Cooper, and Mary McLeod Bethune, advocated for full liberation and, furthermore, asserted that the liberation of Black women and girls would result in full liberation 1 Terrell was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), founded in 1896. 1 for humanity (Muhammad & Haddix, 2016; McCluskey, 2017). Current education researchers draw upon these notions by centering the voices and experiences of Black women and girls. As Muhammad & Haddix (2016) posit, “focus[ing] on excellent education pedagogies for Black women and girls […] lay[s] the foundation for advancing education for all” (p. 300). In addition to uplifting four Black women educators–Lucy Craft Laney, Janie Porter Barrett, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Septima Clark–my dissertation is rooted in and influenced by Black women pedagogues, writers, scholars, poets, visual artists, and musicians. A major inspiration for this project was the passing of bell hooks in December 2021. In the wake of her death, thousands of people tweeted about her impact on their lives (see Appendix A). People across academic disciplines and careers noted the accessibility and power of her words-- bringing them enlightenment, solace, and even salvation. As I read and saved countless tweets honoring hooks, I recognized her as an extraordinary pedagogue who left an indelible mark on our lives. I thought to myself: “This is what it means to love. This is what it looks like to empower your community. This is teaching.” Whether we met hooks in the quiet aisle of a library, or a carpeted bookstore, a course syllabus, or Oprah’s summer reading, we found her. With every word she wrote, she invited us in and welcomed us to sit at her kitchen table. She met us in our place of need and when we were still, she filled our openness and vulnerabilities with compassion. She taught us. We are her students. We are her legacy. Drawing on bell hooks, the format of this dissertation is for/to Black communities, youth, and their families. This project is a reflection of our communities’ mothers, sisters, aunts, and daughters. Whether hooks wrote about teaching, critical theory, or love, she wrote to be accessible. Although she identified primarily as a writer (1994), she also was a teacher. Throughout her career, she utilized clear, accessible, and powerful language as an intentional 2 pedagogical move to invite readers in. In Teaching to Transgress (1994), hooks introduces the book by discussing her personal schooling experiences in segregated schools with Black teachers: “we learned early that our devotion to learning, to a life of the mind, was a counter- hegemonic act, a fundamental way to resist every strategy of white racist colonization” (p. 2). There are three themes throughout her introduction: (1) the impact of Black teachers on Black children, (2) the intergenerational transfer of Black love, pride, and knowledge, and (3) teaching and learning as an act of resisting what she names elsewhere as “white supremacist imperialist capitalist patriarchy” (hooks, 2004, p. 17). As a Black girl, and later as Black women educator, she creates a throughline between the impact of Black women educators and Black youth, particularly Black girls. As an extension, hooks’ writings on feminism, critical theory, race, education, media, and love invites us (Black folx) into ways of resisting, educating, and writing that are accessible. My dissertation engages with hooks' legacy in two ways. First, I use historical research methods to investigate Black women’s pedagogies that explicitly intended to support and enrich the lives of Black children; facilitated the intergenerational transfer of Black love, pride, and knowledge; and participated in and advocated for education as an act of resistance. Additionally, the written format of my dissertation utilizes a new methodology that intentionally seeks to be accessible to Black folx. I develop portraits and historical narratives about four Black women educators: Lucy Craft Laney, Janie Porter Barrett, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Septima Clark. These portraits and narratives document and detail the legacy of each Black woman in education. This is significant because Black women’s historical and continuous contributions as pedagogues and leaders have been buried and erased in teacher education. Consequently, it is important to foreground Black women pedagogues for inservice and preservice Black teachers and youth to 3 see our histories in teaching. Throughout my work, I draw upon the historical and contemporary legacies of Black women educators and scholars by asking: (1) How do these four Black women embody and utilize Black Feminist Epistemologies of oppositional knowledges (Collins, 2002), oppositional looks (hooks, 1992), and speaking and action (Lorde, 2007) towards their vision and enactment of education? and (2) How can I creatively and innovatively engage with and (re)tell Black women's legacies, while uplifting them as pedagogues? Through investigating these questions and crafting portraits and narratives, I highlight how Black women educators have purposefully and innovatively disrupted white supremacy while forwarding principles of love, Black pride, and self-determination. 4 Pilate’s Playlist A playlist of songs and poetry aligned with each section of the magazine. See Appendix for QR code. 1. “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross 2. “Show Me Love” by Robin S 3. “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” by Docheii 4. “Resolution #1,003” by June Jordan 5. “A Litany for Survival” by Audre Lorde 6. “(You Make Me Feel) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin 7. “Higher Love” by Whitney Houston 8. “We Found Love” by Rihanna, Calvin Harris 9. “I Put A Spell On You” by Nina Simone 10. “Can I Hold the Mic?’ by Solange 11. “I am a Black Woman” by Mari Evans 12. “I Am” by Baby Tate (ft. Flo Milli) 13. “You Must Learn” by KRS-One 14. “If I Ruled the World” by Nas 15. “I'm Every Woman” by Chaka Khan 16. “Free” by Deniece Williams 17. “Mumbo Jumbo” by Tierra Whack 18. “Rock It (To the Moon)” by RuPaul, Kummerspeck 19. “Formation-- Homecoming Live” by Beyoncé, Big Freedia 20. “WEIGHT OFF” by Kaytranada, BADBADNOTGOOD 21. “Lapis Lazuli” by Sarah, the Instrumentalist 22. “Call Me Mother” by RuPaul 23. “Love is a House” by M.D.’s 24. “I Am Love” by the Jackson 5 25. “About Damn Time” by Lizzo 26. “Be Alive” by Beyoncé 5 Theoretical Framework The following theoretical framing grafts together an orientation of Black Feminist Epistemologies (BFE) that focuses on Black women’s looking, speaking, and oppositional knowledges. In my dissertation, understanding this practice of looking, speaking, and oppositional knowledges as tools of Black women’s power holds a multilayered meaning for: (1) my positionality, (2) my researcher gaze, and (3) the lives and legacies of Lucy Craft Laney, Janie Porter Barrett, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Septima Clark. My positionality encapsulates how my looks, words, and oppositional knowledges facilitate my arrival to this project. My researcher gaze constitutes my experiences in the archives and my construction of the layers, seeking to imagine and explore the lives of Black women educators. That is to say, I used my own looking, speaking, and oppositional knowledges when I entered, selected and analyzed archival documents. Finally, the third aspect of Black women’s practices of looking, speaking, and oppositional knowledges arises, perhaps most importantly, in the perspectives and visions of Black women educators. Therefore, BFE is sewn throughout this dissertation process and project as my positionality and analytical lens. Black women are situated at the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and ability. Our bodies are read as vulnerable by the white supremacist patriarchal gaze (hooks, 2004; Morrison, 1998). Still, Black women have been at the forefront of many movements as grassroots organizers, and activists. We use our positionalities as teachers, matriarchs, leaders, and ministers to advocate for the liberation of ourselves, families, and communities. BFE foregrounds the ways Black women have historically and continually cultivated oppositional gazes (hooks, 1992), transformed silence into language and action (Lorde, 2007) and enacted their oppositional knowledges (Collins, 2002). These aspects of BFE have been integral in (1) 6 validating and uplifting Black women’s experiences and (2) resisting white supremacist epistemologies. hooks (1992) describes the oppositional gaze as “a site of resistance” that brings forth “contestation, revision, interrogation, and invention on multiple levels” (p. 128). Lorde (1978) urges us “it is better to speak/ remembering/ we were never meant to survive” (p. 256). Further, oppositional knowledges, as outlined by Patricia Hill Collins (2002), are marked by a particular sense of self-definition that forcefully upends the white gaze and actively humanizes and centers Black womanhood. hooks (1992) reminds us “there is power in looking” as she recounts the times she was punished as a child “for those hard intense direct looks children would give grown-ups, looks that were seen as confrontational, as gestures of resistance, challenges to authority” (p. 115). She reminds us of how we (Black women and girls) use our bodies to resist in seemingly subtle ways-- a look, a glance, an eyebrow arched or furled. These seemingly small eye movements are significant because they reflect our automatic reactions to what we see: “All attempts to repress our/black peoples' right to gaze had produced in us an overwhelming longing to look, a rebellious desire, an oppositional gaze. By courageously looking, we defiantly declared: 'Not only will I stare. I want my look to change reality” (p. 116). Black women’s visions, real or not yet realized, are the foundation for our resistance and leadership. Black women like Harriet Tubman, Lucy Craft Laney, and Kentanji Brown Jackson envisioned a reality within themselves before it was seen by others. Importantly, hooks continues to explain that “we do more than resist. We create alternative texts that are not solely reactions” (p. 128). The Black women educators in this project are the embodiment of their visions. When Lorde (2007) wrote on the transformation of silence into language and action, she recognized that “to survive in the mouth of this dragon we call america, we have had to learn this 7 first and most vital lesson -- that we were never meant to survive” (p. 42). Lorde wrote this call to action “[b]ecause the machine will try to grind you into dust anyway, whether or not we speak” (p. 42). We may be afraid of scrutiny and judgment, but we have already been objects of scrutiny and judgment regardless of our silence or speaking. We as Black women are intimately aware of issues of racism, sexism. ableism, colorism, fatphobia, classism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia in the U.S. Crenshaw (2016) posited that the ways oppressive systems operate in concert to disempower and dehumanize Black women is called structural intersectionality. “Structural intersectionality” (Crenshaw, 2016, p. 224) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF) argue that “women of color are not merely white women plus color or men of color plus gender” (Wing, 2003, p. 7), instead these are “multiplicative identities” (Wing, 2003, p. 7) that cause us to “confront the…multilayered and routinized forms of domination that often converge” (Crenshaw, 2016, p. 224) in our lives. At the same time, Lorde encourages us that our greatest vulnerability and visibility as Black women is also “the source of our greatest strength” (Lorde, 2007, p. 42). Lorde’s words remind us that we look, we speak, and we resist because we were never meant to survive. The precarious nature of our survival is a constant-- whether we are Serena Williams, a world renowned athlete who almost died in childbirth, or Dawn Wooten, a nurse and whistleblower who shed light on mass forced hysterectomies in a Georgia Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. Our silence does not grant us refuge from the pain, so we must speak. Black women’s oppositional knowledges often flow through the sacred places within us that harness our creativity, visions, and intellect (Collins, 2002; Lorde, 2007). These “hidden and ancient” (Lorde, 2007, p. 36) places have “survived and grown strong through…darkness” and “originated in the cosmologies of diverse West African ethnic groups” (Collins, 2002, p. 10). 8 Black Feminist Thought draws oppositional knowledges and intellect from all U.S. Black women-- inclusive of our multiplicative identities: As mothers, othermothers, teachers, and churchwomen in essentially all Black rural communities and urban neighborhoods, U.S. Black women participated in constructing and reconstructing these oppositional knowledges. Through the lived experiences gained within their extended families and communities, individual African-American women fashioned their own ideas about the meaning of Black womanhood. When these ideas found collective expression, Black women’s self-definitions enabled them to refashion African-influenced conceptions of self and community. These self-definitions of Black womanhood were designed to resist the negative controlling images of Black womanhood advanced by Whites as well as the discriminatory social practices that these controlling images supported. (Collins, 2002, p. 10) A foundational layer of Collins’ conception of Black Feminist Thought is an intentional emphasis on all Black women. Her statement recognizes the value of all our knowledges and experiences, from all class levels, social positions, and jobs. Further, in alignment with Crenshaw’s (1989) intersectionality, I argue that “all Black women” also includes sexuality, language, ability, religion, immigration status, and gender identities. Collins (2002) proposes that Black women’s history of oppositional knowledges have been places of resistance, collectivism, strength, creativity, and humanization. In this legacy, we have rejected harmful and flattening caricatures created by white supremacist patriarchy such as the “Mammy” and the “Jezebel” and refashioned our lives and livelihoods on our own terms. hooks (1992), Lorde (2007), and Collins (2002) document how Black women have and continue to use oppositional looks, speech, and knowledges to walk boldly and fully into our own self-definitions. Although we live within the restrictions of “white supremacist imperialist 9 capitalist patriarchy” (hooks, 2004, p. 17), we also knowingly resist and rest. We embody and hold fast to our own values, such as creativity, joy, collectivism, love, and self-determination. We use our oppositional ontologies and epistemologies to “create alternative texts” (hooks, 1992, p. 128) imagined, real, or not yet realized. However, erasing the invaluable contributions of Black women educators to the field of education results in the loss of this legacy for Black women educators today, as well as Black girls. Instead of celebrating and promoting Black girlhood, the U.S. public school system expects Black girls to embody white femininity and then disproportionately punishes them for falling short (Carter Andrews, Brown, Castro, & Id-Deen, 2019; Crenshaw, Ocean, & Nanda, 2015; Morris, 2016). Black girls are censored and stifled for developing and utilizing oppositional looks, speech, and knowledges. We need more teachers to understand and support Black girlhood, not extinguish it. My dissertation utilizes BFE not only because it is a framework for research, but more importantly because it is a root system that depicts Black women’s legacies-- our livelihoods, practices of resistance, the “hidden and ancient spaces” (Lorde, 2007, p. 36) within us, our collective survival. Literature Review “[w]hen you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions” Carter G. Woodson, 1933, p. xiii In 1994 Clark Hine argued that “present and future investigations of Afro-American women's past should increase our understanding of the complex interrelationships of gender, class, and race” (p. 3). While there exists a large corpus of literature on Black education broadly, there is much less scholarship that focuses on Black women educators as raced, gendered, and classed beings and how their intersectional positionalities influenced their pedagogical practices. In other disciplines, such as American studies, communications, religion, and social work, 10 scholars have also explored the importance of Black women as political activists and community leaders (Fleming, 2022; Hall, 1954; McKenzie, 2012, Muth et al., 2009; Newsome, 1992; Preston, 2022; Ramdani, 2022). These pieces, however, do not examine their schools or pedagogies. Drawing from Clark Hine (1994), I argue that more historical research needs to be done to explore the intersectional lives of Black women educators, in particular. In the absence of this knowledge, we are left to rely on merely a handful of biographies and scholarly articles that detail Black women educators’ experiences (Clark & Stokes Brown, 1990; Kifano, 1996; Lund Smith, 2009; McCaskill & Gebhard, 2006; McCluskey, 2017; Mellen Charron, 2009). While these texts were critical for this project, most significant is not what is there in the literature (and the archives), but what is not. Because of these gaps in the literature, the literature review for this dissertation provides a more contextual understanding of the sociocultural timepoint in which the four focal Black women educators lived, as well as traces their historical roots from post-Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. In Robin D. G. Kelley’s introduction to Freedom Dreams (2002), he drew from his mother when he wrote “the map to a new world is in the imagination” (p. 2). He further explained that this concept of freedom dreaming is rooted in a radical commitment to love and imagination that undergirds a simple yet brave belief: change is possible. Many African Americans in the antebellum South not only held this belief, but enacted it. In the decades immediately following the Civil War, liberated African Americans in the South led legislative and grassroots organizing to build an infrastructure for education (Franklin, 1990; Williams, 2005). Eager to gain economic independence from southern whites, their organizing efforts focused primarily on one goal: literacy for all adults and children. Some even believed that in “less than one generation African Americans would acquire enough education to govern their 11 own communities” (Williams, 2005, p. 71). Unfortunately, the establishment of Black education proved to be much more challenging. Even prior to the Civil War, free and enslaved African Americans were teaching and learning literacy skills (Franklin, 1990; Fisher, 2009). What’s more, the link between reading and writing and social action illuminates a legacy of activism in the African American community throughout the nineteenth century. In the late 1860s, African Americans and northern white advocates gained some traction in the movement towards widespread literacy in the South (Williams, 2005). Black parents especially fought for their children’s right to an education. One report by the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1867 stated that seventy-eight thousand Black children were in school across thirteen southern states (Wiliams, 2005). White landowners, not wanting to lose their workers, resisted African Americans’ attempts for adult literacy. However, “if there were moments when it seemed the South might establish free, even integrated public schools, black teachers and students more often found their very existence under attack from white southerners” (p. 194). The 1870s saw the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, who burned school buildings and beat school teachers, afraid schooling would give African Americans an advantage (Anderson, 1988). Nonetheless, Black communities continued to pursue their freedom dreams of education by participating in secret schools and literacy societies (Fisher, 2009). As southern and northern whites became part of the project for Black schooling, disagreements surfaced surrounding the type of education. More widespread discussions were concerned about the economic growth and societal direction of the Black community; the basis of the major contention between liberal arts curriculum and industrial training schools which focused on agricultural education (Anderson, 1988). The mid to late 19th century was a salient period where Black intellectuals, educators, and entrepreneurs had the opportunity to shape 12 schooling experiences of Black children (Franklin, 1990; Anderson, 1988). In addition, northern white philanthropists and religious leaders also took a vested interest in this matter (Anderson, 1988). Since white teachers refused to teach Black children, it did not take long for either group to realize “that no system of beliefs could be transmitted to the millions of [B]lack school children except through the ideas and behaviors of [B]lack teachers” (Anderson, 1988, p. 111). These leaders had the authority to design teacher training programs and nurture the ideology of the Black community. During this time, hundreds of private and public schools were founded across the South. The role of Black women in the development of Black teachers and Black education is often undertold. McCluskey (2017) notes the influence of four Black women on U.S. education whose pedagogy emphasized the “principles of democracy, equality, and justice” (p. 3). The Black women discussed in McCluskey’s book uplifted both liberal arts and manual training at their respective schools. It is important to note this pedagogical commitment, since discourse in history texts often argue that Black schooling focused on one or the other (Anderson, 1988), rather than giving curricular value to both. This may be due to an overemphasis of men’s roles in Black education, while overlooking Black women’s pedagogy, which always made room for both liberal arts and agriculture. I argue for a more intersectional approach to research on the history of Black education. I believe projects that intentionally approach the archives and research with a focus on the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of Black women’s roles in developing Black education as an enterprise. Black women’s clubs had robust involvement in establishing a space for women to discuss health care, education, and politics. An investigation into these realms can add to our 13 current discourse on Black education by highlighting the ways Black women educators enacted holistic education to not only support academic success, but also to promote physical and mental health, and autonomy through political education. As early as the 1820s and 1830s, Black women’s clubs, such as the Daughters of Africa, Colored Female Produce Society, and the Afro- American Female Intelligence Society, had gathered hundreds of Black women in to advocate for education and the abolition of slavery (Shaw, 1995). Shaw (1995) argued “African American women worked for self-improvement and racial advancement in a variety of settings” (p. 435). To thwart mainstream portrayals of Black women “as immoral women, licentious and oversexed,” (Washington, 1987, p. 73) their commitment to racial uplift was intently tied to cultivating a refined, educated image. These spaces likely influenced Black women educators’ dispositions as teachers. McCluskey (2017) makes it clear that Black women’s unique positionalities at the intersection of race, gender, and class made them more keenly aware of the systems of oppression operating, particularly in the South. She reminds us that Black women in the late 1800s like Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Church Terrell argued that Black liberation required the liberation of Black women, and even Black girls. McCluskey discussed that these women understood the precarity of Black girlhood and this is likely why they were advocates for Black schooling as a site of refuge and advancement for Black girls. To further contextualize Black women’s experiences and livelihood in the late 1800s and early 1900s, I turn to Hartman’s reflections on her own endeavors in the archives: What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be? Whether they had bobbed hair or not, wore pants or dresses, had husbands or not, it didn’t seem to matter; they all fell in between the categories or failed to conform to them. There was nothing the world 14 wouldn’t do to a colored woman. Everything they did to black men, they did to black women. (Hartman, 2019, 302) To add to McCluskey, Hartman described the precarity of Black women and girls because of the ways all Black people were dehumanized as a part of the project of enslavement. Richardson (2013) offered, “[f]or Black people to claim gender at all is brave given the array of violence enacted physically and epistemologically to strip us from gendered being” (p. 9). These arguments position Black women as raced, gendered, aged, and sexual beings even while white supremacist patriarchal logics documented throughout archives ungender, adultify, and sexualize Black women and girls (Hartman, 2019). Thus, Richardson (2013) begs the question: how do we recognize Black folx in the archives as fully human, even as they are misdocumented and misremembered? Further, how can we understand and extrapolate the ways gender expansiveness and Black queerness existed historically and exists in the archives? Although there is not enough literature to answer these questions, my dissertation offers a start in imagining the ways Black women’s intersectionality can be grappled with in the archives. Layered-storytelling offers a reclamation of Black women’s humanity by rendering them as complex, joyous, loving, gendered, aged, classed people. The following literature review explores the questions: (1) What were the major schools of thought that contributed to the development of Black education in the antebellum South? (2) What was the role of Black women in school leadership (teaching, curriculum development, fundraising)? Sociopolitical Influences on Types of Schooling Various sociopolitical influences impacted the creation and design of Black schools in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many people who possessed the wealth and power to influence 15 Black schools carried strong beliefs about the future impact of liberal arts curriculum and agricultural schools on Black people. Influencers included: northern philanthropists; local and national organizations which invested financially in Black schools by way of tremendous fundraising efforts of Black school leaders; and the financial investment of the Black families and the community in which the school was established (Anderson, 1988). In the late 1800s, there was debate over who was responsible for funding the education of Black children – federal or local government, philanthropists or community members (Siddle-Walker, 1999). White federal and local government officials denied funding for Black schools; as a result, the Black community and white philanthropists took on this responsibility (Siddle-Walker, 1999). The educational movement was viewed as a way for Black communities to define their freedom based on “their own initiative and self-reliance” rather than the “charity” of white philanthropists and missionaries (Anderson, 1988, p. 12). In addition, Black families preferred to send their children to “Black-controlled schools,” as explained in an edition of the 1867 Freedmen’s Record (p. 12). Northern philanthropists held a competitive interest in the cultivation of Black teachers and establishment of Black schools (Anderson, 1988). Their financial support was many times tied to the curriculum of the school and whether or not the school’s mission agreed with the philanthropist’s ideology. Many “[N]orthern philanthropists and their allies chose to use their wealth and power to influence small [B]lack private secondary and normal schools to eliminate classical liberal arts curriculum” (p. 114). White philanthropists who supported Booker T. Washington did so as a way to promote the spread of the Hampton-Tuskegee model. Much of Washington’s success and popularity is a result of his partnership with philanthropists. 16 Many successful Black leaders and Black and white organizations also supported Black schools in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of these groups became involved through a personal connection to the mission of Black women educators in the South, particularly the work of Lucy Laney, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Janie Porter Barrett. The National Association of Colored Women (NACW), the Virginia State Federation of Women’s Clubs, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) all supported these abovementioned educators in establishing and leading their schools (McCluskey, 2017; Muth et al., 2009). In addition, Maggie L. Walker, a Black woman philanthropist, gave generously to Barrett’s school, as well as collaborated with the Council of Colored Women in Richmond to raise funds for the school’s continuation (Muth et al., 2009). Madam C.J. Walker, an innovator in Black women’s hair care, financially supported Laney’s Haines Institute in Georgia (McCluskey, 2017). The Presbyterian Church supported the Haines Institute as well, in 1899, with a $10,000 gift (McCluskey, 2017). In the 1910s, Black community members oftentimes became financially involved in establishing schools for Black children (Anderson, 1988). Julius Rosenwald directed a construction campaign that partnered with community members in the South to build local schools, such as when they partnered with Black families to finance and build the Autauga County Training School in Alabama in 1921. H. M. Griffin, the head manager for building this school explicitly noted, “funds with which this project was completed came from people who represented a poor working class” (Anderson, 1988, p. 162). Anderson (1988) makes clear that the overwhelming financial contributions of local Black families paled in comparison to taxpayers, whites, and foundations like the Calloways and Rosenwald. This is significant because it shows the desire and respect that Black community members possess for education. 17 As mentioned above, the roles of national and state women’s clubs such as NACW, NCNW, and the Virginia State Federation of Women’s Clubs, were integral to supporting the philosophical and financial development of Black women’s pedagogies and schools. One major philosophical difference between Black women and men is that for women, liberal arts education and agricultural education has always been a both/and, rather than either/or (McCluskey, 2017). This dissertation delves into the both/and nature of four Black women’s schools as a way to trace the symbiotic relationships among pedagogical decision-making, community networks (clubs, colleagues, and philanthropists), and Black women’s leadership. The Cultivation of the Black Teacher The cultivation of Black teachers refers to the curriculum and practices used in teacher training programs to prepare Black teachers for the classroom. In the late 1880s, normal, industrial, and secondary schools began incorporating teacher training into their course offerings. However, the extreme need for Black teachers meant that the majority of Black graduates of these schools, whether or not trained as teachers, took up jobs in schools (Anderson, 1988). Because of their emphasis on agricultural training, Washington and proponents of the Hampton- Tuskegee model perpetuated low-expectations in their teacher training programs and hired under-qualified academic teachers. One such proponent was Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a white man who intentionally recruited young Black people, whom he could control, to train to become teachers (Anderson, 1988). In 1881, he relied on a “careful admission process” and recommendations of white conservatives at local Virginia independent boarding schools to “select wise leaders” (Anderson, 1988, p.46). He favored the boarding school concept and the Hampton model, so that the students could be under his constant supervision and control. Armstrong believed that Black people were inferior and used teacher training programs at the 18 Hampton Institute to “exemplify and propagate [his] philosophy of the […]Black working class” (Anderson, 1988, p. 47). His teacher training served as a way for him to ensure that Black people in the South would know their place in the economy (Anderson, 1988). Booker T. Washington, a mentee of Samuel Chapman Armstrong, believed the Hampton- Tuskegee model was a promising opportunity for Black people in the South to gain control of the agricultural economy (Anderson, 1988, p. 102). He focused on promoting agricultural training for Black people and dissuading them from political leadership. Washington believed Black leaders would develop out of the Hampton-Tuskegee model and continue to spread its ideology. As a result of his beliefs, Washington did not support academic investment in Black teachers. However, the Hampton-Tuskegee model of industrial teacher training was not as popular as similar programs in private colleges. In response to this, Washington and northern philanthropists established small private Black normal schools and high schools as a means to train more teachers with their industrial model. On the other hand, W.E.B. Dubois (1973) believed the Black community needed strong leaders cultivated by highly educated Black teachers. He believed the teaching training process should require a liberal arts education. He(1973) wrote that Black teachers have a responsibility beyond content knowledge to acknowledge the social context in which they are teaching. He believed that teachers must “know what they are teaching and whom they are teaching and the life that surrounds both the knowledge and the knower” (DuBois, 1973, p. 129). DuBois noticed how white supremacy infiltrated Black schools. His expectations of Black teachers were high and would be difficult for many to envision because he asked teachers to “teach that which they have learned in no American school” (p. 128). That is, to teach against the Eurocentric framework that is prevalent in schools. While there were many critiques of DuBois’ ideas for 19 cultivating Black teachers, specifically the accusation of elitism, his ideas influenced Black educators such as Lucy Craft Laney and Mary McLeod Bethune. The Pedagogy of Black Women Educators In this dissertation, the pedagogy of Black women educators is defined as the pedagogical practices and beliefs enacted by Black women who established schools for young Black people in the South. Black men and some northern whites debated, as alluded to earlier, whether to develop schools based on a liberal arts or agricultural and industrial curriculum. While Black women, such as Lucy Craft Laney, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Janie Porter Barrett promoted holistic education at their schools. Based on speeches (Terrell, 1897; Laney, 2019; Bethune, 1924) Black women’s pedagogical discourse at the time consistently supported schooling that provided both liberal arts education, domestic, and agricultural training. Lucy Craft Laney, a Georgia native, opened her school, Haines Normal and Industrial Institute, in Augusta, Georgia in 1886 (McCluskey, 2017). Laney was able to learn how to read at a young age due to her family’s privileged background. As a result, she enjoyed years of classic liberal arts education, leading to her attendance at Atlanta University. As a certified teacher, Laney was known as “a transformative teacher and change agent” (McCluskey, 2017, p.10) throughout Georgia. Although her school was contemporary to the Tuskegee Institute, it was clear that the schools’ pedagogies were vastly different. While the curriculum infused Christian values, academic and vocational training; the pedagogical practices at the Haines Institute enacted a Black feminist perspective (McCluskey, 2017) and othermothering (Cooper- Wilson, 2010). Specifically, Laney emphasized social activism and advocacy, an essential skill for “Black women who had to defend their character from attacks,” (McCluskey, 2017, p. 7). Laney took up othermothering, strongly believing that Black mothers were central to the success 20 of the Black community and dedicated her school to developing leadership among girls and young women. “She believed that the stability of Black family life, molded and guided by loving mothers, would lead to a transformed and improved social and racial climate” (McCluskey, 2017, p. 20). One of the most significant effects of Laney’s work was her legacy in inspiring generations of Black women, such as Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Janie Porter Barrett, to establish similar schools—investing in Black women and girls across the South. Laney’s mentorship of these women, national speeches on Black education, and engagement in women’s clubs across the South proves that she was often in conversation with Black women, and others, towards the development of pedagogy for the future of Black youth and the Black community writ large. Mary McLeod Bethune, influenced by Washington and Lanes’ pedagogy, founded the Daytona Literary and Industrial Institute in Daytona, Florida in1904, with a particular focus on reading and vocational training (McCluskey, 2017). Bethune grew up in South Carolina, as a young woman she traveled to Hampton and Augusta, developing mentee relationships with Washington and Haines. In 1904, when Bethune moved to Daytona, there was no official schooling infrastructure for Black children. Within the same year, she was able to gain enough financial support from NACW and NCNW to open her school in October. With Bethune’s mounting political and social activism, she soon became a prominent leader in the South, advocating for Black entrepreneurship and an increase in Black women’s economic opportunities. Today, known as Bethune-Cookman University, Bethune was the first, and possibly only Black woman to establish a grammar school which later became an accredited university (McCluskey, 2017) . 21 Once the curriculum became more liberatory, a request of the Black community, Bethune’s pedagogy showed elements of Black feminist thought and collectivism. The Daytona Literary and Industrial Institute initially had an equal emphasis on industrial and academic training for Black girls and women. However, after negative reactions from the community, citing that vocational training reinforced low-skilled labor, Bethune shifted the school’s focus toward liberal arts curriculum (McCluskey, 2017). In addition to reading, writing and mathematics classes, Bethune’s school offered business courses as well. She intentionally and consistently recruited “highly qualified and very dedicated [B]lack women teachers who often accepted lower pay in order to join the Bethune ‘family’” (McCluskey, 2017, p.61). Her cultivation of a school environment in which faculty and students felt at home is an important aspect of collectivism. Bill Muth et al. (2009) explores the extraordinary legacy of Janie Porter Barrett the 1910s and 20s. Janie Porter Barrett grew up in Macon, Georgia and attended both Hampton Institute in Virginia, and later Laney’s Haines Institute in Georgia. By 1889, Barrett was married and lived in Hampton, Virginia, where she felt increasing concern for Black girls growing up in socially disadvantaged circumstances due to poverty, sexism and racism (Muth et al., 2009). Barrett became an advocate for black girls in a time when schools and prison institutions mostly viewed this group of people as venues for cheap labor. In 1915, Barrett had fundraised enough money from local and national women’s groups to open the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls. Through the establishment of her school in Ashland, Virginia, she was able to provide structured training, build respectability, and develop girls’ leadership skills. It is hard to overstate the significance of her work during this time, the desire and pedagogical practice focused on 22 building a sense of trust, community and respect, towards Black girls who are a triply oppressed group based on age, gender, and race. Janie Porter Barrett “recognized the social roots of poverty and the need to reform social structures” (Bill Muth, et al., 2009, p. 46) and believed in the importance of Christian moral values. As a result, her schools adopted a specific and unique pedagogical practice which focused on developing girls’ self-esteem, respectability and advocacy skills. “Barrett cultivated strong civic values in her girls by helping them to learn to govern themselves” (Bill Muth, et al., 2009, p. 45). In addition, the school “banned the use of corporal punishment” (p. 44) rather “[s]tudent activities were regulated by the honor system. Using rewards instead of punishments, in her programs, she emphasized […]home.” (p. 37). Barrett wanted to guide the girls to be “respectable.” In contrast to present conversations, in which “respectable” is related to respectability politics – the idea that the humanity and equality of Black people is wrapped up in the ability to resemble whiteness. Barrett’s desires for Black girls’ respectability are significantly rooted in upholding Black girls’ self-respect, self-confidence, and self-worth. This is illustrated by her struggle “to prevent the exploitation of former students by employers in search of cheap labor” (Muth et al., 2009, p. 37). Barrett’s pedagogical practices at the school utilized othermothering and Black feminist thought. Barrett’s concern for Black girls’ living conditions and lack of opportunities resulted in her advocacy on behalf of this group. The Industrial Home School for Colored Girls emphasized home and cultivated familial and community ties for Black girls – an essential component of othermothering. Additionally, Barrett incorporated collectivist thought by teaching the girls to self-govern, lead and problem-solve together. These aspects of the school illuminate Barrett’s 23 position, as an African-American woman, because of her standpoint, she was privy to the tools of resistance and leadership young girls needed to become autonomous in the South. Conclusion The mid 19th to early 20th centuries were a promising and contentious time in which many educators, politicians, community members and philanthropists had the opportunity to determine the future of Black people through the establishment of schools. Many leaders tinkered with teacher training programs in hopes of producing a specific type of Black teacher. Many Black educators used networks and fundraising skills to start their own private schools. Black educators’ pedagogy was influenced by complex factors including their financial supporters, help from the Black community and mentors who shaped Black educators’ mission and perspectives. As a result, throughout this period, there existed schools who operationalized opposing ideologies which resisted or reinforced white supremacy. Many Black educators, such as Lucy Craft Laney, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Janie Porter Barrett, adopted community practices from slavery, such as collectivism and othermothering as ways to resist white supremacy and interrupt the oppressive nature of schooling. Practically, many of these schools infused Christian values, liberal arts curriculum, and vocational courses. Additionally, this literature review serves as a reminder of both the lineage and significance of Black leaders and teachers in schools and the classroom. A 2018 report by the Learning Policy Institute found “all students, including white students, benefit from having teachers of color” (Learning Policy Institute, 2018). Unfortunately, post-Brown, the presence of Black teachers in schools has dramatically decreased. One effort in this literature review is to draw attention to historical development of Black teachers’ pedagogical practices as a way for researchers, educators, school leaders to better understand ways to support, encourage, and retain 24 Black teachers today. In addition, this literature review aims to emphasize the strength and resistance of the Black community through the operationalization of othermothering and Black feminist thought, to aid the development of dignity, pride and self-worth within young Black people. While in-depth research (Anderson, 1988; Williams, 2005; Siddle Walker, 1999) provided the context for the sociopolitical influences on Black education in the South– northern philanthropists, the southern political organizing climate, Black teacher’s commitments to Black youth, and the development of prominent historically Black colleges and universities– there is still a need for more research of the intersectional influences on Black education, particularly race, gender, and sexuality. This argument is articulated, in part, by McCluskey (2017), while Richarson (2013) made an argument for extrapolating Black queerness in the archives across disciplines, and Hartman’s (2019) argument for critical fabulation in the archives as a way to more intentionally explore the lives of Black women and girls. Together, these authors challenged me to embrace, explore, and share the intersections and messiness of the archives with readers. 25 BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, J. D. (1988). The education of Blacks in the South: 1860-1935. Chapel Hill u.a.: Univ. of North Carolina Press. Bethune, M. M. L., McCluskey, A. T., & Smith, E. M. (2002). Mary McLeod Bethune: Building A better world: Essays and selected documents. Indiana University Press. Carter Andrews, D. J., Brown, T., Castro, E., & Id-Deen, E. (2019). The Impossibility of Being “Perfect and White”: Black Girls’ Racialized and Gendered Schooling Experiences. American Educational Research Journal, 56(6), 2531–2572. Carver-Thomas, D. (2018, April). Diversifying the Teaching Profession: How to Recruit and Retain Teachers of Color. Retrieved from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/ files/product-files/Diversifying_Teaching_Profession_REPORT_0.pdf Hine, D. C. (1994). Hine sight: Black women and the re-construction of American history. 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Wood (Ed.). University of Georgia Press. McCaskill, B., & Gebhard, C. (2006). 4. “Manly Husbands and Womanly Wives’’: The Leadership of Educator Lucy Craft Laney.” In Post-Bellum, Pre-Harlem : African American Literature and Culture, 1877-1919. NYU Press. McCluskey, A. T. (2017). A forgotten sisterhood: Pioneering black women educators and activists in the Jim Crow South. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. McKenzie, P. (2012). An Ideological Criticism of Mary McLeod Bethune’s “Democracy” Speech. Florida Communication Journal, 40(2), 13–22. Mellen Charron, K. (2009). Freedom’s teacher: The life of Septima Clark. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. Morris, M. W. (2016) Push out: The criminalization of Black girls in schools. New York: The New Press. Morrison, T. (1987). Song of Solomon. Plume. Muhammad, G. E. & Haddix, M. (2016). Centering Black girls’ ways of knowing: A historical review of literature on the multiple literacies of Black girls, English Education, 48(4), 299-336. Muth, B., Gehring, T., Mayers, C., Kamusikiri, S., & Pressley, G. (2009). Janie Porter Barrett (1865 - 1948): Exemplary African American Correctional Educator. The Journal of Correctional Education,60(1), 31-51. Newsome, C. G. (1992). Mary McLeod Bethune and the Methodist Episcopal Church North: In but out. Journal of Religious Thought, 49(1), 7. Preston, A. R. (2022). Looking Beyond the United States : Mary McLeod Bethune’s Relationships with Afro-Cubans. Phylon (1960-), 59(2), 77–88. Ramdani, F. (2022). Lifting the veil on Mary McLeod Bethune’s contribution to American historiography: the first African American woman in the statuary hall collection in Washington D.C. Comparative American Studies, 19(1), 24–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/14775700.2022.2031585. Richardson, M. (2013). The queer limit of Black memory: Black lesbian literature and irresolution. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press. 28 Rogers-Ard, R., Knaus, C. B., Epstein, K. K., & Mayfield, K. (2012). Racial Diversity Sounds Nice; Systems Transformation? Not So Much. Urban Education,48(3), 451-479. doi:10.1177/0042085912454441. Rury, J. L. (2016). Education and social change: contours in the history of American schooling (Fifth edition). New York: Routledge. Shaw, S. J. (1995) Black Club Women and the Creation of the National Association of Colored Women. In We specialize in the wholly impossible: A reader in Black women's history. D. Clark Hine, W. King, L. Reed, (Eds.).Carlson Publishing, Inc. Siddle Walker, V. (1999). Their highest potential an African American school community in the segregated South. Boulder, CO: NetLibrary. Terrell, M. C. (1897) Mary Church Terrell Papers: Speeches and Writings, -1953; 1897, Sept.15, President's first address to the National Association of Colored Women. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mss425490352/. Touré. (2009). The portable promised land stories. Little Brown & Company. Walker, V. S. (1999). Their highest potential an African American school community in the segregated South. Boulder, CO: NetLibrary. Walker, V. S. (2000). Valued Segregated Schools for African American Children in the South, 1935-1969: A Review of Common Themes and Characteristics. Review of Educational Research,70(3), 253. Washington, M. H. (1987). Invented lives: Narratives of Black women 1860 - 1960. Vintage. Williams, H. A. (2005). Self-Taught: African American education in slavery and freedom. The University of North Carolina Press. Wing, A. K. (2003). Introduction. In A. K. Wing (Ed.), In Critical race feminism: A reader, 2nd edition (pp.1-19). New York: New York University Press. Woodson, C. G. (1933). The mis-education of the Negro: A black history classic of African American literature. The Associated. 29 APPENDIX A: bell hooks TWEETS Figure 1.1: In this tweet Tressie McMillan Cottom reflects on the legacy of bell hooks, December 2021. Figure 1.2: In this tweet Alicia (@dykearchive) reflects on the legacy of bell hooks, December 2021. Figure 1.3: In this tweet Kisha Howell (@kishahowell3) reflects on the legacy of bell hooks, December 2021. 30 APPENDIX B: PILATE’S PLAYLIST QR CODE Figure 1.4: Pilate’s Playlist QR Code. 31 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY & METHODS “When Europeans first try to take slaves from Africa they unknowingly go to the fiercest tribe of warriors on the continent. All but one of the Europeans are slaughtered and all of Europe hears of the ferocious and unstoppable warriors in Africa. They never again try to take slaves from the continent and right now you’re chilling in Africa” (Touré, 2002, p. 80) My dissertation had two stages: (1) delving into the archives to later craft a nonfiction narrative, then (2) writing and curating layers with the nonfiction narratives. Using archival research methods, this dissertation utilized historical archives to create portraits about four prominent Black women educators who have made empowering and important contributions to the field of education for and with the Black community: Lucy Craft Laney, Janie Porter Barrett, Mary Mcleod Bethune, and Septima Clark. I utilize Critical Race Methodologies (CRM) as a tool to validate experiential knowledge, through counternarratives. Then, in data analysis, I applied a BFE lens to my findings by highlighting the women’s practices of looking, speaking, and oppositional knowledges--in a process I call layered-storying--a methodology I started developing in my practicum. My methods are influenced by Siddle Walker’s (1999) conception of “historical ethnography” (p. 221) and Hartman’s (2019) use of “close narration” (p. xiii). Siddle Walker (1999) describes historical ethnography as an intentional two-fold process of not only recreating historical events themselves, but describing the cultural context within which these events occurred: “[c]onsistent with historical methodology, the work aimed to convey a sense of another time and place. Simultaneously, however, the inquiry also sought to understand the meaning that school life held to its participants'' (p. 221) By foregrounding the “events’ value,'' Siddle Walker sets the stage for readers to understand the significance of a particular historical event as experienced by the people at the time. This method encourages researchers to think about history 32 as a series of events unfolding in the past and how the people of that time felt, heard about, and engaged with those events at that time. Hartman (2019) describes close narration as “a style which places the voice of narrator and character in inseparable relation, so that the vision, language, and rhythms of the wayward shape and arrange the text” (p. xiii) The “inseparable relation” between the researcher and the character requires a deep understanding of the character’s daily life and their cultural context. Employing notions of a closeness with the subject or character, I believe, is facilitated through a deep awareness of the “hidden and ancient” (Lorde, 2007, p. 36) places within myself. Finally, my methodology draws from Solórzano and Yosso’s (2002) conception of Critical Race Methodologies (CRM) as an approach to research that emphasizes race and racism in each step of the research process. In this project, I utilize two specific tenets of CRM: research toward liberatory solutions and counternarratives. Solórzano and Yosso explain that a methodological commitment to social justice requires the “empowerment” (p. 26) of minoritized groups. Furthermore, they specifically note “the experiential knowledge of people of color is legitimate, appropriate and critical” (p. 26). CRM layers liberatory social justice-oriented research and counternarratives which informs the project as I seek to disrupt teacher preparation program’s color-evasiveness and racist history through centering Black women narratives. In this project, I take up Siddle Walker’s historical ethnography and Hartman’s close narration in order to write enriching and authentic nonfiction narratives about the four Black women educators. Additionally, my methodological framing of CRM uplifts the experiential knowledges of the women via counternarratives. 33 “Layered-Storying” In response to Evans-Winters’ (2019) call for research that more authentically positions Black girls and women, I theorize a data analysis method I am calling layered storying. I first began developing this method in my practicum study. Layered-storying is informed by portraiture, BFE, and Solange’s (2019) “Can I Hold the Mic?” Portraiture is a qualitative research method that creates participant portraits by blending the art, or “subjective” aspects with the science, or “objective” aspects. With this in mind, the “layers'' in layer-storytelling play with “subjective/ objective” and “art/science” binaries to (re)imagine these women’s lived experiences and future visions by answering the question:“what is good here?” (Lawrence- Lightfoot & Hoffmann Davis, 1997, p. 9). As I seek authenticity in the formation of narratives and subsequent layers, I intentionally center Black women’s experiences as framed by BFE (Collins, 2002; Lorde, 2007; hooks, 1992). My conceptualization of layered-storytelling draws from Black Feminist Epistemologies- - specifically hooks’ (1992) discussion of the oppositional gaze in which she wrote: The extent to which black women feel devalued, objectified, dehumanized in this society determines the scope and texture of their looking relations. Those black women whose identities were constructed in resistance, by practices that oppose the dominant order, were most inclined to develop an oppositional gaze. (p. 127) The oppositional gaze develops in response to oppression-- racism, sexism, class exploitation, and ableism--and becomes a site of resistance. Black women, as “critical spectators…participate in a broad range of looking relations, contest, resist, revis[e], interrogate and invent on multiple levels” (p. 128). Important here is her emphasis on invention. hooks argued that the power of Black looks and oppositional gazes is the ability to envision and then 34 create what is not yet in existence. In this way, Black women resist hegemonic powers by inventing lives and livelihoods for ourselves. This idea is also showcased in Mary Helen Washington’s 1987 edited collection of Black Women’s narratives entitled: Invented Lives. The edited book includes literature from renowned Black women writers: Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larson, Ann Petry, and Gwendolyn Brooks who wrote about and lived invented lives. Whether it is writing fiction or creating media, hooks continues: Black female critical thinkers concerned with creating space for the construction of radical black female subjectivity, and the way cultural production informs this possibility, fully acknowledge the importance of mass media, film in particular, as a powerful site for critical intervention. (p. 128) Drawing from hooks, I argue layered-storytelling is also a powerful site for critical intervention as it uses nonfiction and fiction to create space to (re)imagine Black women’s histories and futures. Layered-storytelling asks: What does it look like to invent (life)? What does it mean to be able to fully see your reality yet create something that does not exist? What pasts/futures can we create together? Finally, Solange reclaims space for Black women to be authentically seen by sharing our layered and unique selves. In Solange’s (2019) “Can I Hold the Mic?”, she says: I can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many Her conceptualization of “too many” depicts the overflowing abundance of Black women’s ontologies and epistemologies. She declares that Black women embody too much to be portrayed with a singular lens. Considering Solange’s lyrics, and informed by portraiture and BFE, I 35 propose layered-storying as a data analysis method that seeks to expand the lens through which Black women are portrayed in research. Layered-storying uses a series of texts such as photographs, creative writing, and counter/narratives. In qualitative studies with participants, these texts could be co-written with and by the researcher and participants, intentionally disrupting the researcher's gaze and centering Black women’s authorial voices. In this historical project, I utilize Hartman’s (2019) “mode of close narration” (p. xiii) to merge the voice of the researcher and character similar to a “dance of vigilance and improvisation” (Lawrence- Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 43). Each text is in conversation with the other and provide a new layer to more closely depict the multifaceted and nuanced narratives of Black women educators. Below, I explain more about how I analyze and compile these narratives. Layered-storytelling has deep methodological and theoretical underpinnings that unapologetically center Black Feminisms, intersectionality, and creativity. Those who take up Layered-storytelling should first consider how their positionality and personal epistemological perspectives align and further these methodological and theoretical foundations. Additionally, a key component of layered storytelling is blending the art and the science. Ask yourself: how am I engaging with art (literature, poetry, visual art, music, etc.)? How does your engagement with art influence you, your researcher disposition, your research questions? It is important to be sure that research questions are also methodologically and theoretically aligned. Process and Compilation As a researcher, I considered my positionality and how my identities have drawn me to the research. As I entered this archival work, I drew upon hooks’ (1992) conceptualization of oppositional gaze and Hartman’s (2019) practice of reading against the archive “to grapple with 36 the power and authority of the archive” and recreate and imagine the lives of Black women educators. Phase One: Black Women Educators in the Archives For part one of the project, I conducted archival research to collect data on Lucy Craft Laney, Janie Porter Barrett, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Septima Clark. I utilized primary and secondary sources such as digitized and physical archival materials, as well as autobiographical and biographical works. I visited museums, historical sites, and archives such as the: Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls campus, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House in Washington, D.C., and the Library of Virginia, and the National Archives in Washington, DC. A few of the primary sources I use are: Ready from Within (Clark, 1986); Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World, Essays and Selected Documents (McCluskey & Smith, 2002); and The Burden of the Educated Colored Woman (Craft Laney, 2019). Additionally, some secondary sources I utilized for my dissertation include: A Forgotten Sisterhood (McCluskey, 2017; Bethune: Out of Darkness Into the Light of Freedom: Mary's Grandbabies by Bethune’s granddaughter (Bethune, 2018); and Janie Porter Barrett, Her Life and Contributions to Social Welfare in Virginia (Hall, 1954). As I collected data, I focused on the following topics: childhood upbringing, schooling, personal life, career as an educator, pedagogy, vision, and legacy. For each woman, I utilized historical archives to create a comprehensive narrative seeking to blend the art, or “subjective” aspects with the science, or “objective” aspects. I have created narratives that reflect authenticity and answer the question: “what is good here?” (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Hoffmann Davis, 1997, p. 9) in these women’s lives, as well as careers. Each narrative also includes visuals such as photographs or portraits to complement the writing. 37 Part Two: “Layered-Storying” as a Magazine For part two, I created alternative texts or layers. Layered storytelling depicts authentic and complex stories of women through layering different forms of text (broadly defined), such as poetry, vignettes, visual art, photography, and short stories. My mentor texts included: Touré’s The Portable Promised Land (2009), Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1987), Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993) and Kindred (1979). Touré’s The Portable Promised Land is a book of various short stories that explore themes of Black music and culture, lists of Black vernacular and revisionist histories (if racism didn’t exist, if Africans were never kidnapped). Morrison’s Song of Solomon is a novel that utilizes the African folktale “The People Who Could Fly” to explore magical realism and follows the protagonist on a hero’s journey to recover his family’s story and ancestry. Morrison creates a magical world, entrenched in the richness of Black family, culture, and history. Butler’s science fiction novel, Parable of the Sower, enters a near future dystopia, set in the U.S. west coast and follows a teenage girl as she adjusts and learns to survive the collapse of civilization. Butler’s Kindred, a speculative fiction novel, follows the uncontrollable time travel of the protagonist between 1970s California and antebellum Maryland as she visits the plantation of her ancestors-- enslaver and enslaved. My writing style as I created the layers employed elements of magical realism, Afrofuturism, historical and science fiction as exemplified in the aforementioned texts. Specifically, to facilitate my creative thinking, I recalled the questions: (1) If we, Black women and Black folx, could just be and explore-- what would it look like? (2) What would it sound like? (3) What communities could we build together? (4) What dreams or visions would we have? (5) What values would we hold dear? Throughout this project, I wrote speculative counternarratives to imagine Black women’s conversations, actions, and future visions as educators and community activists. For example, 38 the archives tells us that Janie Porter Barrett believed there would be a day when Black girls would not need a specialized school to support and protect them. In one of her layers, I illustrated speculative counterstories and wrote from her perspective what U.S. society would look like when that day comes to fruition. Another layer that takes up critical fabulation (Hartman, 2019) is the short story that describes Mary McLeod Bethune’s first day at the Daytona school in October 1904– the layer explores Bethune’s day as she set up her classroom and welcomed new students and families. By investigating these women’s oppositional looks (hooks, 1992), speech (Lorde, 2007), and oppositional knowledges (Collins, 2022) these imaginative layers are both rooted in the archives and the “hidden and ancient spaces” (Lorde, 2007, p. 36) of Black Feminist Epistemologies. After I wrote a nonfiction narrative about each woman, I created various types of texts (mentioned above) that formed “layers” that add complexity, fiction, and creativity to complement and extend the narrative. The layers illuminate and emphasize themes or “findings” from the archival research and narratives. For example, the layers include visual portraits of the women and photographs of their schools, students, and community members. Each woman's narrative is paired with multiple layers that aim to draw upon their lives as represented in the archives. Inspired by Black Futures (Drew & Wortham, 2021) and Aperture’s Summer 2016 issue: “Vision & Justice,” the project materializes as a magazine. To tie in the metaphor of Pilate’s wine house, the section titles in the magazine mirror the process of building the house. The magazine opens with “Laying the Foundation” (an introduction), followed by “Framing the House” (a theoretical framework). The “body” is composed of each woman’s non-fiction narrative and accompanying layers, photographs of the archives, book recommendation lists, and a song playlist. After the women's narratives and layers, the magazine transitions into: 39 “Connecting Lineages” and “(Re)imagining Futures” which serve as the discussion and implications sections, respectively. Next is the “Reflections on Methods & Methodology” section. Finally, the magazine concludes with the “About the Author” section, which is my positionality statement. A draft of the Table of Contents can be found in Appendix A of this section. The magazine is available in print and digital formats. 40 “On Research:” A Blackout Poem "As mothers, othermothers, teachers, and churchwomen in essentially all Black rural communities and urban neighborhoods, U.S. Black women participated in constructing and reconstructing these oppositional knowledges. Through the lived experiences gained within their extended families and communities, individual African-American women fashioned their own ideas about the meaning of Black womanhood. When these ideas found collective expression, Black women’s self-definitions enabled them to refashion African-influenced conceptions of self and community. These self-definitions of Black womanhood were designed to resist the negative controlling images of Black womanhood advanced by Whites as well as the discriminatory social practices that these controlling images supported." (Collins, 2009, p.10) “As Black women, we have the right and responsibility to define ourselves.” (Lorde, 2007, p. 52) “As women, we need to examine the ways in which the world can truly be different.” (Lorde, 2007, p. 55) “..who am I am, what I believe, what experiences I have had -- because it affects what, how, and why I research.” (Ladson-Billings, 2000, p. 268) *** What is research for? Lol I feel like this is a very difficult question because I didn’t really get into this for the research. I got into this because I have questions I want to answer(s) them/ I feel like we should/need to be able to answer them. I guess that is an answer. Like simply, research is to answer questions, but more nuanced & importantly, research is for us to make things better. However and whomever can fall under "things"-- perhaps systems. Systems that affect people. Like there has to be a Figure 2.1: “On Research” Black Out Poem. 41 Figure 2.1 (cont’d) better way to run schools, and for students to learn and grow and be happy during the process. I think that's what my research is for. But unfortunately instead of starting with how can we run schools better so that students can learn and grow and be happy during the process…I have to start with how can schools stop being oppressive? Who has led schools in not being oppressive? Who has made their schools and classrooms less oppressive? How do Black girls be/embody/participate in happy(iness) regardless of this oppressive-ass school? Because I don't want to overlook the ways schools have run (in the past/currently) in ways that disrupt oppression and I don't want to overlook the happiness that Black girls already embody. While acknowledging these moments of joy are the exception to the rule, the resistance, rather than the norm for many more Black girls and teachers. Why does research matter? “Whose story is deemed legitimate? Who has the power to shape the public perception about the logic and worth of the event?” (Ladson-Billings, 2000, p. 268) Research matters (negatively) because it impacts our (BLACK) lives (negatively)! Research has historically been oppressive and used to undergird and "confirm" hatred and bigotry. I think we (the academy) have YET to see the ways research can positively affect our (BLACK) lives. I think that Black researchers or research for Black lives have/has been marginalized, or pushed outside the category of research. There are a lot of gatekeepers who get to decide what is and isn't research. That matters because they get to delegitimize blackness and credential whiteness -- and all the intersections associated with either. So I guess I'm saying research only has mattered insofar as (OR BECAUSE) it has legitimized ideologies, thought, beliefs (too often steeped in 42 Figure 2.1 (cont’d) white supremacist patriarchal ableist capitalist imperialist heterosexist ideologies) and therefore grants power and institutionalizes power for those/that group. “I write knowing that the designations I employ—urban and Native, disen- franchised, overresearched but underseen—do not quite capture enough of the experiences about which I am writing. Nonetheless, I use these categories to draw attention to the experiences of our communities. I write to you now because I believe that our communities can exercise a bounty of decision- making power in these issues.” (Tuck, 2009, p. 412) “We need qualitative research texts that excite hope for the researcher and researched” (Evans- Winters, 2019, p. 9) What do you value and believe about research? Do I value research? What is research? What kind of research? I feel like I value research that is liberatory. Research that may risk going against what we frame as "research." Research that scares the scientific method. “Rejection of Eurocentric western notions of time and space” (Evans-Winters, 2019, p. 9) *** “Devastated, depressed, or desperate—downtrodden or doused in despair—resist the lull of disillusionment. Arise from your slumber and refuse to perish. Refuse to be deprived of the wisdom of your ways of loving, hurting, healing, grieving, and surviving; refuse to decay. Be compassionate with your human/e nature, and hard on neoliberal academe’s heartlessness. Devote your precious time and energy to sowing your sorrow and suffering into a survival strategy. To create is to survive. Create something, anything,” (Ohito, 2020, p.16) 43 Blackout poetry and annotation as part of “Layering” method(ology) Blackout poetry and annotation are common practices of reading and engaging with written text. The original version of the poem above was a personal reflection on research, a step toward writing a research statement. In my writing process for this research statement, I began with the prompts: (1) What is research for? (2) Why does research matter? (3) What do you value and believe about research? I responded to these questions in a stream of consciousness reflective writing process. First, I thought about and interpreted the questions narrowly. I asked myself: word-for-word, connotatively, what is this question asking me? Second, I considered the question broadly and I asked myself: what could this question be asking me? How can I interpret this question in a more expansive and liberatory way? Finally, I thought: what do I want to say? What do I wish these questions were asking me? In this writing process, I balanced what I saw as the reality of research and what I imagine research can be. As I wrote in my own words, I also recalled and quoted Black and Indigenous women’s scholarship that has cultivated my orientation towards liberatory research. In creating the blackout poem, the first layer, I focused on what I see and want to say with the words (voices) already on the page. By blacking out some words, I emphasize others-- letting them stand alone in their significance. The annotated version (see Appendix A) creates an additional layer of text and meaning that clarifies my message. The annotations in my handwriting add words like “we,” “our,” and “I” which provides a personal and unique layer. This is another way I make the poem “mine.” Throughout this project, I explore and experiment with layering as a methodology that employs Black women’s oppositional knowledges (Collins, 2002), oppositional looks (hooks, 1992), and transforming silence into language and action (Lorde, 2007). In the poems above, I 44 also use these aspects of Black Feminist Epistemologies in my process to create blackout poetry and annotate. Positionality Statement I can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many “Can I Hold the Mic?” Solange (2019) “...they didn’t want an egg, but they did want to be with her, to go inside the wine house of this lady who had one earring, no navel, and looked like a tall black tree” (Morrison, 1987, p. 37). I am a Black queer woman. I am the granddaughter of Fannie Rowson who taught me how to sew, cook, and hang laundry on the clothesline in her backyard. I am the granddaughter of Ruby Wilmot who made carrot and raisin salad and taught Sunday school in Jamaica. I am the only daughter of Edith Wilmot who affectionately calls me her “best girlfriend.” I am the blood legacy of these Black women. Even though I am an only child, my chosen sisters-- Katierie Hill, Hope Walker, LaToya Fox, Heather Robeson, and Christa Robinson --have mentored me into Black womanhood. I am more than the things I do, but a mosaic of experiences that curate my epistemologies. First, I am drawing from the lyrics of Solange’s (2019) “Can I Hold the Mic?” to contextualize my positionality. In the tradition of BFE, Solange illustrates the complex constellation of Black women’s identity. Her repetition of ''too many” defies the monolithic tropes and “negative controlling images” (Collins, 2002, p. 10) often ascribed to Black women. Instead, Solange offers us a deep dive into the multiple intersections and vast experiences that inform Black womanhood. She illuminates the imagery of parts, spaces, manifestations, lines, curves, troubles, journeys, mountains, and rivers, which form the constellations of Black womanhood. This mosaic of experiences curates Black Feminist Epistemologies. This is the 45 place-- ancient, hidden, and as magical as Pilate’s wine house-- where I conceptualize my positionality. I am making a commitment to bring my whole self wherever I go and intentionally resist a culture of compartmentalization. I cannot be a singular expression of myself. When Toni Morrison (1987) introduces us to Pilate Dead in Song of Solomon, Pilate is described as a formidable “tall black tree” (p. 37) without a navel. She lives on the outskirts of society and rejects whiteness, respectability, social norms and standards. Morrison wrote Pilate, and many of her characters, within a world of Blackness unscathed by the white male gaze. Pilate is a Black woman in reference to Black women, not white men or white men’s conceptions of Blackness. Pilate embodies the magic of Black women-- her mystery, strength, and wisdom makes her a guide for Milkman (the protagonist) in the novel and helps him uncover his family’s legacy. I’ve always admired Pilate because of the ways she embodies Black womanhood. She is undoubtedly magical (born without a navel), unencumbered by whiteness, and authentic-- this is how I imagine myself if not for whiteness, or capitalism, or institutions. If we, Black women and Black folx, could just be and explore-- what would it look like? What would it sound like? What communities could we build together? What dreams or visions would we have? What values would we hold dear? As I approach my dissertation work, particularly the archives and the layered storytelling, I aim to traverse the world of real and imagined. As a researcher in the archives, I will deal in the realities of these four Black women’s pedagogies, schools, engagement with students and community members. Then, as I create and write the layered stories-- these will be the places of being and exploration. Where I can imagine Pilate’s world and create others wherein these Black women educators could dream and exist magically, authentically, and unencumbered by whiteness. 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bethune, E. (2018). Bethune: Out of Darkness Into the Light of Freedom: Mary's Grandbabies. The Bethune Group. Bethune, M. M. L., McCluskey, A. T., & Smith, E. M. (2002). Mary McLeod Bethune: Building A better world: Essays and selected documents. Indiana University Press. Butler, O. E. (1979). Kindred. Beacon Press. Butler, O. E. (1993). The Parable of the Sower. Beacon Press. Clark, S. P., & Brown, C. S. (1986). Ready from within: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement. Africa World. Collins, P. H. (2002). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com. Collins, P. H. (2009). The politics of Black feminist thought (pp. 3-20) and “Distinguishing features of Black feminist thought” (pp. 24-48). In Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge. Craft Laney, L. (2019). The Burden of the Educated Colored Woman. MuseumAudiobooks.com. Drew, K. & Wortham, J. (2021). Black futures. New York: One World. Evans-Winters, V. E. (2019). Black feminism in qualitative inquiry: A mosaic for writing our daughter’s body. New York: Routledge. Famighetti, M. (Ed.) (2016, Summer). Aperture: The Magazine of Photography and Ideas. 223. Hall, W. R. (1954). Janie Porter Barrett, her life and contributions to social welfare in Virginia. Washington, DC: Howard University. Hartman, S. (2019). Wayward lives beautiful experiments: Intimate histories of social upheaval. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. hooks, b. (1992). Black looks: Race and representation. Boston: South End Press. Knowles, S., Unknown, & Chassol, C. “Can I Hold the Mic?” (2019) [Recorded by Solange Knowles]. On When I Get Home. New York: Saint Records. (2019). Ladson-Billings, G. (2000). Racialized discourses and ethnic epistemologies. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd Edition (pp. 257-277). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 47 Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Hoffmann Davis, J.(1997). The Art and Science of Portraiture. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc. Lorde, A. (2007) Sister outsider. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press. McCluskey, A. T. (2017). A forgotten sisterhood: Pioneering black women educators and activists in the Jim Crow South. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Mellen Charron, K. (2009). Freedom’s teacher: The life of Septima Clark. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. Morrison, T. (1987). Song of Solomon. Plume. Ohito, E. (2020): Some of us die: a Black feminist researcher’s survival method for creatively refusing death and decay in the neoliberal academy, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2020.1771463. Siddle Walker, V. (1999). Their highest potential an African American school community in the segregated South. Boulder, CO: NetLibrary. Touré. (2009). The portable promised land stories. Little Brown & Company. Tuck, E. (2009). “Suspending damage: A letter to communities.” Harvard Educational Review 79(3). http://pages.ucsd.edu/~rfrank/class_web/ES-114A/Week 4/TuckHEdR79-3.pdf. 48 APPENDIX A: MAGAZINE TABLE OF CONTENTS Figure 2.2: Magazine Table of Contents. 49 APPENDIX B: “ON RESEARCH” DRAFT Figure 2.3: Page 1 of “On Research” black out poem draft for reference. 50 Figure 2.3 (cont’d) 51 Lucy C. Laney Figure 3.1: G.F. Richings, Evidences of Progress among Colored People (Philadelphia: G. S. Ferguson, 1902), p. 165, public domain. 52 CHAPTER 3: LUCY CRAFT LANEY (1854 – 1933) Lucy Craft Laney was the founder and leader of Georgia’s top industrial school for Black youth, the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute. Founded in the early 1880s, Laney’s school quickly became well-known in the state, doubling its student population within the first year. Laney’s choice to include liberal arts and agricultural education was innovative and relatively unheard of at the time. She believed in the usefulness of the liberal arts for preparing Black children for all types of professional fields and careers. She envisioned a society where Black children could become Black physicians, lawyers, politicians, professors. While Laney’s vision of schooling and pedagogy was clear to her, some educational leaders often questioned her abilities to lead and teach liberal arts education. Although “she was regarded as foolish and obstinate” by her peers, “this did not alter her purpose” (Ovington, 1927, p. 54). As I read about her and the Haines Institute, it became clear that Laney was not only the founder, she was also the principal, teacher, fundraiser, cook, and janitor-- she was the school. In this brief biography of Lucy Craft Laney, I equally highlight Laney the woman and Laney the school. So, the following section and layers uplift Laney’s individual self as much as her pedagogy, curriculum, and leadership. They are inseparable; her radical and expansive views on womanhood and motherhood were mirrored by her liberatory pedagogy. In 1854, Lucy Craft Laney was born free in Macon, Georgia (McCluskey, 2017). Her father, David Laney, purchased freedom for himself and his wife Lousia before Laney was born. David became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1867. Her parents’ Christian values and access to education would become foundational in Laney’s upbringing and vision for her future students. At fifteen years old, Laney was already an avid reader and brilliant student. She attended Atlanta University and soon earned her teacher training certificate in 1873. Even at this 53 young age, Laney’s classmates and teachers viewed her as a precocious “small woman” (McCluskey, 2017, p. 17) who was willing to challenge anyone while she stood firm in her Christian morals. As a Black girl growing up in the Reconstruction Era, Laney took advantage of every learning opportunity because she understood her access to school was a privilege. After graduating from Atlanta University, Laney taught for ten years across various public school districts in Georgia (McCluskey, 2017). She settled in Augusta, Georgia where she opened her school, Haines Normal and Industrial Institute, in 1883. Although two major school funders–the Slater Fund and the General Education Board–supported industrial training for Black students, Laney made the decision to offer both vocational and liberal arts courses. The institute offered vocational classes in cosmetology, shorthand, bookkeeping, and mechanical arts. Laney also developed curriculum in academic subjects like English, mathematics, biology, French, Latin, political science, and physics. In her decades-long leadership at the Haines Institute, Laney taught every class. She also offered extracurricular activities, such as theater, a choral group, and a debate team. When she taught in public schools, she saw how racism prevailed in the teaching field. She was often one of few Black teachers in the county and faced explicit anti-Black beliefs that Black teachers were unqualified and inept. As a result, the mission of her institute was two-fold: (1) to provide classical and industrial education for Black children while (2) proving that Black women were just as effective at teaching as white women. By setting out to not only start a school for Black children but also mentor a generation of Black women teachers, Laney embodied the adage “lifting as we climb.” In fact, many of her student-teachers, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Charlotte Hawkins Brown, and Janie Porter Barrett, went on to start their own industrial schools and colleges across the South. 54 Although Laney never married or mothered any biological children, her students, mentees, colleagues, and family members said she was “a mother of the people” (McCluskey, 2017, p. 16). Laney’s social activism and educational advocacy was undergirded by the belief that “the woman’s role was to be at the center of family life and the arbiter of social acceptance and female empowerment” (p. 20). Her understanding of womanhood and motherhood were synonymous yet expansive. Richardson (2013) argued that claiming gender was radical in itself. Laney’s boldness to claim an expansive embodiment of womanhood– unmarried, mothering, yet childless– I argue, shows an element of queering. While Laney believed that women were natural nurturers and teachers, she also encouraged women to attend school through the highest level and enter any professional field they desired. For Laney, educated Black women would be dynamic community leaders and agents for social change. Laney had an expansive view and embodiment of womanhood. Her choice to not marry or become a biological mother “challenged gender assumptions'' (Lund Smith, 2009, p. 328). Her disposition and physical embodiment of both stereotypical masculine and feminine characteristics– she is described as “virile,” “intrepid,” and having “cropped hair and plain dress”-- illustrates that her own understanding of womanhood was more complex than 19th century binaries and assumptions. In her speeches (Laney, 2019; Zackodnik, 2007) she often interchanged “mother” and “woman,” possibly representative of 19th century attitudes that thought of women, mothers, and wives as a singular identity. Her speeches give us insight to her views on the power of womanhood and the significant role of mothers. In an 1899 speech, “The Burden of the Educated Colored Woman,” Laney decreed that Black mothers hold positions of authority. She encouraged and empowered women and mothers to lead their children and communities, and even hold political power. Furthermore, Laney saw herself as a mother. 55 Ovington (1927), a friend and collaborator who also wrote Laney’s biography, recalled Laney saying, "I must go over to my children and help them finish their doll's house" (p. 60). Illustrative of her expansive views of womanhood, Laney was an “independent and intelligent” school leader. While her critics used this against her, I believe her disposition, appearance, and social identity influenced her stance as a Black woman educational leader in the South. I argue her expansive embodiment of womanhood mirrors her expansive embodiment of teaching and leading. Ovington (1927) called this Laney’s “vivid imagination” while others dismissed Laney. She was the first Black woman to lead a school in Georgia– a role that was often challenged and questioned by Black and white men in education. I believe that is why she was regarded as “foolish,” “obstinate,” and “virile.” However, it is quite likely that the same qualities that caused her isolation and ostracization from men also made her successful. Too many Black women who dare to enact their vision of equity and social change are called foolish or obstinate. As Ovington (1927) explains: She was ahead of her time, and men, especially, those in her profession, looked askance at her. What business had a woman at the head of a school? […] No one looking at her would imagine that she held a prominent position in the education world. (p. 59) Here, Ovington highlights the tension Laney had with men, tensions undergirded by societal constructs that held that men were innate and powerful leaders, while women were submissive followers. These gender binaries are a colonial construct put onto enslaved Africans. Richardson (2013) wrote that the historical legacy of gender places Black women in a “particularly vexed” “categorical conundrum” (p. 8) He went on to write: “to claim a stable gender is a battle in a context wherein Black humanity is a perpetually open question or an unresolved debate, and part 56 of what remains unresolved is Blacks’ ability to inhabit the gender categories given to us by chattel slavery and colonialism” (p. 9). Richardson’s analysis provides context for Truth’s famous question: “Ain’t I a Woman?” and pushes us to consider Hartman’s (2019) question: “What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be?” (p. 302). The fungibility of Blackness makes the answers to these questions a moving target. However, for Laney it seems these categories made no difference to her steadfast vision and beliefs, which would supersede any name calling, doubt, or interrogation she endured. She understood, as Hartman (2019) wrote about Black women of the 19th century, “whether they had bobbed hair or not, wore pants or dresses, had husbands or not, it didn’t seem to matter; they all fell in between the categories or failed to conform to them” (p. 302). Spillers (1987) and Jackson (2020) argue that the colonial project of gendering so tightly entangled “woman” and “mother” while ungendering Black women that “[t]here was nothing the world wouldn’t do to a colored woman. Everything they did to black men, they did to black women” (Hartman, 2019, p. 302). Cooper-Wilson (2010) conceptualized “othermothering” as “the practice of women rearing and caring for children, families and/or kin who are not biologically related to them” (p. 956). Expanded definitions include a collectivist component, which includes “social activism, institutional reform and other means of communal care” (p. 956). This foundational practice began during slavery as a “survival mechanism” when African American “mothers were often separated from their children and children were orphaned by the sale or death of their mothers” (Bernard, Issari, Moriah, Njiwaji, Obgan, & Tolliver, 2013, p. 105). In any situation where the biological mother could not care for their children, adults in the community viewed each child as “valued and valuable members of the community who are in need of a broad network of support” (p. 105). Was Laney an othermother? When I think about Laney and her legacy as “the mother of 57 the children of the people” (Williams-Way, 1998, p. 198), I don’t believe she is an othermother, I believe she is a mother. She fought for her children, raised her children, played with her children, fed her children, taught her children, loved her children. I think of her as a mother in the same way RuPaul sings “they call me mother.” Drawing from Black ballroom culture, “mother” is an honorable title bestowed upon those who have not themselves borne children but have mothered and labored nevertheless (Reid, 2021). In this use of “mother” rather than “othermother,” I believe it was a blessing and privilege for Laney to be called “mother.” Black Feminist thought argues that who we (Black women) are, shapes what we do and how we do it. Therefore, Black women’s pedagogy(ies) comes from who we are. hooks (1992) tells us that our looks can change reality, Lorde (2007) empowers us to speak, rather than to choke on the weight of our silence, and Collins (2002) uplifts our oppositional knowledges as our tools for resistance and thriving. Laney embodied each of qualities in the ways she carried herself and fought racial injustice. Multiple accounts of Laney’s liberatory vision of her school and society required her unique and radical imagination. In 1898, she spoke of the “crown of womanhood” and encouraged women to enter political positions (Zackodnik, 2007). Since Laney often wore plain clothes, kept her hair short and natural, it is likely her use of “crown” to describe womanhood was less of an allusion toward material luxuries, and more of a symbol of the privileges, responsibilities, and power she believed women held in Black communities and possibly U.S. society writ large. Further, my interpretation of her use of “crown of womanhood” contextualizes her strongly held belief that women, as biological and symbolic mothers, were the first and primary/main educators of Black youth. As a result, Laney believed womens’ position as nurturer and teacher should be cherished and revered. Laney believed that Black women (as teachers and mothers) had the authority and power to lead Black children and our communities 58 to progress and equity in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, these radical and liberatory perspectives invited ridicule from her peers and many–Black and white–questioned her ability to lead. In fact, her activism and defense of Black youth/her students/ her children, led to her arrest on a couple of occasions. As illuminated in the first two layers to follow, Laney’s oppositional knowledge was innate to her character and personality. She was driven by a keen sense of indignation and justice. These qualities made her a forthright school leader, pedagogue, and mother. 59 Layer 1: “The Impossibility of being first, Black, & woman” Poem Figure 3.2: “The (Im)possibility of being first, Black, & woman” poem. 60 Layer 1: “The Impossibility of Being First, Black, & Woman” Methods This first layer is a poem I created using words from two biographical sketches (Daniel, 1931; Ovington, 1927). For this poem, I wanted to play with the contradictions that are put on to Lucy Craft Laney. I intentionally used the phrase “put on” to draw attention to the discourse that was happening around her, but in which she refused to entertain or engage. What is powerful about Laney’s narrative that is illuminated in this piece is the saying, “it’s not what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” The mirrored faces symbolize the constructed binary. On either side, are several contradicting words used to describe Laney, such as “childless/ mother” and “un/ dignified.” These words emphasize “the impossibility” (Carter Andrews et al., 2019, p. 3) of meeting the standards of a false dichotomy. In reality, Laney’s embodiment of Black womanhood, pedagogy, and leadership was action-oriented and more nuanced than restrictive binaries. The title of the poem, “The Impossibility of Being First, Black, and Woman” draws from Carter Andrews et al. (2019), “The Impossibility of Being ‘Perfect and White,’” which examined how Black girls confront and navigate white patriarchal standards of femininity in schools. I drew on their work in this poem because I see a through-line between the historical experiences of Laney and the contemporary experiences of Black girls. Laney, as the first Black woman school leader in Georgia, met unreasonable critique and pushback because she was not a white, or a man or a mother or etc. This level of intense “misogynoir” (Bailey, 2021, p.xiii) would make it seem impossible for Laney to focus on her work as an educator, but her vision, commitment, and stubbornness guided her path. The cotton coming up out of the faces grows like hair. Of course, cotton is known as one of the crops tended to by enslaved Africans. In the 20th century, cotton was used colloquially to 61 embarrass Black people for being enslaved. However, this narrative of shame skews the story of forced labor and erases Africans’ work toward building this country’s wealth. Clarifying this narrative encourages us, as descendants of enslaved people, to be proud of the work they did and indignant towards the U.S.'s refusal to pay reparations. In this piece, I use cotton to symbolize the power of clarifying a narrative when it has been used to dehumanize and erase. This power is mirrored by Laney’s ability to thrive between and in spite of the binaries. Her embodiment of both/and expands tradition notions and forges a path for her authenticity. Laney wore her hair natural and short at a time when Black women were pressured to wrap, straighten, or grow their hair as long as possible. By wearing her hair naturally, she is saying there is nothing wrong with her hair; it is not a problem to be fixed. She embraces the hair texture that naturally grows out of our heads. This embrace also aligns with the narrative around cotton that something that is made to shame and dehumanize Black women, in particular, can be reoriented to be a source of pride. The lineage of Black women like Laney is doing exactly this: utilizing our oppositional knowledges (Collins, 2002), the wisdom from our ancestors that are in the deep, dark spaces of ourselves, to reclaim our humanity, our bodies, our lives, for ourselves. 62 Layer 2: “A tribute” Figure 3.3: “A Tribute”. 63 Layer 2: “A tribute” Methods This layer is a tribute to Laney’s legacy. As a Black woman school leader, she was both criticized and uplifted by her peers. This tension is illustrated in the ways the adjectives are arranged around her, somewhat evenly, each calling out to the viewer to reflect on its meaning and therefore its relation to the center (Laney’s photograph). The words are curated to intentionally draw attention to the construction of a gendered binary– there are stereotypical masculine adjectives, such as “virile,” “intrepid,” and “stocky.” There are more stereotypically feminine words, like “pioneer woman,” “patient,” and “loving.” These words highlight the expansive gender characteristics which Laney embraced as a Black woman, never shying away from her authentic self. Further, this layer’s aesthetic also represents Laney’s resistance to the gender binary. The gold and floral wreath framing Laney’s face against a masculine wood panel background illustrates the harsh contrast of these constructed binaries. Laney’s placement in the center, surrounded by these descriptors is a nod to how she resisted the binaries and embodies expansive notions of gender that blur the lines. Richardson (2013) wrote, “For Black people to claim gender at all is brave given the array of violences enacted physically and epistemologically to strip us from gendered being” (p. 9). The way that Laney’s colleagues in education constantly questioned and interrogated her is an indictment of her gender, intellect, and leadership and illustrates the “array of violences” that attempted to epistemologically thwart Laney’s educational leadership and vision.. For Laney to respond with the boldness to claim her womanhood and motherhood shows her unwavering commitment to supporting not only Black women, but Black women’s futures, intellects, and contributions to U.S. society. Her boldness to declare, in both her speeches and her embodiment, that Black women can be radical, 64 independent, mothers and childless, I argue, promoted a sense of queering gender norms that challenged her peers. Laney seems to emerge unscathed from all the talk about her– negative or positive. She never let people’s words deter her from her path– these words were peripheral (as represented in the tribute) as she moved steadfastly. 65 Layer 3: “What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be?” Figure 3.4: “What was it a Colored woman was supposed to be?”. 66 Figure 3.4 (cont’d) 67 Layer 3: “What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be?” Methods The format of this layer is meant to bring the archive to the reader; by collaging quotes about Laney and from Black scholars, the reader has the opportunity to make sense of her story and archive. Many of Laney’s files were burned in a house fire (McCluskey, 2017). As a result, for this layer, I wanted to lay out quotes like documents in an archive or in Laney’s home. I tried to imagine her bureau or office desk. I thought I might see old stamps, lace, photographs, newspaper clippings, postcards, calendars, ledgers, and school documents. This layer emulates the ways archives provide us part of a story, or a story in pieces. For me, entering the archives and taking notes on each document one by one is a process of unlearning what I thought– the assumptions I may have subconsciously carried– and relearning– which requires me to be open to the story (or pieces of a story) that are documented. A major aspect of Black memory I was confronted with in the archives is that “the politics of respectability and civility [which] structures Black memory in mainstream Black representations and institutions…toward a narrative of resolution and normativity” (Richardson, 2013, p. 5). I had to face the reality that history is messy and curated into neat narratives. This helped me to embrace that being in the archives is an exploration, and in a more creative and intimate way, it feels like a dance. With every step and beat– word and document– the body begins to loosen from its rigid posture and flow with the rhythm, just as the mind must give way to the story/ies that unfold/s in the archives. In a similar way, the content of the quotations are a piecing together of Laney’s perspectives and embodiment of womanhood. The quotes discuss the limit of remembering and documenting Black queer people’s histories juxtaposed with commentary on Laney’s appearance. This juxtaposition is meant to guide the reader in considering how Laney’s gender 68 expansive ideas on motherhood and womanhood are arguably a queering of gender norms however would not necessarily be documented such as due to the gaps or limitations of the archive and changing discourse around gender norms and queering. First, I want to consider the two quotes: What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be? Whether they had bobbed hair or not, wore pants or dresses, had husbands or not, it didn’t seem to matter; they all fell in between the categories or failed to conform to them. There was nothing the world wouldn’t do to a colored woman. Everything they did to black men, they did to black women. (Hartman, 2019, p. 302) …so when Lucy Laney, dark-skinned, stocky, with cropped hair and plain dress, taught her class to decline Latin nouns and conjugate Latin verbs, she was regarded as foolish and obstinate. But this did not alter her purpose. (Ovington, 1927, p. 54) These opening quotes frame my approach to telling Laney’s story. To begin with Hartman’s question, “What was it that a colored woman was supposed to be?” launches the reader into Laney’s world where she navigates these intersections of race, gender, sexuality, colorism, and all while she enters a white and male-dominant field– school leadership. Hartman provides context by telling us that the social safety nets of feminine appearance or marriage did (do) not apply to Black women. It doesn’t matter how we dress or our proximity to men, male privilege and protection, Black women have historically been dehumanized and harmed. Feminine protection has been preserved for white women and consistently denied to Black women and women of Color. Juxtaposing Ovington provides an example to Hartman’s words. Ovington 69 made a point to mention Laney’s “masculine” appearance– “stocky” and short hair– then immediately ties this to Laney’s pedagogy and criticism of her. In an equitable society, these descriptions would not be necessary to describe Laney’s teaching or leadership. However, in a white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy, I argue Ovington’s mention of Laney’s appearance articulates a duality to Laney’s subversion of both gender binaries (masculinity and femininity) and societal power dynamics (her leadership of a school with state and national recognition). Next, the three attached images on the first page tie together concepts of death, legacy, and afterlife of Laney. I use two quotes from Richardson (2013) to contextualize the 1947 newspaper clipping from the Arkansas State Press entitled: “They’ll Never Die.” Elton Fax, a Black cartoonist and author, created the series and it was published in the Arkansas Press between 1947 and 1948. The series featured several Black men entrepreneurs, so it may be significant that Laney made it to the list and hers was the second story published in the series. Laney died in 1933, fourteen years before this was published. I wanted to connect this idea of “They’ll Never Die” to Richardson’s (2013) discussion of the “figuratively dead” (p. 9) as those who are misremembered– their queerness erased in the archives. Of course Laney has physically passed on, however, her memory continues to live on, particularly through this project. Additionally, my emphasis on, what I argue is queering, Laney’s gender expansive characteristics aims to rewrite the archives in a way that would make space for the history of Black queerness and queering. The second page continues this theme of juxtaposing quotes that challenge the reader to consider the possibilities of Laney’s gender expansiveness. Her colleague and friend, Mary Ovington (1927) wrote that Laney was “ahead of her time” (p. 59) which threatened men. This is also showcased in her biographer’s (McCluskey, 2017 and Lund Smith, 2009) words who argue 70 that Laney’s complexities and forward-thinking were likely not fully documented or embraced at the time. As a result, there is room to speculate about the possibilities of Laney’s radical beliefs, which may not have always made it into the archive. 71 Layer 4: “The Haines Journal” Figure 3.5: “The Haines Journal”. 72 Figure 3.5 (cont’d) 73 Layer 4: “The Haines Journal” Methods “The Haines Journal” layer draws from The Haines Journal archival document (see Appendix B). Although all issues of the journal have not been archived, it is estimated that this journal was edited and published by the Haines Institute for approximately 60 years (The Haines Journal, 1890). The journal provided information regarding school needs, teacher and student updates, and school and community events. As a result, my composed layer includes similar themes. Laney’s institute introduced a nursing program in the early 1900s after Laney recruited a white nurse from Canada to lead the program in Augusta. Later called The Lamar School of Nursing, this program offered the first opportunity in the state for Black women to become nurses. Additionally, she proposed an athletic program at the Institute; both programs were the first of its kind for Black students. Additionally, in 1889, the kindergarten at the Haines Institute was the first kindergarten in Augusta for Black children. On June 28, 1903, Lucy Laney spoke at The First Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California. A reporter attended this speech and wrote about it in The San Francisco Call (see Appendix B). I used this newspaper story to craft the context of this layer: July 1903. Since the original Haines Journal document was published during May, I thought that the themes of the original document would likely be extended into a summer issue of the journal, as well. These themes included summer activities for teachers and students and preparing for the fall. This original issue of The Haines Journal that I am drawing from, was published in May 1907. The volume number is 18 (XVIII) and issue number 3. Since I am crafting the layer for 1903, the volume number also corresponds– 14 (XIV). Page two of the layer begins with a fictional message from Jacqueline Taylor. In “A Message from Miss. Taylor,” the incoming director of the Nursing Program at the Haines 74 Institute, expresses her gratitude and intentions as the founding teacher of the program. Laney had the idea to start the program because she believed that Black people should be able to learn and access skills beyond agriculture. Although the name of the nursing teacher was not documented in the archives, we do know that she recently graduated from school in Canada and she was very interested in helping Black people in the United States. She moved to Augusta from Canada and years later the program was led by Black women. There is no documentation that confirms that she intended to start the program so that Black women could eventually take it over. However, Ovington (1927) attests to the teacher’s desire to help improve opportunities for Black people and the Nursing Program at the Haines Institute became the first program to be led by Black women some years after the Canadian teacher’s start at the school. Ovington’s description of the teacher, fictionalized as Miss Jaqueline Taylor, is the basis of the line: “In two years time, I believe Colored women will be teaching in and leading this program.” “Twenty Years in the Making: Progressive Curriculum and Negro Education at Haines” is a news story that reflects on Laney’s legacy at Haines, from contested and humble beginnings to 1903. This piece is rooted in nonfiction and based on other archival information I found on Laney. The only fictionalized aspect is the tone. The school first opened in 1883 in a Sunday school room at a Presbyterian Church in Augusta. Many white missionaries and philanthropists, as well as Black men leaders, continuously questioned Laney’s qualifications as a leader and criticized her pedagogical vision. Laney was consistently committed to providing manual training (trade and agricultural skills), as well as liberal arts classes. She envisioned a society in which Black children could not only aspire to be lawyers, doctors, politicians, and professors, but societal and educational support for Black youth would be abundant and well resourced. As the piece notes, Laney faced financial hardships, as well. Overall, this story provides a short 75 summary of Laney’s accomplishments since starting the school in 1883, including the physical expansion of the school from a church to its own campus and an academic expansion to include a vast array of manual training and liberal arts subjects. This expansion contributed to a holistic learning experience for students. By 1900, Laney’s school was highly regarded across Georgia and the South (Daniel, 1931). Her graduates were hard working, inquisitive, and confident Black youth (Ovington, 1927). Their successes and high praise of the Haines Institute began to enshrine Laney’s legacy as a pedagogue and pioneer in education . The “Special Needs” section is drawn from the original document, but also integrates information from other documents, as well as fiction. The original document notes a need for teachers’ desks and bookcases. I added the following items: books, pencils, notebooks, chalk, cleaning supplies, brooms, mops, rags, and sheets. The need for a new heating system under the “Appliance” category draws from a brief biography on Laney in Women Builders. Daniel (1931) noted “[w]hen in 1897 a flood occurred in the Savannah River which flows through this part of Georgia, Haines Institute was cut off three days from the rest of the world” (p. 10). This flood and other disasters, such as fire and financial crisis, created a dire need to rebuild infrastructure. The next section, “How do Haines’ students spend the summer?” is based on secondhand accounts of the students and the original Haines Journal document. First, Ovington (1927) wrote that Laney’s graduates became well known for their hard work, "discipline" and "a great unfailing belief in [their] race" (p. 57). I thought this was important to note that not only has Laney built a reputation for being a stalwart visionary in education, but her students proved the impact of her pedagogy for decades to come. Additionally The Haines Journal spotlights teachers’ and students’ summer work. The third issue of the 1907 Haines Journal wrote: We have received invitations to graduation of three of our graduates all in 76 Washington, D.C. Mr. Scipio Johnson class 1900, medicine, Miss Olivia Batey class 1902, pharmacy, Miss Ethel Belcher 1904, kindergarten. (p. 2) I used the names Scipio Johnson and Olivia Batey in the layer and positioned them as classmates at Haines, even though they were graduates at the time this article was published in 1907. The story notes their summer work in a medical program and the pharmacy lab that correspond with Johnson’s and Batey’s areas of study respectively. While the journal simply stated the graduates were in Washington D.C, I decided to use Howard University as a specific school since it is a historically Black University in D.C. The university was established in 1867 and the College of Medicine was founded a year later. If the students were in D.C. studying medicine in the early 1900s, it is possible that they were at Howard. The next part of this story focuses on a teacher participating in professional development over the summer. While the journal identifies a faculty member “Miss Jackson” on page 1, “Thelma Jackson” is the fictional name of a history teacher at Haines. The journal went on to document the summer plans of several teachers: That our teachers are anxious to enrich their field of service bespeaks for us continued improvement. Miss White will study again at Oberlin this summer. Misses Taylor, Maxwell, and Jackson at Chicago University and Miss Corney at Cheney. (p. 2) I thought it was important to include an allusion to this in the layer because many stereotypes of Black education depict unqualified teachers and under-resourced schools. The journal tells us that there were teachers who participated in enriching academic experiences over the summer and did so willingly, not out of obligation. 77 The last two sections are drawn from the original document. The editors are all real names of a teacher and two students. C. T. White was an English teacher at Haines in 1907. She wrote a brief article in the journal titled “How Reading Helps” in which she said “books are good companions” for students’ free time. She goes on to recount the strategies she has used to motivate children to learn such as utilizing magazines and visuals to engage students’ imagination. She ends by naming books that are needed at the school for anyone who would like to donate. In addition, I liked the idea of an article written by a teacher (Ms. White), so that was also an inspiration for my writing of “A Message from Jacqueline Taylor.” The final section of the layer provides some additional information about contacting the school and the application process. 78 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bailey, Moya. (2021). Transforming Misogynoir: Black Women’s Digital Resistance in US Culture. New York, NY: NYU Press Intersections Series. Bernard, W. T., Issari, S., Moriah, J., Njiwaji, M., Obgan, P., & Tolliver, A. (2013). Othermothering in the academy: Using maternal advocacy for institutional change. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, 3(2). Retrieved from https://jarm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jarm/article/view/36305. Carter Andrews, D. J., Brown, T., Castro, E., & Id-Deen, E. (2019). The Impossibility of Being “Perfect and White”: Black Girls’ Racialized and Gendered Schooling Experiences. American Educational Research Journal, 56(6), 2531–2572. Collins, P. H. (2002). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com. Cooper-Wilson (2010). Othermothering. In Encyclopedia of motherhood. A. O'Reilly (Ed.) SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412979276. Daniel, S. I. (1931) Women builders. The Associated Publishers, Inc. Washington, D.C. G.F. Richings, Evidences of Progress among Colored People (Philadelphia: G. S. Ferguson, 1902), p. 165, public domain. Hartman, S. (2019). Wayward lives beautiful experiments: Intimate histories of social upheaval. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Haines Normal and Industrial Institute. (1890). The Haines journal. WorldCat.org. hooks, b. (1992). Black looks: Race and representation. Boston: South End Press. Jackson, Z. I. (2020). Becoming human : Matter and meaning in an antiblack world. New York University Press. Laney, L. C. (2019). The Burden of the Educated Colored Woman. Museum Audiobooks. Lorde, A. (2007) Sister outsider. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press. Lund Smith (2009). Lucy Craft Laney and Martha Berry: Lighting fires of knowledge. In Georgia Women : Their Lives and Times, Volume 1. A. Short Chirhart, & B. Wood (Ed.). University of Georgia Press. McCluskey, A. T. (2017). A forgotten sisterhood: Pioneering black women educators and activists in the Jim Crow South. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 79 Ovington, M. W. (1927). Portraits in color. New York: The Viking press. Reid, S. K. (2021). A case study exploring the agency of black LGBTQ+ youth in NYC’s ballroom culture (Order No. 28540613). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2543738326). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/case-st dy-exploring-agency-black-lgbtq-youth-nyc/docview/2543738326/se-2 Richardson, M. (2013). The queer limit of Black memory: Black lesbian literature and irresolution. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press. Spillers, H. J. (1987). Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book. Diacritics, 17(2), 65–81. https://doi.org/10.2307/464747. Williams-Way, G. (1998). Lucy craft laney, the mother of the children of the people: Educator, reformer, social activist (Order No. 9918996). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304449921). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/lucy-cr ft-laney-mother-children-people-educator/docview/304449921/se-2 Zackodnik, T. C. (2007). African American feminisms, 1828-1923. Routledge. 80 APPENDIX A: IMAGES FROM HAINES NORMAL INSTITUTE Figure 3.6: Kindergarten class, 1899, public domain. Figure 3.7: Kindergarten class 1900, public domain. 81 Figure 3.8: Sewing class, 1899, public domain. Figure 3.9: Cadets, 1899, public domain. 82 Figure 3.10: The Crisis Magazine, August 1940, p. 242. 83 APPENDIX B: LAYER 4 Figure 3.11: Haines Normal and Industrial Institute. (1890). The Haines journal. WorldCat.org. 84 Figure 3.12: The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]), 29 June 1903. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. 85 Figure 4.1: Janie Porter Barrett ,” Virginia Changemakers, accessed September 24, 2022, https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/32. 86 CHAPTER 4: JANIE PORTER BARRETT (1865 - 1948) Janie Porter Barrett grew up in Macon, Georgia and attended both Hampton Institute in Virginia, and later Laney’s Haines Institute in Georgia (Muth, Gehring, Mayers, Kamusikiri, & Pressley, 2009). When she was fifteen, her mother sent her to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia (Hall, 1954). Over the next few years, Barrett taught in Virginia and Georgia. As a teacher, she realized the magnitude of the social barriers that rural Black children faced in the South (Hall, 1954). By 1889, Barrett was married and lived in Hampton, Virginia, where she felt increasing concern for Black girls growing up in socially disadvantaged circumstances due to poverty, sexism, and racism (Muth et al., 2009). Barrett became an advocate for Black girls in a time when schools and prison institutions mostly viewed Black girls as venues for cheap labor. In 1915, Barrett had fundraised enough money from local and national women’s groups to open the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls. Through the establishment of her school in Ashland, Virginia, she was able to provide structured domestic training, health care, and develop girls’ leadership skills. The school has since been classified within the social welfare and prison system, likely because of Barrett’s formal educational training in social work. Nevertheless, it is hard to overstate the significance of her school leadership during this time; her pedagogical practice focused on building a sense of trust, community and respect, with Black girls who are multiply oppressed by their young age, gender, and race. Janie Porter Barrett “recognized the social roots of poverty and the need to reform social structures” (Muth, et al., 2009, p. 46) and believed in the importance of Christian moral values. As a result, her schools adopted a specific and unique pedagogical practice that focused on developing girls’ self-esteem, respectability, and advocacy skills. According to her biographer, “Barrett cultivated strong civic values in her girls by helping them to learn to govern themselves” 87 (Muth, et al., 2009, p. 45). In addition, the school “banned the use of corporal punishment” (p. 44); rather “[s]tudent activities were regulated by the honor system. Using rewards instead of punishments, in her programs, she emphasized […]home” (p. 37). Barrett wanted to guide the girls to be “respectable.” In contrast to present conversations, in which “respectable” is related to respectability politics – the idea that the humanity and equality of Black people is wrapped up in the ability to resemble whiteness–Barrett’s desires for Black girls’ respectability are significantly rooted in upholding Black girls’ self-respect, self-confidence, and self -worth. This is illustrated by her struggle “to prevent the exploitation of former students by employers in search of cheap labor” (Muth et al., 2009, p. 37). When Barrett saw the living conditions of Black girls— being exploited, forced into sex work, enslaved— she acted by creating a school wherein girls could be protected and took up the practice of othermothering and collectivism. The unique predicament of the Black girls was not lost on Janie Porter Barrett. As a Black woman, she saw the ways that age added another layer of oppression and vulnerability for Black girls in Virginia. In her annual reports, Barrett reflected on how the school sought to prepare and protect Black girls during the early 1900s against a viciously anti-Black and exploitative society where Black girls were the most vulnerable and simultaneously ignored. Practically, the school sought to prepare girls by building literary and domestic skills so that they were less likely to be kidnapped into sex work and other exploitative jobs. As Barrett wrote, “We have all grades in our school, as the girls take up their work in whatever class they left when they last attended school, and those who have never been to school have to begin” (Annual Report, 1921, p. 19). Emotionally, the school encouraged healthy relationships among the girls, their teachers, and caregivers. Barrett and her co-leaders did what they could to ensure the girls’ safety and protection by teaching and modeling healthy 88 relationships at the school. In 1940, Barrett retired and, two years later, financial responsibility for the school was transferred to Virginia’s Department of Welfare and Institutions (Hall, 1954). In Barrett’s letters between 1920 and 1925, othermothering and collectivism surfaced in three major themes: healthy, community-oriented relationships, student leadership, and protection. Healthy, Community-oriented Relationships Teachers, counselors, and staff at Porter Barrett’s school embodied othermothering and exemplified healthy relationships with adults and peers through three major ways: living in the cottages, the annual Christmas celebration, and continuing open dialogue with the girls. The girls lived in cottages with their peers and a house mother, a life that was “made as nearly like family life as possible. All the housework, including the preparation of the meals and the laundry work, is done by the girls” (Annual Report, 1920, p. 13). The women living in the cottages demonstrated othermothering in the ways they led and taught the girls about housekeeping, such as cooking and laundry. Every effort was made to create a feeling of home at the school. The house mother and “captains,” (Annual Report, 1920, p. 19) or student leaders, encouraged girls to develop positive relationships and behaviors, as well as skills in cooking, sewing, laundry and gardening. Barrett explained that “the only way out for the majority of these girls is domestic service, and they must be trained so well that they will be proud of the accomplishment and their work will command respect wherever it is known” (Annual Report, 1920, p. 14). The school promoted healthy community-oriented relationships by hosting an annual Christmas celebration sponsored by local organizations. During this event, girls celebrated Christmas at the school and even their peers who finished their schooling, would come back to the school to celebrate with them. There were special activities, such as caroling, planned for 89 each night. Black and white donors from across Virginia gave Christmas celebrations and visited the girls during the holidays. Barrett described the festivities in this way: The tree was lighted Christmas Eve and each night thereafter until the New Year. Friends, white and colored, friends in the State and friends out of the State, sent gifts to the girls. This made them very, very happy, and all of them at the close of the Holidays resolved to be better girls because so many people wanted them to be good. (Annual Report, 1920, p. 18) The community support that surrounded the girls during the holidays was a symbol of encouragement and uplift for the girls. The girls felt loved and special, which resembled a familial community. Finally, Barrett often held conversations with the girls called “heart-to-hearts,” where Barrett listened to and talked with the girls about their experiences at the school and aspects of their experiences they wanted to change. These open forums with Barrett served as opportunities for the girls to learn how to handle conflict in healthy ways. In her 1923 report, Barrett described the talks: If she is wrong (as she often is) I show her where she is wrong. If she is right I agree with her. But at the “open forum” I do not do much of the talking. I simply listen and take notes. These heart-to-heart talks help, as nothing else could, to find out what the girls are thinking and how to help them. (Annual Report, 1923, p. 15) Barrett’s willingness to engage in dialogue taught the girls how to share their experiences and advocate for themselves in healthy and meaningful ways. The “heart-to-heart” talks promoted healthy relationships, community, and empathy. 90 Student Leadership The girls’ leadership organization at the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Schools was called “The Student Officer Corps.” Roles within the group included “Head Farm Girl, Head Sewing-Room Girl, Head Cook, Head Laundress, Yard Matron and the Head of House Officers of Virginia Cottage” (Annual Report, 1921, p. 12). One girl was selected to be the “Head Student Officer” and served as the head of the Student Officer Corps. The Corps provided opportunities for girls to take responsibility, accountability, and pride in their work at the school. The Head Student Officer had the ability to call a meeting of the Corps to resolve and address any issues within their respective leadership roles. The Corps then compiled a list of recommended solutions to submit to the house mother. Through leadership experiences, the girls learned how to work with one another and resolved problems. Additionally, the girls were divided into groups of ten and lived in cottages. Each cottage had a captain and lieutenant who led the girls in caring for one another and their tasks, such as cleaning, cooking and laundry. Each cottage had its own lawn and garden that the girls maintained; they then used the vegetables they grew for cooking. Among the cottages, there was a friendly competition that encouraged the girls to take pride in their work as they cared for their gardens. The camaraderie established at the school guided girls’ development in a healthy environment while teaching girls about leadership and working in community. Student leadership at the school was a method for Black women educators to mentor girls into developing Black feminist knowledges needed for survival. Through leadership experiences, the girls learned to balance their intellect, voice, and experiences to work together and resolve problems. These were skills the girls would use when they left the school and started working. 91 Protection and Care A primary role of the school was to provide a safe learning and growing environment for Black girls in Virginia who were largely exploited and abused in the early 20th century. When the girls left to live in homes across Virginia, Barrett and her staff continued to check in with them on their living conditions to ensure their safety. Barrett wrote: “slapping a girl and striking her on the head are out of the question” (Annual Report, 1920, p. 15). She was continually committed to the well-being and growth of the girls, writing: “I feel responsible for these irresponsible children, soul and body, and I certainly don’t want them maiming themselves for life. The training of young lives is slow work and results do not quickly follow effort. However, no effort is lost” (Annual Report, 1920, p. 21). Here she is transparent with her supporters, noting that her primary concern is her responsibility for the girls and their success. It seems she is asking for patience as the girls grow during their time at the school. The school’s protection and care extended beyond the time the girls were enrolled. Barrett made every effort to visit the girls who were placed reasonably close to the school. She desired to check in with the girls and their employers in order to “establish a better understanding” (Annual Report, 1922, p. 22) of her expectations of employers and their treatment of the girls while in their care. Barrett argued that “a talk face to face gives me an opportunity to explain clearly what I mean when I make the request that the ladies take a personal interest in and protect the girl who lives under their roof, and they see immediately that I want both the lady and the girl to have a square deal” (Annual Report, 1922, p. 22). Furthermore, she wanted to be sure the girls were doing emotionally, physically, and mentally well and that their employer strove to create a safe environment. 92 The Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls also offered medical services that the girls desperately needed but would not otherwise receive. Barrett consistently sought out local doctors and dentists to provide health care services for the girls. Many girls at the school had never seen a doctor or a dentist and suffered from illnesses that festered due to lack of medical care. Each annual report documents the types of ailments and treatments for the girls. For example, “The effort to make our girls physically fit cannot be carried to success until their teeth are given proper care. It is important not only to relieve great suffering but also the many diseased conditions that are brought about by bad teeth” (Annual Report, 1922, p. 12). In addition to providing protection and care, for many of the girls, the school was the only source of family. Barrett writes about a girl in particular who suddenly passed after a severe case of pneumonia: “She had no relatives nor friends, and so she was buried at the school amidst the beautiful pines in a little plot we have set aside for those who are taken away while under our care and are without any other home or friends'' (Annual Report, 1922, p. 12). Barrett took great care and responsibility for the girls in creating a school that would not only educate, but also uplift, protect, and surround Black girls with a familial community. 93 Layer 1: “Heart to Heart Talks:” Teaching Advocacy through Open Forums ACT I scene i Stage spotlights on JANIE PORTER BARRETT seated in a wooden chair. Stage lights come up to show she is surrounded by a semicircle of wooden chairs. Five Black girls, ages eleven to fifteen, scuttle about the room, laughing and talking. BARRETT opens her bag to pull out a journal and pen. She starts the dialogue. BARRETT (loudly, earnestly) Okay girls, it’s 7 o’clock, let’s get started! The girls quiet down and gingerly walk over to their seats. BARRETT Good evening, girls. ALL GIRLS (in unison, eagerly) Good evening! BARRETT Tonight we are here to hold our monthly Open Forum. As the selected honor girls and Class A girls, I trust that you are not only ready to share grievances, but also to talk through some ideas for solutions. CINDY (age 14) Yes, ma’am! ELLA (age 12) Yes, Mrs. Barrett. MARGARET (age 15) Yes. We are ready, Mrs. Barrett. BARRETT Good. Now, some of you have been to my Open Forums before, but a couple of you haven’t. Beatrice and Ruby, I believe this is your first time, isn’t it? RUBY (age 11, nods meekly, yet clearly) Yes, ma’am. BEATRICE (age 13, more firmly and definitively) Yes ma’am. BARRETT Yes, welcome ladies! Margaret, can you tell us how this Open Forum works? MARGARET Yes, Mrs. Barrett. The Open Forum is a special privilege and responsibility that we have been selected to have to bring our complaints and open minds to Mrs. Barrett so we can hear her direct thoughts and receive guidance. While Mrs. Barrett has the final decision to make, during the forum, we can listen and talk about our ideas to make things better. Sometimes Mrs. Barrett tells us “no” straightaway, and we respect that. Other times, she asks us questions. But she mostly just listens and takes notes while we share. Then at the end of our sharing, she gives us her ideas. Right, Mrs. Barrett? Did I forget anything? 94 BARRETT Thank you, Margaret. That was a detailed summary. Beatrice and Ruby, do you have any questions? BEATRICE (after a minute, quietly) What if we disagree? BARRETT When we disagree, it is not easy. But I will do my best to explain why we must do things accordingly and in a certain fashion. That alright? BEATRICE (earnestly) Alright, Mrs. Barrett. BARRETT But mostly, I really do enjoy our time and conversations together and I feel I get a lot out of these forums. (pauses) Now that that is squared away, let’s start with our first topic. Who wants to share? CINDY (excited) Yes, Mrs. Barrett. I have something! BARRETT Okay. Well go ahead, Cindy. CINDY (pause, looks away) The girls in my cottage really liked when those boys came from the that school down the road. (looks up) Especially when we beat them in the marching competition! So, (pause) we were hoping that they could come back for the Valentine’s Day program. Blushing, the girls eagerly look towards BARRETT BARRETT (smiles, chuckles softly) Yes, well that is something to think about. My first responsibility is to make sure you all are safe and educated. So while I’d like our conversations to stick to those topics, I will indulge you tonight. (pauses) Well, I’m sure The Manual Labor School has their own program. And I’m not sure if we’ll be able to make it work but, I can see what I can do. (pauses, smiles) Thank you, Cindy. Anyone else what to share, perhaps something that is not about boys? The girls giggle ELLA (after a moment) Yes. I have something else (with emphasis) BARRETT Okay ladies, let’s settle down and listen to Ella. ELLA We really miss Thoroughbred. Since he is gone, can we get a new horse? A nice one? Those mules are mean. They kick us when we try to clean them and make loud noises. BARRETT Yes, I miss Thoroughbred too. But we have so many mules now and the farmers in Staunton said they will get nicer as they age. (pauses) Joe is kind, hopefully, in time Caesar and Brutus will be, too. ELLA (sheepishly) Okay. 95 BARRETT Okay. Thank you Ella. MARGARET Mrs. Barrett, I have an idea I want to share. BARRETT Okay, Margaret, what is it? MARGARET I was thinking about how we have competitions sometimes for things like prettiest dress or best apron or cleanest cottage-- ELLA My cottage won cleanest last time! RUBY I won prettiest apron! BARRETT (chuckles softly) Yes, yes. I know we have a lot of fun with those competitions. MARGARET And I was wondering, what if we did that with the flowers? BARRETT Okay. Tell me more. What do you mean? MARGARET We get so many flowers-- tulips, lilacs, roses, and violets. We could compete by class for the prettiest flower gardens on campus. BEATRICE (excited) Oh! I like that! The flowers are so pretty when they bloom! RUBY (excited) Yeah! I want to plant more flowers! BARRETT Yes, Margaret. Thank you for sharing your idea. I think that is something we can definitely put together. Who do you think should judge your flower gardens? Girls start talking over each other CINDY We should probably start planning soon so we can be ready to start the competition in the spring! MARGARET Maybe the farmers--- Mr. Winston or Mr. Christian can be judges. ELLA They are boys. They don’t know nothing about pretty! BEATRICE Maybe Ms. McNeil! She gives us a lot of flowers. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see all of her flowers in full bloom! BARRETT Okay, okay. We can invite Mrs. McNeil. Who else? Do you think each class should have someone help them plant the flowers? A leader? The girls continue talking and planning as they are overcome with giddiness. Stage lights dim. -END OF PLAY- 96 Layer 1: Playwriting Methods In writing the play, I drew on the concept of “Open Forums” discussed in the Annual Reports. In the 1923 report, Barret wrote: If she is wrong (as she often is) I show her where she is wrong. If she is right I agree with her. But at the “open forum” I do not do much of the talking. I simply listen and take notes. These heart-to-heart talks help, as nothing else could, to find out what the girls are thinking and how to help them. (Annual Report, 1923, p. 15) During the early 20th century, banking-method pedagogy was idealized as the most efficient approach to teaching (Freire, 2005). Barrett’s pedagogical move to create these open forum spaces for the girls to share their grievances while she worked with them to find solutions was nothing less than groundbreaking. Barrett led these forums and allowed the girls to share their thoughts without judgment. As a result, Barrett was able to build trust with the girls, and they were able to openly engage in dialogue and gain a mutual understanding. As the superintendent of the school, it was important and intentional for Barrett to continually be in conversation with the girls and mentor them. She not only believed it was imperative for the girls to develop advocacy skills as they became adults, but she also modeled how to deal with conflict in a mature and healthy manner. Barrett made space for girls to advocate for themselves with her, while she held the highest seat of power on campus. She noted that she corrected the girls when they were wrong, but added that she sees her role in the space as a listener. By positioning herself in this way, she both embodied a collectivist mindset and encouraged the girls to speak up for themselves and their peers. Further, the ways she advocated for the school, and taught the girls to advocate for themselves, shows her committed to transforming silence into language and action (Lorde, 97 2007). Through these forums, the girls saw that their voices were heard and their needs could be met, especially when they worked together. Open forums, as led by Barrett and structured this way, gave the girls real life practice in developing their advocacy, communication, and problem solving skills together. Two skills in particular -- (1) talking through conflict and (2) collaborating towards solutions-- seem to be a common theme/thread throughout her leadership and the general structure of the school as a collectivist community. Pedagogically, this layer shows her detachment, at least in one/some way, from traditional power dynamics, especially since this school is often (now) written about as a part of the social welfare and prison systems. Barrett admits "[o]ur industrial training is still haphazard and uncertain as it will have to be until we get the proper equipment and a teacher who can devote her entire time to it." (1922 p. 18). We can surmise that Barrett's ability to lead the school towards balancing academic learning, training, and discipline would be quite a challenge at some points-- her vision/dream being different from reality. Additionally, key content, such as the Marching competition, horses, and flowers, in the play came from the Annual Reports, as well. In the 1922 Annual Report, Barrett wrote about the “honors boys from the Manual Labor School,” an all-boys school in Hanover. They came to perform at the Industrial School to celebrate New Year’s. Barrett remarked about their impressive discipline and focus. In the play, the girls discuss their concerns with the mules that have taken over for Thoroughbred since he passed away. This content is pulled from the 1922 Annual Report wherein Barrett wrote a section titled “FARM” which provided an update on farm activities such as crops and animals. Barrett wrote: 98 Our hearts were saddened when the news came that Thoroughbred was dead. He was the horse who had served us so faithfully and to whom we were very much devoted. Two cunning little mules, Caesar and Brutus by name, have gotten to take his place in going to and from the station. They don't seem to mind work but they object very seriously to being hitched up. The contrast is very striking between them and Thoroughbred, who used to stand patiently while his face was being washed and his teeth cleaned. Brutus attempts to mash anyone who goes near him up against the side of the stable, and Caesar defends himself by trying to jump with both feet upon the head of whoever attempts to come in his direction. The girls naturally, keep just as far away from them as possible. People who understand mules better than I do say they will eventually get over their bad behavior. (1922 Annual Report p. 20) Finally, flowers and landscaping at the school served two main purposes: the first is to keep the campus tidy and serene, and second, to teach the girls to plant and tend to flowers. We are doing more each year to beautify the grounds, for I feel that this is a very important part of home making. It is gratifying to see how joyously the girls work with us in doing this and what keen interest they take in their cottage lawns. Mrs. McNeill sent Easter cards in the form of a package of flower seeds for each officer and girl. It was a delightful thing to do, for not only has it supplied us with seeds but also given great impetus to the movement to beautify the grounds. As soon as we are sure the frost is over we are going to have a seed-planting day and we are going to see who can raise the most beautiful plants. I am afraid Mrs. McNeill has made trouble for herself. The other day I heard one of the girls saying, "I want Mrs. McNeill to come out and see my flowers when they bloom." (Annual Report 1921 p. 18) 99 Layer 2: Being an Honors Girl: Diary entry from a girl’s perspective Figure 4.2: Being an Honors Girl. 100 Layer 2: Methods Mrs. W. S. McNeil of Richmond, Virginia consistently donated to the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls between 1920 and 1923 (See Figure 1). Over the years, she gave a variety of items, such as cakes, candies, flower seeds, magazines, and a flag of Virginia. In 1922, she donated fabric for the girls to sew their own Christmas dresses. Tracking the consistent donations of Mrs. McNeil and other women illustrates two points. First, it shows that Mrs. Barrett frequently relied on local support from Black and white women and women-led organizations. For Mrs. Barrett, it is clear that leading the school was a collective effort with organizations, like Sojourner Truth Mothers (1922, p.38) and The Council of Colored Women through Maggie L. Walker (1920, p. 30). Below, I further discuss the role of collectivism. Second, Barrett mentioned a positive impact on the girls when they saw women leading and working together to support their academic and personal development. This type of collective matriarchal leadership gave the girls an additional example to emulate as they gained more responsibility and led their peers at school. The administrators at the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls placed the girls into five categories they called classes: Class E, Class D, Class C, Class B, Class A, and Honors girls. Movement between categories was based on the credit system (See Figure 2), similar to a merit/demerit system, which assigned points to the girls based on their behaviors and contributions to the school. As girls earned more credits, they moved up, which came with rewards such as free time and participating in landscaping, sewing, and cooking projects. Honors girls were a special group of girls selected by the administrators and teachers at the school. They were recognized for their leadership, diligence, and truthfulness. 101 Additionally, Mrs. Barrett gave special privileges to the honor girls (See Figure 3). In one instance, 38 honor girls were allowed to choose a pattern and sew their own dresses for the Christmas party. While all of the girls at the school wore “party dresses” for special occasions such as Christmas, New Years, and Easter, in 1922, Mrs. Barrett welcomed these fabric donations from Mrs. McNeil as an opportunity for the girls’ “self-expression” (Annual Report, 1922, p. 18). I include this layer as an example of Barrett’s pedagogy through her “oppositional gaze” (hooks, 1992). hooks wrote “[b]y courageously looking, we defiantly declared: 'Not only will I stare. I want my look to change reality” (p. 116). Barrett saw the painful living conditions of many Black girls--the physical and emotional trauma they endured due to racism and sexism and the effects of slavery. Oftentimes, she first met the girls at the worst times in their lives-- abandoned, physically hurt, ill, or enslaved. Because she courageously looked, she was able to confront and change their reality by opening her school. Her intent to nurture Black girls in a way that made them feel special and seen cannot be understated considering the context of the early twentieth century-- and even today. As a school leader, she not only listened to the girls’ stories and desires, but she also advocated to donors and government officials on their behalf. Through her advocacy, Barrett was able to foster national partnerships for the advancement of Black girls. She saw the girls at the school as her own daughters, and commented when one of her girls left the school on good terms and got married: “I was really very proud of my foster child” (1922, p. 22). Returning to hooks, she wrote: “we do more than resist. We create alternative texts” (p. 128). The Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls was Barrett’s alternative text that provided a different and new experience for Black girls-- centering their health, safety, education, and healing. 102 Layer 3: Mapping Donations to the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, June 1, 1926 – June 1, 1927 Figure 4.3: Mapping Donations. 103 Layer 3: “Mapping Donations to the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, June 1, 1926 – June 1, 1927” Methods Each annual report documents the names and locations of the year’s donors, as well as an itemized list of their donations. During the decades that Barrett led the school, she received donations from across the country, including Ohio, Wyoming, and California. The pages from the 1927 Annual Report document donations received between June 1, 1926 and June 1, 1927 (see Appendix C). In these images, you can read the names and organizations of those who donated, along with the items and quantities. During this particular year, the school received many recreational gifts and edible treats, such as ice cream, candies, and soda. Additionally, the girls received books, periodical subscriptions, as well as sewing materials and flower bulbs to aid in their academic and agricultural pursuits. The girls received subscriptions to the Nature Magazine and The Ladies’ Home Journal, two popular periodicals that continued to print into the 21st century. Nature Magazine is an international peer-reviewed science journal that began its tenure in 1869. In 1926, Ms. Edith B. Crown of Boston donated a year-long subscription of the magazine. Between 1926 and 1927, girls at the Industrial School, would have received several magazines spanning topics across geography, chemistry, biology, and innovations on the telephone. One of the nation's top magazines of the 1900s, Ladies' Home Journal, was published from 1883- 2016. The journal was donated to the Industrial School by Mrs. T.J. Copeland of Baltimore. During this year, the girls would have learned about art, culture, and society through reading this magazine. The corresponding magazine covers-- printed between 1926 and 1927-- can be seen in the above map. Importantly, this layer of Janie Porter Barrett’s narrative highlights the role of collectivism in her ability to lead the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls. Within many 104 Black communities, especially during this period, collectivism has been a significant value that encourages us to come together, work together, and help each other. Anderson (1980) discussed how Black church members, neighbors, and families came together to finance and build Black schools in the South. Nation-wide donations to Janie Porter Barrett’s school for Black girls, in Ashland, VA, is just one example of a rich lineage of collectivism among Black people. Further, collectivism is undergirded by Collins’ (2002) conceptualization of “oppositional knowledges” which she argued are developed because of “the suppression of Black women’s ideas within White male-controlled social institutions” (p. 251). Because Black women were explicitly and implicitly excluded from gaining societal power and wealth, especially during the early 20th century, women like Barrett had to be resourceful in utilizing oppositional knowledges and to take action (Lorde, 2007) in order to accomplish their goals for their communities. With her leadership of the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s’ Clubs and working with colleagues such as Virginia A. Randolph and Maggie L. Walker, Barrett was able to forge a path for her school and provide the necessary care and instruction for her girls. The visual layer of a map not only represents the items that were donated, but also the people and organizations who Barrett was able to connect with in order to financially, academically, and physically support Black girls. Barrett’s use of both oppositional knowledges and turning silence into language and action are illustrated in this layer. 105 Layer 4: A “Time There Will Be No Need”: Barrett’s Visions of the Future Figure 4.4: A Time There Will Be No Need. 106 Figure 4.4 (cont’d) 107 Layer 4: “A Time There Will Be No Need”: Barrett’s Visions of the Future Methods I created this document to reflect the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls letterhead that I encountered in the Library of Virginia archives. This letterhead was used for correspondence with donors, the Board of Trustees, and documenting Board meeting notes. Even though most of the documents are over 100 years old, it was not required by the library to handle the documents with gloves or protective tools-- this has probably contributed to the worn condition of the papers. The light blue background is meant to reflect the archival folder or sleeve that holds the document. The font styles, such as Old English and American Typewriter, also reflect the style of the letterhead. Janie Porter Barrett’s documents in the archives were on crinkled, yellowing, thin paper, often with handwritten annotations (depicted in the date “March 2, 1939”). The overall tone and vocabulary are inspired by Barrett’s writing in the Annual Reports, and the documented correspondences with her Board of Trustees. Although there are points of distinct difference in tone and word choice between the documents, I tried to strike a balance. The format is designed after the Board of Trustees meeting notes. Although the layer uses a block quote from the deed and the letterhead, the content seeks to capture Barrett’s vision for the future of schooling for Black girls in Virginia. To do this, I draw from the explicit and implicit inferences made in five Annual Reports over 1920 - 1924. In Annual Reports (1921, 1922, 1924), she highlights the importance of cleanliness, dignity, advocacy, and communication to resolve conflict as central themes for her vision and leadership of the school. She laments when girls are mistreated (1924) and each report documented in detail the dental and medical care the girls received. Barrett often used the phrase “a dream was realized” (1922, 1923) when discussing new additions to the school, such as a new building, donations such as paint or fabric, and the hire of a full-time cooking or sewing teacher. After 108 reviewing these reports and the deed, I used these words from the deed to develop a depiction of Barrett’s vision for the future, or a “time when there will be no need.” I imagined, for Barrett, this would be a time when Black girls would be safe, well-treated, and respected. It would also be a time when schools did not have to rely on somewhat inconsistent donations from community members, women’s clubs, and churches across the country. Black girls can go to school with dignity and advocate for themselves. School administrators and teachers would listen and honor Black girls’ experiences and strive to protect them from mental and physical harm. Since Barrett intentionally and personally made sure her girls were given the appropriate medical care, I think the “time when there will be no need” would also entail reliable and quality health care for Black girls. 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, J. D. (1988). The education of Blacks in the South: 1860-1935. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Bernard, W. T., Issari, S., Moriah, J., Njiwaji, M., Obgan, P., Tolliver, A. (2012). Othermothering in the academy: Using maternal advocacy for institutional change. The Journal of Motherhood Initiative, 3(2), 103 - 120. Collins, P. H. (2002). Black feminist thought : Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com. Crenshaw, K., Ocen, P., Nanda, J., Columbia University., & African American Policy Forum,. (2015). Black girls matter: Pushed out, overpoliced, and underprotected. Freire, P. (2005) The pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. Hall, W. R. (1954). Janie Porter Barrett, her life and contributions to social welfare in Virginia. Washington, DC: Howard University. Labaree, D. (1997). Public goods, private goods: the American struggle over education. American Educational Research Journal, 34 (1), 39 – 81. McCluskey, A. T. (2017). A forgotten sisterhood: Pioneering black women educators and activists in the Jim Crow South. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Morris, M. W. (2016) Push Out:The criminalization of Black girls in schools. New York: The New Press. Muhammad, G. E. & Haddix, M. (2016). Centering Black girls’ ways of knowing: A historical review of literature on the multiple literacies of Black girls, English Education, 48(4), 299-336. Muth, B., Gehring, T., Mayers, C., Kamusikiri, S., & Pressley, G. (2009). Janie Porter Barrett (1865 - 1948): Exemplary African American Correctional Educator. The Journal of Correctional Education,60(1), 31-51. Perlow, O. N., In Wheeler, D. I., In Bethea, S. L., & In Scott, B. B. M. (2018). Black women's liberatory pedagogies: Resistance, transformation, and healing within and beyond the academy. Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan. Rury, J. L. (2016). Education and social change: contours in the history of American schooling (Fifth edition). New York: Routledge. Virginia Industrial School for Colored Schools (1920). Fifth Annual Report. 110 Virginia Industrial School for Colored Schools (1921). Sixth Annual Report. Virginia Industrial School for Colored Schools (1922). Seventh Annual Report. Virginia Industrial School for Colored Schools (1923). Eighth Annual Report. Virginia Industrial School for Colored Schools (1924). Ninth Annual Report. Virginia Industrial School for Colored Schools (1926). Eleventh Annual Report. Cooper-Wilson, C. (2010). Other mothering. In A. O'Reilly (Ed.), Encyclopedia of motherhood (pp. 957-957). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412979276.n523. 111 APPENDIX A: IMAGES FROM THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR COLORED GIRLS Figure 4.5: Fifth Annual Report of the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, 1920, public domain. Figure 4.6: Fifth Annual Report of the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, 1920, public domain. 112 Figure 4.7: Fifth Annual Report of the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, 1920, public domain. Figure 4.8: Ninth Annual Report of the Industrial School for Colored Girls, 1924, public domain. 113 Figure 4.9: Ninth Annual Report of the Industrial School for Colored Girls, 1924, public domain. Figure 4.10: Sixth Annual Report of the Industrial School for Colored Girls. 1921, , public domain. 114 APPENDIX B: EXCERPTS FROM ANNUAL REPORTS USED TO CRAFT LAYER 2 1920 1921 1922 1923 Figure 4.11. Mrs. McNeil’s donations, 1920- 1923, public domain. Figure 4.12: Credit System, 1922 Annual Report, p.14, public domain. 115 Figure 4.13: Explanation of “honor girls,” 1923 Annual Report, p. 16, public domain. 116 APPENDIX C: 1926 - 1927 DONATIONS LIST USED TO CRAFT LAYER 3 Figure 4.14: 1926 – 1927 Donations List 117 Figure 4.14 (cont’d) 118 APPENDIX D: DEED USED TO CRAFT LAYER 4 Figure 4.15: 1914 deed courtesy of Library of Virginia. 119 Figure 4.15 (cont’d) 120 Mary McLeod Bethune Figure 5.1: Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder and former president and director of the NYA (National Youth Administration) Negro Relations, Gordon Parks (photographer) 1943. 121 CHAPTER 5: MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE Mary McLeod Bethune was born in 1875 in Mayesville, South Carolina to Patsy and Samuel McLeod (Robertson, 2015). When she was ten years old, her parents enrolled her in Trinity Presbyterian Mission School where she developed a love for reading and mathematics. After school, she shared what she learned by teaching her family and neighbors to read. As a teenager, she moved to Concord, North Carolina to attend Scotia Seminary, an all-girls school that provided teacher training and service skill development courses (McCluskey, 2014). Bethune wanted to become a missionary to Africa. As a woman of faith, it was her dream to teach reading and Christian values to the children on the continent. After two years attending Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, where she was one of two Black students on campus, her white mentors discouraged her from pursuing missionary work (McCluskey, 2014; Robertson, 2015). In 1896, Bethune moved to Augusta, Georgia and began teaching at Lucy Craft Laney’s Institute. Mentored by Laney and a collective of Black women teachers, Bethune became involved in developing curriculum for early childhood education. Laney soon reassured her that Black children in the South need education as much “as they do in Africa” (McCluskey, 2017, p. 55). Soon after Bethune arrived, Laney supported Bethune’s idea to start Sunday School classes at the Institute. Bethune enjoyed the opportunity to start a new initiative, especially one that allowed her to blend her passions for God and early childhood education. While working in Augusta, Bethune was emboldened by a new dream: starting a school of her own. After a year in Augusta, Bethune, her husband, Albert, and their newborn son, moved to Palatka, Florida (Robertson, 2015). While there, Bethune opened a small Presbyterian mission school. 122 In September 1904, Bethune moved to Daytona, Florida with her son. At the time, she only had $1.50 and a vision of a school (Roberston, 2015). On October 3, 1904, Bethune opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls in her home with six students– Lucille, Lena, Ruth, Anna, Celeste and her son–ages five through twelve (McCluskey, 2017).Emulating the Haines Institute, Bethune’s school offered both academic and vocational education. Leading up to opening day, Bethune searched dumpsters across Daytona for items she could clean or fix up for the school. Ambition like this was important to Bethune. She wanted the school to help students develop various types of academic and resourceful skills to be prepared for life after school. She encouraged teachers and students to be innovative by reusing everyday items like brooms, chairs, and linen that had been discarded around the city. Bethune accepted new students on a rolling basis, which resulted in a rapid increase in enrollment. As more students attended the institute, Bethune transitioned from teacher, fundraiser, outreach organizer, and administrator to full-time administrator. She used funds raised from tuition and donations to hire teachers and staff. Faith Hall, the school’s first academic building, was constructed in 1907 after years of networking and fundraising efforts with volunteer labor and leftover supplies from other projects (McCluskey, 2016). Prior to larger philanthropic donations, Bethune raised money for the school by baking and selling sweet potato pies and boiled eggs (Robertson, 2015). Bethune said the namesake of the building symbolized that faith is the evidence of hard work and dreams coming into reality. In many ways, the building foreshadowed Bethune’s forthcoming accomplishments. As scripture notes, “now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Bethune’s unwavering faith in God was a through-line in her ideals; whether it was education, voting, housing, or rights, she held fast to her belief in God and her faith in people to 123 care for one another. In 1934, Faith Hall burned down. It was reconstructed in 1978 and currently hosts the university’s technology center. Between 1904 and 1923, the institute expanded to higher grade levels and offered more courses, such as sewing, cooking, poultry raising, reading, writing, and mathematics (McCluskey, 2017). During this time, Bethune fundraised by using three strategies: (1) hosting school events, (2) selling meals, and (3) partnering with philanthropists. They hosted local events, such as choir performances, especially during the height of vacation season (Robertson, 2015). Bethune did this to capture the attention of wealthy white tourists who visited Daytona Beach. This strategy proved successful as she was able to garner support from the owner of White Sewing Machine Company, Thomas White (Robertson, 2015). Bethune continued to bake sweet potato pies and boiled eggs that she sold at local community markets. In 1912 , Booker T. Washington visited the campus. He was key in helping Bethune network with donors across the South. He introduced her to John D. Rockefeller. Through her connection to Rockefeller, Bethune was able to meet and build relationships with philanthropists on a national level. Finally, another indicator of Bethune’s success as the first a school leader, then college president was her ability to recruit James N. Gamble of Proctor and Gamble to join her Board of Trustees. In 1946, Bethune reflected on these years in her “Spiritual Biography” saying: When I had my first experience with people who could read when I could not, and with seeing fine churches, when my people worshiped in shacks, I asked God to open to me the opportunity to do something about that. The idea gripped me. I found myself endowed with creative power within. I put all my negative thoughts away from me, as I do now, and then and there I affirmed my needs, my hopes, and aspirations. That affirmation with God took me from the cotton fields to the little mission school to Scotia College to Moody Bible Institute, and, 124 finally to the planting of the Bethune-Cookman College– the real child of my desire. That is how I could say to my good friend, Mr. James N. Gamble, when he visited my little cabin school and saw nothing but a few drygoods boxes and five little girls, and asked “What do you want me to be trustee of?” “I want you, Mr. Gamble,” I said, “to be trustee of the thing that I have in my mind to do.” He trusted me and was the Chairman of our Trustee Board for twenty years. During these initial decades, the reputation of the school under Bethune’s leadership catapulted her into the national stage. In 1923, she served as president of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, a role that “ensured that Bethune, as the national spokeswoman, would be heard on major national issues concerning black Americans” (Bethune, McCluskey & Smith, 2002). Bethune gave numerous speeches that illuminated her perspective on education and the significant role of teachers in the U.S. In 1926, Bethune offered “A Philosophy of Education for Negro Girls” that outlines her vision and goals for Black girls’ educational opportunities in the U.S. : Very early in my life, I saw the vision of what our women might contribute to the growth and development of the race - If they were given a certain type of intellectual training. I longed to see women, negro women hold in their hands diplomas which bespoke achievement. (Bethune, McCluskey & Smith, 2002, p. 84) She went on to highlight the accomplishments of Black women such as Nannie Helen Burroughs, Mary Church Terrell, and Madam C.J. Walker as exemplars of the success, wisdom, and leadership of educated Black women. Bethune believed school should encourage girls to develop and embrace a “pioneering spirit” (Bethune, McCluskey and Smith, 2002, p. 85), honor, truth telling, responsibility, and creativity. The challenge for schooling, she said, is to help Black girls and boys to resolve problems by using their intellect and creative nature. As far as the 125 responsibility of the teacher, Bethune believed teaching was a calling and a revered position in our communities. She remarked, “the teacher’s primary business is that of a stirrer-up” (p. 109). Teachers are meant to investigate, interpret, and inspire children into learning and engaging in the classroom. Furthermore, the teacher is not content with an accumulation of facts, instead they “flirt with the unknown out on the frontiers” (pp. 109-110). Bethune’s leadership at the Bethune- Cookman College and in U.S. society painted a radical and vivid vision of education as a tool for liberation. With the continued academic expansion and support of the school, her vision came to life day by day, year by year. As a leader in the field of education, particularly for Black teachers and youth, Bethune’s interests in the social stability and growth of the Black community led her to consult with three U.S. presidents over twenty years. Local and national financial support allowed for the expansion of the school campus, course offerings, and teaching staff. The school went through several name changes and became the Daytona Normal Industrial Institute in 1919. As Robertson (2015) explains, “in 1923, the all-girls school began the process of merging with Cookman Institute, a coed school led by the Methodist Church” (p. 18). Bethune served as the college president from 1923 to 1942-- one of the first Black women to hold this position in the U.S.. Daytona Cookman Collegiate Institute began offering junior college and college level courses in 1928 and added a School of Commerce, School of Music, and Drama Department. In 1931, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools was particularly impressed with the quality of liberal arts and teacher education and the college earned its accreditation. Notably, author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston taught at Bethune Cookman College in the mid 1930s (Hemenway, 1977). By 1930, she had earned an associate’s degree from Howard University and a bachelor’s in arts from Barnard College where she studied 126 anthropology. Throughout her twenties and thirties, she had published numerous short stories and collaborated with Langston Hughes. For decades, most of Hurston’s work was overlooked by the white male-dominated publishing industry. By 1934, she was 43 and decided to relocate to Florida for the opportunity to teach at Bethune Cookman College. Although she was only there for a couple of years, she opened the “school for dramatic arts.” By 1940, Hurston had published three books, including Their Eyes Were Watching God. Today, Bethune Cookman University hosts the Annual Zora Neale Hurston Writer’s Conference to honor Hurston’s “spirit of resistance” (Annual Zora Neale Hurston Writer's Conference -B-CU, 2023), support new scholars, and continue Hurston’s legacy as an interdisciplinary scholar. Bethune was the first and only Black woman to open a grammar school and develop it into an accredited university (McCluskey, 2014). Even still, her legacy seems endless and goes beyond education. In the late 1920s, she was selected to be an educational advisor to President Hoover (Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site). Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Woman (NCNW) in 1935. The NCNW is a community organization that still exists today and supports the social advancement of Black women and children in regards to race, class, and gender. Under her leadership, during World War II, Bethune and the NCNW raised over one million dollars in war bonds to sponsor a cargo ship, The S.S. Harriet Tubman, to provide supplies to Black soldiers in Europe. In 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration appointed her Director of Negro Affairs. These accomplishments only scratch the surface of her many achievements. Bethune passed away in 1955 at 77years old. In 2007, the Board of Trustees supported Bethune-Cookman in achieving university status and the school opened its first graduate programs. Since 1943, over 19,000 students have 127 graduated from the university. Today, Bethune-Cookman University is known for its academic programs in Nursing, Engineering, and Business. 128 Layer 1: School Timeline Figure 5.2: Bethune-Cookman School Timeline. 129 Layer 1 School Timeline Methods I created this timeline to showcase an aspect of “Layered-storytelling” that makes research more widely accessible to varying audiences. Similar to the map in Barrett’s section, this infographic provides another example of how to visually represent data. This layer in particular can be used by K-12 teachers in their classrooms. Since Bethune had so many extraordinary accomplishments in her lifetime, I decided to construct a school timeline to focus the reader’s attention on key events in her role as an school leader, college president, national educator expert in the field. I also chose to focus on the school, because it still exists today and I wanted to visually represent its history through time as a way to honor Bethune’s legacy through the current presence of the university. I chose to begin the timeline with opening day of Bethune’s Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls. On Tuesday, October 4, 1904, Bethune welcomed five girls and her son Albert Jr. to her school within her home. The accompanying lightbulb symbolizes that this school began from an idea, or specifically a dream. In a 1940 interview with Charles S. Johnson, Bethune said: “Before starting the school, I had three significant dreams. You see I still believe in dreams” (Bethune, McCluskey & Smith, 2002, p. 48). This is a beautiful sentiment that echoes Black Feminist Epistemologies (BFE), Bethune’s looks changed reality (hooks, 1992), she continued to believe in the power of her dreams and their fruition. I think that is also a key part of her narrative and being that young people should know– that even when Bethune was 65 years old she continued to hold on to her dreams. In thematic alignment with the first event on the timeline, the next two events: the construction of Faith Hall and assembling her Board of Trustees, are both examples of Bethune’s commitment to growing and nurturing her dreams into fruition over time. Bethune had 130 a lot of patience between 1907 and 1912, demonstrating that she did not stop dreaming after opening day. Prior to securing the support of wealthy philanthropic donors, Bethune raised money for the school by baking and selling sweet potato pies and boiled eggs (Robertson, 2015). Each day, each week, each month, Bethune was strategizing how to garner more financial support for the school and no task was too big or too small. Bethune said the namesake of the school’s first academic building, Faith Hall, symbolized that faith is the evidence of hard work and dreams coming into reality. Also, when James N. Gamble came to visit, she had a vision and determination that convinced him to join her Board of Trustees. As scripture notes, “now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Bethune’s unwavering faith in God was a through line in her ideals– whether it was education, voting, housing, or rights– Bethune held fast to her belief in God and her faith in people to care for one another. The events noted between 1923 and 1931 serve as practical signposts to show the reader how the school evolved from an elementary school for Black girls into a co-ed junior college. I intentionally chose these signposts as a way to highlight Bethune’s adaptation and oppositional knowledges (Collins, 2002). These signposts show how the school changed just as much as Bethune did. At every step of the way, she was able to be strategic in her leadership and vision which simultaneously launched her onto the national stage when she was named the president of National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools in 1924. At this 50 years old, white and Black people viewed her as an expert in Black education. This is no small feat as a Black woman who faced racism, sexism, and classism from male counterparts and white people as well. However, she continued to fashion her own path in education and activism. Next, I chose to incorporate a bit about Zora Neal Hurston as a way to illustrate a connection among Black women teachers– this mirrors Bethune’s experience teaching at 131 Laney’s school, now Hurston has the opportunity to teach at Bethune’s school. By 1930, author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston earned an associate’s degree from Howard University and a bachelor’s in arts from Barnard College where she studied anthropology (Hemenway, 1977). Throughout her 20s and 30s, she had published numerous short stories which were largely overlooked by a male-dominated publishing network. During her time in New York she collaborated with Langston Hughes, a mentee of Bethune (Johnson, 1983). By 1934, she relocated to Florida for the opportunity to teach at Bethune Cookman College. Although she was only there for a couple of years, she opened the school for dramatic arts. The following two events mark Bethune’s stepping down as college president and her shift to full time political activism and then her death. I chose these events to show that Bethune’s work went beyond the school, but her foundational values of justice and equity continued with her. Bethune’s school was one of the many ways she dreamed to positively impact the United States towards intentionally caring for Black people. Finally, the last two events show Bethune-Cookman’s continued success even after Bethune’s death. The school serves as a physical reminder of her legacy in education. 132 Layer 2: “Five Little Girls & Albert Jr.” Short Story The warm sun peeked over on a dirt road. The birds sang and danced to welcome a new day, while a breeze came in from the Atlantic Ocean, kicking up dust and putting a chill into the fall morning air. Mary McLeod Bethune woke up with anticipation. It was Monday, October 3, 1904, the first day of school and the material evidence of her faith and hard work. As she began to move around in her bed, she reached to her nightstand for her Bible and read 1 Corinthians 13: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” In her prayer, she thanked and praised God for his blessings of love and faith. As Mary got out of bed, her feet touched the rough wood floor of her two-story home. She had only moved to Daytona a month ago, from a small town on the Saint John’s River called Palatka. Although Albertus, Mary’s husband, had little interest in promoting education, he did not want to prevent Mary from realizing her vision. So, in September, Mary took her son, Albert Junior, left her husband, and traveled 50 miles south to pursue her dream of starting a school. At the time, Daytona was a segregated city; with a thriving Black community and wealthy white residents, it seemed like the perfect place to start something new. Mary and Albert Junior arrived in September with only $1.50. Mary used her intellect and charm to convince John Williams, a Black landlord, to let her rent this home for $11 a month. Even though she didn’t have much of anything at the time, she spent the next four weeks exploring the city. She begged for furniture and dried goods for the school. She met her neighbors and attended a local African 133 Baptist church. Three families agreed to send their daughters to Mary’s new home school. Finally, one month later, the first day of school had arrived. As Mary stood up from her bed and began to prepare herself for the day, she thought about Lucille, Lena, and Ruth Warren; Anna Geiger; Celeste Jackson; and their families. Her excitement grew as she went to wake up her son. She knelt down at his cot in the living room and gently rubbed his back. “Albert, it’s time to wake up. We’re starting school today.” After a moment, Albert rolled over and rubbed his eyes open. The five year old sleepily got up from his cot and went with his mother to wash up. About a half hour later, Mary and Albert emerged from their home ready to pick up the girls. Mary took her son’s hand and they began the 10-minute walk to the Warren’s home. Along the way, the sun warmed their faces while the ocean air tickled their noses. Albert noticed every rock and flower on the road. He tried to pick up a few while keeping up with his mother. “Come Albert, we can look on our way back. For now, let’s leave them be.” They arrived at the Warrens’ home. Albert knocked on the door while Mary called to them, “Good morning!” Mr. Warren opened the door, smiling, “Welcome Mrs. Bethune. My wife is just finishing up helping the girls get ready.” “Here we come, Mrs. Bethune,” Margaret’s voice called out from the back room. After a minute or so, Lucille, Lena, and Ruth appeared in their Sunday best, white ruffled dresses and ruffled white socks. The girls greeted Mary and Albert in unison, “Good morning, Mrs. Bethune. Good morning, Albert.” They bent down to put on their shoes while their parents embraced each other. “Good morning, Mrs. Bethune. How are you this morning?” Margaret asked. “I’m blessed, Mrs. Warren, and I am grateful for you and your family.” 134 “We thank God you’re here, Mrs. Bethune,” Margaret replied. “Yes, the girls are looking forward to school today,” Rufus responded. The girls came to the door. “We’re ready!” Lena shouted. The girls wiggled with excitement. “Goodbye girls,” Rufus said. “Love you,” Margaret replied. Mary, Albert, Lucille, Lena, and Ruth turned to walk toward the Geiger home. “Bye!” Albert waved to Rufus and Margaret from the street. Mary and the children held hands as they arrived at the Geiger’s home. Anna sat out front on the porch. “Here I am! I’m ready,” she shouted. “Good morning,” Mary chuckled. “Alright let’s go Anna.” As they went on to pick up Celeste, the fifth and final girl on their journey, the girls began to ask questions. Ruth said: “What are we going to do today?” Lena responded: “I bet we’re going to read the Bible!” Anna chimed in: “Or maybe write our names!” Ruth asked: “Are you going to teach us to write in cursive?” Mary patiently replied, “Yes, yes girls, we will be learning and doing many different things at school…but we can’t learn everything in one day. Learning takes time.” “That’s why you gotta come back” Albert added, “the next day and the next day and the next day…” “...except for Sunday because that’s church!” Lucille said, The group arrived at the Jackson home and Mary sent Lucille, the oldest, to knock on the door, while she waited near the street with the children. Lucille knocked on the door and Mrs. 135 Jackson answered the door. “Good morning, sweetie, Celeste will be ready soon. I’ll be right back.” She closed the door and Lucille could hear a faint conversation, “Are you ready, Celeste? They are here!” “I can’t find my matching sock. I can only find my church tights.” “Well, you’ll just have to wear them today. I’ll look for your socks.” “Okay.” Celeste ran out a few moments later to meet the children and Mary at the street. “Bye, sweetie!” Mrs. Jackson waved from the door. Mary and the children arrived back at her home and settled into the bedroom-turned- schoolroom. Mary set up four benches and two tables for makeshift desks in the middle of the room. In the back corner, there was a small bookcase with Bibles and hymnals borrowed from her church. Mary stood at a table near the front of the room. On the table, she placed some old notebooks and pencils. The children’s excitement shifted into quiet curiosity as they entered the room, looking around, and found their way to a bench. “Okay children, we are going to start school with a morning prayer and scripture reading. Albert, can you pass out the Bibles in the back? I have selected Genesis 1 for our scripture. Follow along with me in your Bibles.” Mary walked around to each girl to make sure she found the page. “Mrs. Bethune, my Bible is missing some pages,” Anna said. “Okay, Anna, can you share with Lena?” “Yes ma’am,” Anna replied. Mary began to read, and the children’s eyes glued to the page trying to follow her words. Mary stopped at the end of verse five. 136 “These are our scripture for the week. This week, we will learn how to read and spell six words from this passage.” Mary held up a notebook to show the class. On the page, she wrote the words: heaven, earth, dark, light, night, and day. “I’m sure you have heard them in church or at home, but here we will learn to write them, too. Come up to the table and I will give you each a notebook and pencil.” The children quietly walked up to Mary’s table, one by one, to get their materials and return to their seats. They began to flip through the pages and wonder what kinds of things they would do and learn with their new notebooks. Mary spoke, “Okay now, children. Find the page where you see words written, just like this.” Mary showed her notebook one more time. “I’m looking to see that everyone has found their page. Okay, let’s practice holding a pencil and writing these words by tracing over my handwriting.” Albert and Ruth, the younger ones, struggled to hold their pencils at first. Lucille and Celeste helped them. The children each took their time carefully tracing H-E-A-V-E-N and so on. Mary walked around and encouraged her students: “I like the way you are trying, Lena. I know this is hard, but take your time, Albert. We are practicing. ” Mary asked the children to finish up their writing and close their notebooks. “We are going outside.” Albert reluctantly closed his notebook. “It’s okay, Albert, we can’t learn everything in one day,” Celeste said. They all ran out to Mary’s background, a mix of dirt and grass, and the children played with each other while Mary got some snacks ready for lunch. The bright sun and fresh air lifted Albert’s spirits and he let himself play with the girls. The sisters, Lena, Ruth, and Lucille, taught 137 Celeste, Anna, and Albert how to play hide and seek. They ran and hid while Lena counted down. Mary heard laughter from the kitchen. Later, she called them inside to eat. After lunch, they returned to the school room for their afternoon lesson that revisited Genesis 1. Mary started a lesson on the scripture and asked the children to define their vocabulary words, then draw pictures in their notebooks. Mary asked them to share their drawings in front of the class. Ruth raised her hand to share first. She walked up to the table and showed her notebook. Her page was almost entirely colored in with a big circle in the middle. “I chose to draw a picture of night. This is my moon! Because the moon is out at night and the sky is black.” “Thank you, Ruth, what a nice job.” Mary said “Anyone else?” Anna raised her hand, and then walked up to the front. “This is heaven.” She opened her notebook and showed the class an image of a brick road, and large fluffy clouds. Anna continued, “This is the road paved with gold bricks and this is a big house where we can all live happily.” Mary smiled and said, “Wow, beautiful details and very thoughtful. Thank you, Anna.” After everyone shared, Mary transitioned to their closing activity. She sang “This Little Light of Mine” with the children. Together, they recited the Lord’s Prayer. *** That night, Mary sat on her bed and revisited 1 Corinthians 13. As she read the words, tears began to well up in her eyes. She took a breath, picked up her notebook and wrote: “I am blessed with the power to visualize and to see a mental picture of what I would desire. I am always building spiritual air castles. Only those with a spiritual understanding can appreciate my feeling when I say that I saw this school in my mind's eye. 138 Love not hate has been the fountain of my fullness. In the streams of Love That spring up within me, I have built my relationships with all mankind. When hate has been projected toward me, I have known that the persons who extended it lacked spiritual understanding. I have had great pity and compassion for them. Because I have not given hate in return for hate, and because of my fellow feeling for those who do not understand, I have been able to overcome hatred and gain the confidence and affection of people. Faith and love have been the most glorious and victorious defense in this “warfare” of life, And it has been my privilege to use them, and make them substantial advocates of my cause, as I press toward my goals whether they be spiritual or material ones. My love is a universal factor in my experience, transcending pettiness, discrimination, segregation, narrowness and unfair dealings with regard to my opportunity to grow and to serve. Through love and faith and determination I have been persistently facing obstacles, small and large, and I have made them stepping stones upon which to rise." (Adapted from Bethune’s Spiritual Autobiography, 1946) 139 Layer 2: “Five Little Girls and Albert Jr.” Methods I wrote the short story by drawing on Zora Neale Hurston’s writing, a 1926 statement from Bethune entitled “A Philosophy of Education for Negro Girls,” a 1940 interview with Bethune, and excerpts from her Spiritual Autobiography. For the setting of the story in Daytona, I recalled Hurston’s imagery in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God set in Eatonville, Florida in the 1930s. Hurston wrote: So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead. Not the dead of sick and ailing with friends at the pillow and the feet. She had come back from the sodden and the bloated; the sudden dead, their eyes flung wide open in judgment. The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was gone, but he left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. (p. 1) The setting of my story is inspired by this text– Hurston’s personification of the sun leaving footprints and the community of people sitting on their porches watching in judgment. Janie, the protagonist, returned home at sunset which Hurston uses to symbolize the end of Janie’s story, but the beginning of Hurston’s novel. In the short story, “Five Little Girls and Albert Jr.” draws on this in the opening description of the sun rising, which symbolizes a new day, anticipation, and expectation. I decided to start her day with praying and reading 1 Corinthians 13 because Bethune was a devout Christian and a woman who valued her faith and love. Her faith is illustrated throughout biographies, photographs, and her personal documents. When Gordon Parks visited the campus in 1943, he took a photograph of Bethune reading the Bible before bed (see image A6) Bethune (1946) wrote: 140 My love is a universal factor in my experience, transcending pettiness, discrimination, segregation, narrowness and unfair dealings with regard to my opportunity to grow and to serve. Through love and faith and determination I have been persistently facing obstacles, small and large, and I have made them stepping stones upon which to rise. Here Bethune clearly articulated the impact of love in her life. She embodied love in a way that allowed her to dismiss small grievances or conflict, and her faith in God encouraged her to realize her dreams. Finally, in Bethune’s last will and testament, she left love, hope, and faith for us. These three examples, in particular, show Bethune’s faith and the recurring themes of love and faith mirrors 1 Corinthians 13. This suggests that she was likely familiar with the passage and could have read it during prayer. While Bethune prepares for the day, I insert some historical context for background. Bethune had recently left her husband in Palatka to pursue her dream of opening the school. In a 1940 interview, Bethune stated that she chose Daytona, in part, because it had a wealthy white demographic that she thought she could get to support the school. I balanced the historical context with imagining Bethune’s excitement for the day– teaching the girls and actualizing her vision of a school for Black girls. I used the girls’ real names: Lucille, Lena, and Ruth Warren, Anna Geiger, and Celeste Jackson. Additionally, since it was just her and Albert, I imagine Albert as a shy, yet curious five-year-old who trusted his mother, even though he was in a new place without his father. Once Bethune and her son leave, they walk hand-in-hand down the road to “pick up” the girls. Going door-to-door to greet the girls and their families aligns with Bethune's previous and future actions of collectivism, community organizing, and fundraising. It is clear from the archives that Bethune was willing to go out and meet people; she enjoyed getting to know her 141 neighbors. Each home they visit is intentionally a little different. The first family, the Warrens, have fictional names. Rufus Warren, the father, is named after my maternal grandfather Rufus Harold Rowson and Margaret Warren, the mother, is named after my great-aunt Margaret Bell. Both of these family members have passed away, but while they were alive, they were people who loved to host, cook, and get to know their community. My grandfather was a pastor and my great-aunt, a pastor’s wife. Similar to Bethune, they saw their faith as an opportunity to unconditionally love their families and community. At the next home, Anna is waiting on the porch, and the final house, the Jackson family, her mother, unnamed, is a bit behind the scenes as she helps her get out the door. I wanted to depict each family in a unique dynamic because I felt that was authentic my own experience as a teacher. No two families are exactly the same, not even the siblings. I think that is significant to name in this story especially since Bethune was a keen and detailed educator, I’m sure she was aware of the nuances among families. Along the walk, the children ask Bethune what they will do in school. I thought of the questions my students asked me on the first day of school or the first day of a new unit. I wanted to capture their curiosity and excitement. When I thought about the first day of school, I imagined Bethune reading scripture and singing with her children. I believe that the initial days of her school were likely similar to a children’s Sunday school because of Bethune’s strong faith and prior experience teaching Sunday school. In 1896, when Bethune taught at Laney’s school, the Haines Normal Institute, she asked permission to start a Sunday School class. Laney agreed and Bethune recruited girls from her science class as well as the neighborhood to join her class. In this short story, Bethune blends literacy and Sunday school by teaching Genesis 1 and using words from the scripture as vocabulary that they will learn throughout the week. This was probably the children’s first time in a school setting. I imagined they knew to sit down and be 142 courteous– especially on the first day. I imagined that Bethune would teach them sight words, like “night,” “day,” “light,” and “dark.” She would also teach them how to hold a pencil and practice writing by tracing over her handwriting. Bethune valued agricultural and liberal arts education in her pedagogy. She was attentive to children’s present needs while building their skills for the future. I imagined that she would allow for a break– time to play and eat. I ended the story by shifting the timeline forward. I referred to Parks’ 1943 photograph of her to imagine this ending. It is nighttime and Bethune reflects on her day. She reads her Bible and writes a journal entry to end her day. I selected a passage from her Spiritual Autobiography even though it was published in 1946. I think inserting this excerpt here allows for a unique opportunity to play with time while emphasizing Bethune’s faith in her vision. That is to say, even though she did not write these words until many years later, these words, visions, and dreams were within her for decades, before they reached the page. 143 Layer 3: “The Good Teacher” Figure 5.3: “The Good Teacher”. 144 Layer 3: “The Good Teacher” Methods The excerpts from this layer come from a speech entitled “The Educational Value of the College-Bred” by Bethune in 1934. I intentionally included these passages to highlight the major arguments Bethune made in her speech, which I argue illustrates her expertise and pedagogical orientation to teaching and U.S. education as an enterprise. I think this is important to illuminate because in both Teacher Education and the history of Black education, we often think of John Dewey, Carter G. Woodson, or W.E.B. DuBois as intellectual leaders that shaped our foundation, However, Bethune also made significant intellectual and pedagogical contributions to U.S. education that I will delve into below. Further, the aesthetic of this is based on an image of Bethune at Phyllis Wheatley YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) in Washington, D.C. She appears to be preparing for or giving a speech. In the image, she is standing in front of the American flag with a table of rolled diplomas set before her. She, of course, is wearing her pearls, which I highlighted by layering on another pearl necklace. To continue the theme of giving flowers, I layered colorful flowers over the black and white flowers in the vase. Finally, for the background I used white brick to emulate the white cinderblock walls of a gymnasium. In the speech, Bethune makes several appeals to the audience. The first is regarding the importance of the institution of public education in the United States. She made the case that public education is a “colossal democratic experiment” and “the largest public enterprise,” a billion dollar industry. Next, Bethune posed the rhetorical question: “why?” The remainder of the speech focused on the reasons Bethune believed in the power of education and encouraged the audience to take a vow of “faith in Mankind” (p. 111). Bethune argued that there are three major factors which contribute to the purpose of education: science, democracy, and religion. Next, she stated that we are a community of investigators, interpreters, and inspirers. She claims 145 that schooling is responsible for preparing students in each of these categories and that most of all, good teachers embody all three qualities. Finally, she asked the audience to make six promises: (1) definite and specific preparation, (2) sympathetic attitude, (3) industry, (4) idealism, (5) courage, and (6) faith. Bethune described science, democracy, and religion as three factors that contribute to education as an enterprise. She praised science for its “powers” in communication, production, distribution, and transportation. Education demonstrates the ideal of democracy because public education was a new endeavor at the time. For decades in the U.S., education was a privilege for the wealthy or well-resourced. Bethune argued that public education was a significant step toward equality. Finally, Bethune discussed religion by describing teaching as a calling. Being an educator, according to Bethune, is a highly-esteemed position that requires a commitment to faith. Then, her speech transitions into describing the three qualities: investigator, interpreter, and inspirer. Bethune tasks teachers with the responsibility of cultivating each individual characteristic while being all three themselves. She argued that the good teacher must be all three in order to truly engage with their students while being “crusaders of knowledge” (p. 111). Bethune said that investigating is an important aspect of being a good teacher because we must be curious people in order to cultivate curiosity in our students. As an interpreter, Bethune encouraged teachers to not be afraid to explore the boundaries of our disciplines– to both appreciate knowledge within a field and to gain perspective on others. Finally, the inspirer knows that the key to education is to get students involved and connected to the subject. She warned against utilizing the banking method and described it as stuffing pork into sausage skin. I’d like to draw a comparison to the ideals conveyed in this speech to David Labaree’s (1997) “Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle over Educational Goals.” In this 146 text, Labaree explained that public education in the U.S. has struggled to consistently prioritize central goals, and that often these goals can (un)intentionally push back on other goals. He wrote, “I call these goals democratic equality, social efficiency, and social mobility. These goals differ across several dimensions: the extent to which they portray education as a public or private good” (p. 41). I believe both texts can be used as foundational readings for preservice teachers and teacher educators to discuss and reflect on the purpose of education and the “ideal” teacher. These are important concepts for us to interrogate as we enter and grow in the profession because it prompts us to think about education on the systemic and individual levels. We need to think about the overarching function of schools, in theory and reality, while understanding our tangible roles in contributing to the enterprise of education. 147 Layer 4A: “Table of Contentment” portrait Figure 5.4: “Table of Contentment” portrait. 148 Layer 4B: “Table of Contentment” poem Figure 5.5: “Table of Contentment” poem. 149 Layer 4A: “Table of Contentment” portrait Methods I designed these two pieces to complement each other. The first is a portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune in 1949, taken by photographer Carl Van Vechten. The photograph is from Van Vechten’s repository at the Library of Congress. The original photograph had a large drape in the background space, which created a lot of space framing Bethune (See Appendix B). I wanted to use this space as a way to continue the motif of flowers throughout the piece and the repetition of “give her flowers, honor her legacy.” The flowers throughout this project serve as a symbolic “giving” of flowers to the people we love and honor. Specifically, in this case, I am giving flowers to Black women whose legacies and pedagogies have been overlooked and left out of U.S. teacher education and teacher preparation programs writ large. In an effort to counter the white supremacist, patriarchal erasure of Black women, I center their accomplishments and uplift their pedagogical leadership. Further, the portrait of Bethune surrounded by individually placed flowers, not only counters hegemony, but celebrates her. 150 Layer 4B: “Table of Contentment” poem Methods The blackout poem is from the “Table of Contents” of Bethune: Out of the Darkness, into the Light of Freedom, a biography written by Evelyn Bethune, affectionately known as “Mary’s Grandbaby.” The author used Mary McLeod Bethune’s will and testament as the outline for the table of contents in her book (See Appendix A). Mary McLeod Bethune wrote the original document in 1955, at the age of 78. Her last will and testament included statements like: “I leave you love…I leave you hope…I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another” ( McCluskey & Smith, 2001). Throughout the book, Evelyn shared her personal memories of growing up with Mary, the time they spent together, and her grandmother’s favorite sayings, like “I am black and I am beautiful” (Bethune, 2008, p. 112). She admired her grandmother’s unfailing faith in God and her determination to do what is right. As I read Evelyn’s words, I couldn’t help but to recall my own memories with my maternal grandmother– her sayings, her faith, her keen sense of morality– and I wanted to create a tribute to these women, our grandmothers, and the indelible mark they make on our lives. The intention of the poem and the context in which I wrote it are important to understanding the content. Throughout the process of creating this poem, I intended it to be read as a serenity prayer. I engaged with these words from the perspective of an African American hymn “Stand” by Donnie McClurkin. He sings: What do you do when you’ve done all you can/ And it seems like it’s never enough?...Tell me what do you give when you’ve given your all/ And it seems like you can’t make it through? Well you just stand when/ there’s nothing left to do/ You just stand, watch the Lord see you through. 151 The words here illustrate a vivid image that describes and embodies what it feels like to be overly exhausted, overwhelmed, and completely emptied out by an obstacle. The song asks us, what can you do when you’ve done everything you can and it’s still not enough? This is a familiar posture for many enslaved Africans and Black activists, such as Bethune, who have spent years and decades fighting for freedom often to no avail. The song then encourages us to stand on our foundation, the work we have done, and God’s promise to see us through. In alignment with this response, I wrote this poem, using Bethune’s words to elaborate on what it means “to stand” through the advice and wisdom she has given us. Two songs that I listened to which contextualized my engagement with the poem were “Heated” by Beyoncé and “Free Mind” by Tems. First, Beyoncé (2022) and Lorde (2007) push me to consider the question: What does it look like to center and lean into a liberation that isn’t fully tangible yet you can feel it in your body? Specifically, I considered Beyoncé’s words: “Liberated, living like we ain’t got time” (Heated, Beyoncé, 2022), along with Lorde’s (2007) conception of transforming silence into language and action. In this essay, Lorde wrote: We can learn to work and speak when we are afraid in the same way we have learned to work and speak when we are tired. For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us. (Lorde, 2007, p. 44) Their conceptualization of liberation, living, and fearlessness intersect in a way that illuminates Bethune’s legacy, as well. Both Beyoncé and Lorde speak to the ways time is finite, and we cannot wait indefinitely. Instead they encourage us to find how and where we can live authentically. We must speak and act even while we are still scared. Both Beyoncé’s lyrics, 152 “Liberated, living like we ain’t got time,” and Lorde’s words challenge me to acknowledge my own mortality and use that to eagerly embrace speaking, action, and liberation. The second song that I listened to while creating the poem was “Free Mind” by Tems. The song’s lyrics read like a prayer asking God or the universe for a free mind, one that is free to see beyond realities and responsibilities that narrow our scope and foster scarcity. I really need, I really need time now I really need, I need a free mind now I really need, I really need my mind now, oh yeah This is the peace that you cannot buy Send me a love that you cannot mix One is the joy that you cannot waste And the other one price that you cannot fix This is the peace that you cannot buy Finding a way when you cannot see In creating the black out poem, I developed several drafts as I played with the words on the page and their meanings. One of the first words I played with was “content.” I like the double meaning of “content”-- as in full, satisfied in a happy and peaceful way. Another definition, of course, is the meaning used here in the table of contents– the items or information contained. I changed content to contentment, or “the state of being content; satisfaction; ease of mind; not wanting more or anything else.” I wanted to signal that this is a poem about being content while still holding a vision for change. Next, the dedication in a book is usually a place to dedicate the work of the book to the author’s community or loved ones. By including dedication in the poem and adding a period, I shifted the meaning to denote dedication to a dream or vision. My choice 153 to change “Acknowledgments” to Acknowledgment is meant to encourage us to take a moment of reflection. Acknowledge what we do have, enjoy, and love about the present moment. “Fruit” is an allusion to a scripture, Galatians 5:22-23, which states: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Fruit here symbolizes sweet qualities of life that we can cultivate and bring into our daily intentions. This is a reminder to consider how we can and do experience love, joy, peace, kindness, and gentleness. The next line, “No Weapon Formed Against Me Shall Prosper,” draws from the scripture, Isaiah 54:17: “...no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. This is a well-loved verse in the Black Church. The passage is often used to provide a sense of safety and assurance in the midst of trouble. This line follows the theme throughout the poem– echoing the lyrics of “Stand,” this line gives the reader comfort and confidence in the face of injustice. Bethune’s use of hope, faith, and love alludes to 1 Corinthians 13. Bethune’s framing of “I leave you” mirrors the scripture, “and now these three remain,” encouraging the reader to rely on these three qualities as a foundation. Bethune often spoke and wrote of the power of love and faith in her life. In 1946 she wrote: I have been able to overcome hatred and gain confidence and affection of people. Faith and love have been the most glorious and victorious defense in this “warfare” of life, and it has been my privilege to use them and make them 154 substantial advocates of my cause. (Bethune, McCluskey & Smith, 2002, p. 54) The next line: “I Leave You the Power to Live Harmoniously” was created to remind us that it is not easy to live harmoniously in a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. In her will, Bethune wrote, “I leave you a respect for the uses of power” and “I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men.” In the former line, Bethune described Black intellectuals and activists who had become leaders in education and civil rights. In the latter line, Bethune explained her desire for us to live peacefully with white people because “we must learn to deal with these people positively and on an individual basis” (Bethune, McCluskey & Smith, 2002, p. 61). I combined these two lines to shift the meaning to suggest that it takes power to live harmoniously. It takes boldness and rest; it takes self-care and courage. The last line of the blackout poem combines several thoughts and reads: “Finally…I Leave You This Little Light of Mine– Reflections of Family, Friends & Mentors. A Testament of History.” In creating this line, I recalled a story I heard about my paternal grandmother after she passed away. She was from Jamaica. In the days following her funeral service, I listened to my family’s memories of her. I mentioned that I was going to be a teacher and a cousin responded “Oh, wow! Did you know your grandmother was a teacher?” She told me that my grandmother taught Sunday School in Jamaica before moving to the U.S. This warmed my heart because I realized my interest in teaching was not random, but part of a lineage. I imagined her playing the piano in a church sanctuary and teaching children to sing “This Little Light of Mine.” In the context of the poem, the light symbolizes the reflections and memories we hold of our family, friends, and mentors. The flame of the candle continues in our remembrance of them, their love, their wisdom. These memories become our archive and “a testament of history.” 155 BIBLIOGRAPHY Annual Zora Neale Hurston Writer's Conference -B-CU. (2023, January 12). Carl Swisher Library. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://cookman.libguides.com/zoranealehurston Coney, B., Andrews, D., Graham, A., Hirschfield, A., Beyoncé, Coffee, C., Jr., Sweet, J., Reeves, J., Yip, J., McDaniel, M., Samuels, M., Rodigan, O., McCullough, R.C., II., Romulus, R., Lawson, R., Thomas, R., Jr., Seaton, S., & Garland, T. (2022) Heated [Song]. On Renaissance. Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia; Warner Chappell Music. Freire, P. (2005) The pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. Hemenway, R. E. (1977). Zora Neale Hurston: a literary biography. University of Illinois Press. Johnson, E. M. (1983). LANGSTON HUGHES AND MARY McLEOD BETHUNE. The Langston Hughes Review, 2(1), 1–12. McClurkin, D. (1996) Stand [Song]. On Donnie McClurkin. Warner Alliance. Moore, A., & Hammond, F. (1997) No Weapon [Song]. On Spirit of David. Verity Records. Openiyi T. (2020) Free Mind [Song]. On For broken ears. Leading Vibe Ltd. This Little Light of Mine (n.d.) [Traditional gospel song]. 156 APPENDIX A: IMAGES FROM BETHUNE’S SCHOOL Figure 5.6: Mary McLeod Bethune with a Line of Girls from the School, 1905. Figure 5.7: Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Girls as well as boys learn to drive tractors and to use hand plows, Gordon Parks, 1943. 157 Figure 5.8: Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Student holding a young calf on the agricultural school farm, Gordon Parks, 1943. Figure 5.9: Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Student who is enrolled in the agricultural school, Gordon Parks, 1943. 158 Figure 5.10: Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune bowing her head and listening to a chorus of seventy-three voices sing the Lord's Prayer during Sunday chapel services. Gordon Parks, 1943. Figure 5.11: Bethune reads her Bible before bed. Gordon Parks, 1943. 159 APPENDIX B: IMAGES USED TO CRAFT LAYER 4 Figure 5.12: Mary McLeod Bethune portrait by Carl Van Vechten, 1949. 160 Figure 5.13: “Table of Contents” in Bethune: Out of Darkness into the Light of Freedom Bethune (2009). 161 Septima Clark Figure 6.1: Septima Clark Passport Photo (1964) Avery Research Center SPC Papers. 162 CHAPTER 6: SEPTIMA CLARK (1898 – 1987) Septima Poinsette Clark was born in 1898 to Victoria Warren Anderson and Peter Porcher Poinsette (Smith, 2019). Her mother, Victoria, was educated in Haiti and her father, Peter, was enslaved and denied an education in his youth. Both of Clark’s parents were strong advocates of education. Clark grew up in Charleston, South Carolina during the height of Jim Crow segregation. orn two years after the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling, it almost seems like her life as an educator and activist was fate (McCluskey, 2014). She saw firsthand the impact of inequity and segregation on the quality of education for Black children and adults. Shortly after her high school graduation, Clark accepted a teaching position on John’s Island in a one-room schoolhouse (Smith, 2019). Clark was first introduced to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at a Presbyterian conference on St. John’s Island in 1918 (Mellen Charron, 2009). At the start of her teaching career, her work as a teacher dovetailed with the local NAACP chapter. While on John’s Island, Clark began developing two passions that would become her legacy: innovative teaching practices and political action. As her biographer explains, “the rural segregated educational world that Clark entered in 1916 demanded that black teachers improvise pedagogically in the classroom” (Mellen Charron, 2009, p. 3). Clark’s improvisation in the classroom meant teaching students to translate their spoken Gullah language to written English words. As a part of the Charleston NAACP, she also successfully forced Charleston County to hire Black teachers in public schools. Clark’s teaching and advocacy focused on literacy as a tool for political empowerment because Black Americans were required to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote. However, she and her Black colleagues felt their improvised pedagogies, which they developed over time by working with and listening to Black folks' needs, were more effective than the 163 pedagogies encouraged by traditional teaching manuals (Clark & Stokes Brown, 1990; Mellen Charron, 2009). Mentored by W.E.B. DuBois in Atlanta and then earning her master’s degree at Hampton Institute in 1947, Clark went on to work under Thurgood Marshall to fight for better pay for Black teachers (Mellen Charron, 2009). Early successes in political action encouraged Clark to devote more of her time and motivation towards activism. In the summer of 1954, Clark led her first workshop at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee (Smith, 2009). Myles Horton saw education as a tool for social change and founded the Highlander School as an interracial adult literacy center. In this context, Clark continued trying out innovative pedagogies like kinesthetic writing and creating space for student choice in her daily curriculum (Smith, 2019). Clark would return to St. John’s Island in the fall and continued as an elementary school teacher until 1955 when she was fired by the South Carolina Board of Education. To deter Black teachers from joining the NAACP, particularly with the organization’s role in Brown v. The Board of Education, white legislators made it illegal for any state employee to be a part of the NAACP (Brown & Clark, 1990). Clark knew that this type of retaliation would occur and encouraged Black teachers to stand firm in their association with the NAACP because “it was an unjust law” (p. 37). Clark believed that if the teachers would be united, the state would not be bold enough to dismiss all of them. Unfortunately, jobs for Black folks were scarce and people needed stability over risking their careers. Horton invited Clark to Tennessee and she agreed to move in June 1956. Her 34 years of classroom teaching experience brought Clark a lot of momentum and clarified her vision towards developing the Citizenship Schools and Citizenship School pedagogy. In 1957, Clark opened her first Citizenship School on John’s Island (Mellen Charron, 2019). A primary goal of Clark’s Citizenship School was to build literacy rates among Black 164 adults in the South. Practically, an increase in literacy would lead to an increase in Black voters. Additionally, Clark began to see literacy as a tool of personal empowerment for Black adults to gain confidence in their power as registered voters and informed citizens (Mellen Charron, 2009). Initially, southern whites were not threatened by the schools because they seemed to replicate what Black women have often done-- teach. However, Clark, like many Black women teachers at the time, knew that education was never neutral and believed that schools were the new “site of struggle” for the civil rights movement (Mellen Charron, 2009, p. 3). The pedagogy of Citizenship Schools provided the basis for what we know today as critical and humanizing pedagogies. The school offered political education courses and allowed students to learn at their own pace. The Citizenship Schools were designed to be a safe space for Black adults to learn how to read and organize. As more schools developed across the South, teachers were recruited from the community to localize the curriculum and meet community needs. Clark traveled to small towns across eleven deep south states, including Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama. In each town, she hosted informative sessions to help local community members start Citizenship Schools. She met hairdressers, store clerks, and farmers and started off their meetings by asking a series of questions regarding their local government, as well as employment and schooling opportunities. Clark and Sokes Brown (1990) said this was an intentional pedagogical move that she learned from trial and error: Working through those states, I found I could say nothing to those people, and no teacher as a rule could speak with them. We had to let them talk to us and say to us whatever they wanted to say. When we got through listening to them, we would let them know that we felt that they were right according to the kind of thing that they had in their mind, but according to living in this world there were other things they needed to know. We wanted to know if they were willing then 165 to listen to us, and they decided that they wanted to listen to us. (Clark & Stokes Brown, 1990, p. 53) Clark reflected that teaching at the Citizenship Schools opened her perspective to new ways of teaching, organizing, and working with white collaborators. Clark’s pedagogy placed emphasis on unlearning internalized white supremacist logics. Listening to Black community members forced her to confront her own belief that “white is right.” As she continued collaborating and traveling, she began to unlearn standards of whiteness because she saw they had a detrimental impact on Black folks. Instead, she interrogated her assumptions and opened herself up to ontologies and structures that worked for people. Additionally, her experience with blatant racism in South Carolina caused her to be hesitant when she agreed to work at the interracial Highlander Folk School, but she gained respect for Myles Horton and his vision for the education program. 166 Layer 1A: “Citizenship School Pamphlet” Figure 6.2: “Citizenship School Pamphlet”. 167 Figure 6.2 (cont’d) 168 Layer 1A “Citizenship School Pamphlet” Methods I created the pamphlet to represent how Clark and her colleagues might spread the word in town about their classes. Clark hosted citizenship classes across the South. She visited eleven states in the South and hosted meetings with local experts, as well as her colleagues from Highlander. These classes were hosted at local churches, school buildings, community centers, salons, barbershops, and other Black owned-small businesses. In 1959, the Highlander Folk School had become a target for the Klu Klux Klan, state police, and racist journalists. At the time of the raid, Dr. Martin Luther King was visiting. Local and state police along with reporters accused Clark and King of being communists and teaching communism at the school. This jeopardized Clark’s work at Highlander, so King proposed using Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) funds to continue to support her citizenship schools. Clark agreed and the two organizations partnered for Clark’s work. This is illustrated on the cover of the pamphlet with the language: “Hosted by the SCLC & Highlander Folk School.” The remaining sections of the pamphlet display the topics discussed in class, the agenda, and location. Clark would work with the local community members, for example a small group of people who she was training to become teachers. She met with them prior to the classes and asked them what they needed. Clark and Stokes Brown (1990) mentioned that this took a lot of patience and trial and error. Almost immediately, she realized her initial idea to come in and take the lead wherever she went would not work. People resisted that approach to her. She had to reflect and reassess. In each town, Clark decided to prioritize the needs of each community. She started the meeting by asking them questions like: What do you need? What do you know about your local government? Where is city hall? What kinds of employment options do you have? This meant that the first few hours of these meetings, Clark primarily listened and took notes. 169 She then went into the community to find resources that might be helpful; this included information regarding the local political landscape, voting, employment resources, educational programing, health care, or banking information. Based on what was available, she and her colleagues assembled an agenda. The example in the pamphlet is mirrored from a meeting memo from the Citizenship Education Program of S.C.L.C. and A.M.A. in February 1969. Although “Joseph White” is a fictional name, Attorney John Due, Carl Farris, and Bernice Robinson are real people who led sessions in their respective areas of expertise. The most information is documented about Bernice Robinson, while not much is shared about Due and Farris. Clark and Robinson worked closely together. Clark hired Bernice Robinson to help train community members to be teachers so they could eventually lead their own citizenship classes. Finally the location is based on a real location that Clark visited in 1960. 170 Layer 1B: “Septima Clark’s Notes” Figure 6.3: “Septima Clark’s Notes”. 171 Figure 6.3 (cont’d) 172 Layer 1B: Septima Clark’s Notes Methods I designed this layer based on the archives and Clark's reflections on teaching. In the archives, there are documents that show the agenda of these citizenship class meetings, the speakers and also samples of Clark’s handwriting. In this layer she opens and closes the meetings with her remarks and guidance. The archives don’t document what she said exactly, but I imagined she would give an overview of the night’s speakers and then ask her questions. Starting off with asking the community members questions was key to Clark’s pedagogy. She did this to build trust and learn more about the community. In Clark’s own words, she wrote and spoke very directly. She was a clear and concise person who quickly got to her point. She also recounted the type of questions she would ask community members: “Do you have an unemployment office in your town? Where is it located? What hours is it open? Have you been there to get work?” (p. 63). I expanded these questions to include banking and literacy tests, which are other topics she and others discussed in these meetings. A couple of examples included teaching people to hold pencils, sign their names in cursive, and deposit checks. 173 Layer 2: “This is My Feeling” Poem I had to change from white is right to doing it our own way working together empowering Black voters for today preparing teachers I traveled by bus all over the South Georgia South Carolina Mississippi Alabama and Tennessee encouraging educators to see children as humans developing into our futures redeeming the soul of our country living our hope and dream simple justice will come while slow, it may be when you see the silver lining chaos can make us free now, this is my feeling. 174 Layer 2: “This is My Feeling” Poem Methods This poem draws from poignant excerpts from Ready from Within by Cynthia Stokes Brown, which largely uses Septima Clark’s own words from a series of interviews and compiles them into a narrative. For this poem, I wanted to focus on Clark’s reflections on education, the future, and her life. I started writing this poem by pulling passages that seemed powerful or interesting to me. Then, I re-read the passages and highlighted the words in the text and annotated any images that came to mind (see excerpts below). This brought words and phrases like “I had to change” and “see children as people” to the surface. In constructing the poem, I noticed that the line “I traveled by bus all over the South” is in iambic pentameter. I liked the rhythm of the sentence and how it so easily flowed in Clark’s speech. Next, I re-read the poem “For Mary McLeod Bethune” by Margaret Abigail Walker, which is a sonnet written in iambic pentameter. I started playing around the language in the book to craft a poem in iambic pentameter, but the words were not coming together in a way that made sense to me. Instead, I tried keeping some of the rhythm of the iambic pentameter and blending it with free form poetry. This led to the final rendering of the poem. 175 Layer 3: “Septima Clark: Coming of Age, 100 Years Later” Feb 3, 2016 I just got this journal today for my birthday. My dad gave it to me, he says it’ll be good to write down my journey and wherever life takes me. I’m not totally sure, it seems a little cheesy, but I’ll see how it goes. So I’ll just start with today. It’s my 18th birthday and I’m just celebrating with some family and friends. I spend a lot of time around my family. My mom is really strict, especially on us girls. It’s frustrating, sometimes it feels like we are completely different. I live in Charleston, SC. I’ve moved around a little but I still call Charleston home. I guess I can also write about the elections since the Iowa primary was just a couple of days ago. I’m planning to follow the primaries since I’ve been learning about the electoral process and political platforms in my Government class. My teacher, Ms. Robinson, is really passionate about teaching us about politics. Some of my peers aren’t as interested, but I think it’s pretty cool that we might have our first woman president– so I’ll be following the primaries. Ms. Robinson taught us about Thurgood Marshall, Shirley Chisolm, and Anita Hill. She is trying to get us involved in local and state government too. So we have to volunteer a few hours this semester to get people to register to vote. I like her class but I’m more excited to graduate. School is fine but I’m kinda feeling over it and ready for the next thing. I just got into Hunter College in NY. I’ll be moving to NY over the summer. I’ve never lived in a big city so I’m sure I’ll learn a lot in NY. I’m gonna major in education or social work. Something that helps people in my community. My dad said he thinks I’d be a great teacher. I like that idea too. Hopefully I can volunteer at some schools in NY and learn from the teachers there. Then I’ll try to get a teaching job back here closer to home. That's my 5 year plan right now. I can see it so clearly. I’ve been having dreams about my future. 176 June 27, 2018 Oh man, I can’t believe I just found this journal. I must have lost it when I moved to NY. It’s been a busy couple of years. I feel like I’ve learned and changed so much. Reading the words of my younger self feels kind of embarrassing but also kinda sweet. But anyway I gotta catch up on the last two years. I did go to Hunter and then I found out about the Macaulay Honors College from my roommate. It’s this program where students can go whatever they want kinda– it’s interdisciplinary and I get to make my own path towards my major…which is pretty cool since I was torn between education and human rights…and women’s studies. Everything just sounded so interesting and the honors college lets me really dive into my interests and even pursue research. So anyway now it’s the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college and I’m really getting the hang of living in NY. My parents were nervous at first…and it was a tough adjustment but my roommates have been a great community for me and we explore the city together. But yeah school has been really cool too because one of my seminars led me to this opportunity to meet Letitia James and now I’m working with her office over this summer. She went from city council to public advocate, to now potentially an attorney general. It’s been so amazing to see her work and passion for New York. I’m learning so much about the inner workings of local government. I think Ms. Robinson would be proud haha. Oh and congress is proposing a bill that would codify abortion rights and access next month so me and a few of my roommates are taking the train down to DC to show our support. It’s likely going to pass and move on to President Clinton for her to sign it into law. The White House is hosting an event to celebrate and President Clinton is speaking. We’re hoping we see 177 her– it’s going to be so fun. I’ve never been to DC before but I’m sure it’ll be great to see all of the monuments and history! November 12, 2020 The 2020 election just happened and it’s been a doozy…but let me back up and write the whole story. On February 23, just a few weeks after my 22nd birthday, Ahmaud Arbey was murdered in Georgia. It was devastating. There was so much outrage over his death, they called it a racially-motivated hate crime. Then, not even a month later Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her own home. Ahmaud was 25, Breonna was 26. I couldn’t even imagine the horror Ahmaud felt in his last moments or the heartbreak Breonna and Ahmaud’s families are feeling. It was so scary, and it made me want to do something. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. in March and closed down everything in NY. It was my last semester of college and it was so hard to finish. So many people got sick– my classmates, roommates, teachers. We didn’t even get to have a ceremony. Then, shortly after I “graduated,” George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. I couldn’t believe it– blow after blow– it just felt so raw and painful. That’s when I really broke down and I got really depressed. By June almost everyone I knew had left the city. It was so strange to still be there while coping with my depression and feelings of indignation and my anti-climatic graduation. I didn’t know what to do so I moved back home to Charleston in July. My mom wasn’t too happy about it. She immediately pushed me to find a job. She just doesn’t understand why I fight so hard. But I can feel it– freedom, equality, we are so close and it feels so tangible to me. It’s just so hard to be reminded that Black people are still not safe here. Maybe I’m living in a bubble, but I have to believe there is more that can be done. I need to believe that. 178 So anyway, I signed up for poll worker training in August and I became a poll worker for the 2020 election. My mom didn’t like that too much but I told her at least I’ll be getting some money. Right about now she’s saying “I told you so.” The election was on November 3rd but it took a few days to count all of the votes. There were so many mail-in ballots because of the pandemic. I had to work long days to make sure ballots were counted correctly and the machines were working. Ugh I’m so exhausted and I’m so glad the election is over and I can take a breath. I don’t know what’s next but I need to move out of my parents’ home. I’m ending this entry with a list of Black people who were killed this year– whether by police or because of hate– their lives were ended unjustly. Now I’m left wondering: how do I honor them? George Floyd Oluwatoyin Salau Breonna Taylor Ahmaud Arbery Riah Milton Dominique Fells Tony McDade Tyree Davis Tina Marie Davis Feb 3, 2021 It's my 23rd birthday. 2020 was a really tough year. Even though I graduated from Hunter, the pandemic hit and I had to move home. It was a really hard transition to move back to my parents’ house. My siblings and my mom just don’t have the same fight as me. They tell me I’m risking my life when I go out and protest. I understand it is a risk to challenge the system, 179 but I feel that resistance is the only way. I still love Charleston– it’s my home, but I need something more to keep growing. So when the new year came, I knew something had to change. I decided to take some time to really think about what I want to do next and who I want to be. I tried to focus on the person I was before the pandemic and summer 2020 BLM risings…the person who was full of hope. I had such a clear vision of my future and last year changed my perspective so much. Do I still believe those things? What good can come out of this chaos? I fear I have lost some of that resilience, and maybe even my dreams. So, I went back to reading. I re-read Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Angela Davis’ Are Prisons Obsolete? I read these texts in college, but revisiting them now, gave me a different perspective. Baldwin wrote: “To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.” p. 9 Davis wrote: “The belief in the permanence of slavery was so widespread that even white abolitionists found it difficult to imagine black people as equals.” p. 23 When I first read these quotes, they seemed a bit bleak. But now I think about it with hope. I realize that progress can happen…however slow or dangerous…it is worth the risk. After reading these books again, I want to write down my thoughts and make my values clear. I don’t want to forget. When things get difficult, I want to remember that chaos can bring creative thinking. 1. I am committed to subversive political activism. 2. I believe that justice and liberation are possible. 3. I believe in the power of education to change lives. 4. I am dedicated to serving, empowering, and listening to my community. 5. I believe I will see the fruition of my dreams. 180 Feb 3, 2023 Today I am 25 years old and I am celebrating with my L1 colleagues at law school. Shortly after my last entry, I learned that Stacy Abrams was running for governor of Georgia. I contacted her office and I was able to work for her part time starting in June 2021. Moving to Atlanta was great. When I arrived I was able to get a place with a couple of college students at GSU that I met through Abrams’ office. It was definitely a risky decision but I had faith and I was so excited and hopeful– my parents couldn’t tell me nothing. Atlanta is amazing, there is so much going on here and I was quickly able to get involved with justice initiatives. While I was working for Abrams, we’d do phone banks and go out into the community to register people to vote. I felt a similar excitement when I was in college working for Letitia James. I started an internship at the Carter Center in the fall and I worked under the director of education at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. It kinda felt like I was piecing together jobs– juggling three jobs was a lot. Plus I was volunteering a lot and I was kinda just hoping to get full time work. I knew I couldn’t juggle everything forever but I didn’t quite know what to do next. But my mentor at the Carter Center encouraged me to apply to Emory’s Law School. So I applied and a few months later I was admitted! So fast forward to now. Law School is really busy but it was the right choice for me. I’m still able to volunteer and work at clinics when I can. The community I’ve built through these experiences are truly amazing but the best part is that my dreams are back. I made a promise to live out my values, and I’m still able to do that. Even though my days are long and sometimes hard, it’s my community here that really supports me, and my dreams. We work together toward simple justice. 181 Layer 3: “Septima Clark: Coming of Age, 100 Years Later” Methods At the end of her life, Clark reflected, “I do not expect to see justice until about a hundred years from now” and “If I were young again, starting all over, I'd do the same things over and over again” (Stokes Brown 1990, p. 124). Her reflections made me think of three texts: (1) Octavia Butler's (1993) Parable of the Sower, (2) The Portable Promised Land by Touré, and (3) S. R. Toliver's (2022) Recovering Black Storytelling in Qualitative Research. These texts explore Afrofuturism, revisionist history, and dystopia/utopia. Butler (1993) wrote a science fiction novel about an apocalyptic U.S. society in the 2020s. The book follows a girl’s journal entries as she and her family try to survive the downfall of the societal and environmental landscape in California. In this apocalyptic novel, she must find a way to protect her family and a few friends as they travel north to create a new, safe community: Earthseed. Touré’s (2002) book is a compilation of chapters that delve into varying aspects of Blackness, Black culture, Black language, and Black history. The content and format of each chapter is different, which creates an anthology that blends Black realities (nonfiction) and dreams (fiction). The chapter entitled “My History” uses a bullet point list to recount and rewrite harm into hope. Some examples include: The bullets aimed at Biggie and Tupac miss. O.J. never happens. The whole damn thing. Anita Hill's words matter and Clarence Thomas is embarrassed back into anonymity. Reading Touré’s revisionist histories inspired my conceptualization of the timeline, which I expound on below. Finally, Toliver's (2022) qualitative methodology book explores endarkened storywork, which utilizes youth voice, Afrofuturism, and Endarkened Feminist Epistemology as tools to expand traditional notions of qualitative methods. 182 These texts inspired me to wonder what Clark would do and be if she were coming of age 100 years later. I then outlined the plot of these fictionalized journal entries based on those texts and Clark’s life. In the journal entries, Clark is born on February 3, 1998– 100 years after her actual birthdate. With this new framing, her 18th birthday would be February 2016. I decided to keep her context the same– she was born and grew up in Charleston, she had a tenuous relationship with her mom and her brother, and she still loved Charleston and considered it home. I wanted to keep the 2016 presidential election, but, drawing from Touré’s “My History” chapter, I have Hillary Clinton win the election instead of Trump. I had to think about what may be different in our society if she won, in the most idyllic sense. I thought maybe this would lead to codifying abortion rights and access, rather than repealing it. Based on the archives, Clark’s involvement in politics stemmed from her local environment, opportunities, and teaching career. As an early career teacher on St. John’s Island, she joined the local NAACP and openly advocated for increased Black teacher pay. This quickly put a target on her; she was known as an outspoken leader, which eventually led to her firing by the South Carolina Board of Education. For this reason, in the journal entries, I had young Clark involved with local government and the electoral process at a young age. In reality, young Clark’s Government teacher, Bernice Robinson, was Clark’s close colleague and friend who taught political education with her at Citizenship Schools across the South. Since Clark really trusted Bernice, I wanted to highlight that relationship in this layer, although their relationship shifted to a teacher/student dynamic. This ties the ongoing themes of Black education and Black teachers into the modern narrative. Because of Clark’s commitment to advocacy, voting, and anti-oppressive politics, the experiences of young Clark in the journal entries mirror these themes. While at Hunter College, 183 she explores politics, women’s studies, and human rights. The Macaulay Honors College, an interdisciplinary program within the CUNY system, encourages Clark to make connections between the classroom and the real world with their seminar series and allows her to embrace the intersectionality of her interests by creating her own major. Over the summer, she has the opportunity to work with Letitia James, who is currently a New York state attorney. This is her first “on the ground” experience with local government, akin to the real Clark joining the NAACP and working with Thurgood Marshall early in her teaching career. This summer opportunity also provides her with a new set of friends and colleagues with similar interests, with whom she visits D.C. to see President Clinton speak. Seeing the leadership for the first woman president and codifying abortion rights and access are important rewrites of history that are intended to serve as inspirational moments that instill hope in Clark’s life. This comes back around when Clark is faced with the 2020 election, BLM uprisings, and the pandemic. She thinks back to this summer to rekindle her hope in the future. While writing the 2020 and 2021 entries, I drew from my own journaling during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless more. I recalled feeling an immense sense of hopelessness for my own future and value in this country. I lamented for my former students who were coming of age when Trump was elected in 2016; now in their early twenties, they are faced with repeated violence on local and national levels. I remembered the saying, “what hurts my brother hurts me,” and it filled me with despair and empathy. I didn't know how I would cope with reality. So, I turned to books. I turned to The Parable of the Sower, The Fire Next Time, Are Prisons Obsolete?, Giovanni’s Room, and Sister Outsider. Octavia Butler, James Baldwin, Angela Davis, and Audre Lorde gave me perspective. Their words gave me sustenance to keep going and to imagine a better future. I wanted to echo 184 this sentiment in Clark’s journal entries because I feel that this feeling of despair is common. In Clark’s words, she encouraged us to continue to fight and take risks. But I wondered: where do we get the strength to do that? I think we can get it from our communities, our ancestors, our joy, our vulnerabilities. So, in the journal entries Clark relies on her ancestors, in books, and her community in Atlanta to forge a path forward for herself. I intentionally did not name the presidential candidates for the 2020 election. In thinking about the ripple effects of my constructed timeline, I did not want to stray away from Clark’s story in the entries. If Hillary Clinton won in 2016, she would likely be running for reelection and a potential presidential opponent might be Trump or Mitt Romney. In any case, all of these politicians are varying levels of problematic, and I didn’t want their presence to affect the tone of the journals. I felt that delving into the presidential stage would not be relevant to Clark’s story as she is becoming more engaged on the local level. This serves as an implicit reminder that politics and voting goes beyond a four-year presidential term, but aligns with Clark’s real life involvement with local politics as a site for change. While education and teaching was important to Clark, I ultimately decided to have her go to law school. When I thought about teaching and teacher preparation programs today, I didn’t feel like they aligned with Clark’s urgency for change and political advocacy. While teachers do this work–as shown by her Government teacher, Bernice Robinson–the onslaught of attacks on teachers and the myth of neutrality in schools, I imagined, would likely steer Clark away from traditional teacher preparation routes. Clark was very motivated by indignation and dreams of freedom, which is tough when there is not always a clear path to a career in activism. As a result, I imagined Clark being inspired by the gubernatorial campaign of Stacy Abrams. Clark moves to Atlanta to work and volunteer at various justice and human rights organizations. I chose Atlanta 185 because of its symbolism within the Civil Rights Movement and its continued national spotlight on voter rights, and political activism led by Kecia Lance-Bottoms (2018 - 2022 mayor) and Stacy Abrams. This path would lead her to a new community of colleagues, friends, and mentors in Georgia and eventually to law school. 186 BIBLIOGRAPHY Butler, O. E. (1993). The Parable of the Sower. Beacon Press. Clark, S. P. & Stokes Brown, C. (1990). Ready from within: Septima Clark and the civil rights movement, a first person narrative. Africa World Press. Mellen Charron, K. (2009). Freedom’s teacher: The life of Septima Clark. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. Smith, S. J. (2019). Septima yelled: A revisionist history of Citizenship Schools. American Educational History Journal, 46(2), 95–110. Toliver, S. R. (2022). Recovering Black Storytelling in Qualitative Research. Routledge. Touré. (2009). The portable promised land stories. Little Brown & Company. Walker, M. A. (1973). FOR MARY McLEOD BETHUNE. Detroit: Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/mary-mcleod-bethun /docview/2148010698/se-2 187 APPENDIX A: IMAGES OF SEPTIMA CLARK Figure 6.4: Poster for Septima P. Clark’s school board campaign, 1976. Figure 6.5: Photograph of workshop participants at Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tennessee, 1957 August 31. 188 Figure 6.6: A group of Civil Rights activists, including Septima Clark (left), posing in front of the Highlander Library. Figure 6.7: Septima Clark and Rosa Parks at Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tennessee, 1955. 189 APPENDIX B: DOCUMENTS USED TO CRAFT LAYER 1 Figure 6.8: Program for the Citizenship Education Program of Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the American Missionary Association, 1969. 190 APPENDIX C: READY FROM WITHIN EXCERPTS USED TO CRAFT LAYER 2 I had to change too [I, too, had to change] because I used to feel that whatever was white was right and it took many years of working before I could feel that they were not exactly right, as I thought they were. as the change came to me, I was able to get that change over to others. … I found out that I needed to change my way of thinking, and then changing my way of thinking I had to let people understand that their way of thinking was not the only way. We had to work together to get the changes. (p. 54) We set up workshops to train teachers to go out and set up Citizenship Schools. By the spring of 1961, eighty-two trained teachers were holding classes in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. I traveled by bus all over the South, visiting those teachers and recruiting new ones. I always took the fifth seat from the front to test the buses. they asked me to move, but I didn't. I reminded them that we had a law now that said we could sit anywhere in the bus. In addition to training the teachers, I was fund-raising for Highlander. I traveled by flying all over the north, the midwest, and the far west, staying in the homes of friends of Highlander.(p. 60) After the raid on Highlander and July 1959, Dr King and Myles Horton got together to see if they could use the program that we had already planned and they decided they could. Andy Young came to SCLC at the time, sent by the United Church of Christ in New York. It was agreed to open up a place and train people to go into the South to work…and Dr King said that he would like for me to come along…So I went to Atlanta. I stayed in Atlanta on the weekends; on Monday morning I would get into a car and be driven somewhere in the South. I would stay a Figure 6.9. Excerpt from Ready from Within (1990). 191 Figure 6.9 (cont’d) week or two trying to get people to want to have citizenship schools or helping with protests and marches. (p. 61 - 62) Education is my big priority right now. [Education is my birthright.] I want people to see children as [are] human beings and not to think of the money that it costs nor to think of the amount of time that it will take, but to think of the lives [that we can create in the U.S.] that can be developed into Americans who will redeem the soul of America and will really make America a great country. This is my feeling now. (p. 121) We do have problems. but I have lived so long that I have seen great progress. …I've been talking about simple justice for quite some time. Of course I've lived through so much that I do not expect to see justice until about a hundred years from now because attitudes are so slow to change. (p. 124) If I were young again, starting all over, I'd do the same things over and over again. I feel that. I don't think my ideas would change. My philosophy is such that I'm not going to vote against the oppressed. I have been oppressed, regardless of whether that oppressed is black or white or yellow or the people of the Middle East, or what. I have that feeling. But I really do feel that this is the best part of life. it's not that you have just grown old, but it is how you have grown old. I feel that I have grown old with dreams that I want to come true, and that I have grown old believing there is always a beautiful lining to that cloud that overshadows things. I have great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift, and this has come during my old age. (p. 124 125) 192 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION The wind rustles the leaves on the ground and they crunch under Milkman’s boots. He finds himself walking toward his aunt’s house in the woods. The sun shimmering between the branches, the quiet ambience of the birds and trees entice him further along a mysterious path. His questions brought him here–where is his family from? Who were they and what can he learn about them? Could they really fly? Can he…fly? Pilate can connect him to his ancestors and his lineage, his past and future. Suddenly, her house appears, thick cedar logs tightly layered by the generations before him. Milkman notices the exposed wood where the bark has been scratched away by storms or animals. His gait slows as he approaches the steps to the porch. Even as his body is drawn in, at this moment, hesitancy overwhelms him. Milkman’s mind forces his body into rigidity. He questions himself. Can this be real? The trees quiet into an eerie silence. His body gently pushes him up the stairs. Pilate opens the door. Discussion (Connecting Lineages) Now, you step into the cabin. On the other side of the threshold, you see Lucy Craft Laney, Janie Porter Barrett, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Septima Clark seated around a wooden table. A stained glass lamp hangs over them as they sip tea and laugh. As you approach, they turn to welcome you to join them at the table. Here, at the table, we will discuss how I created the layers, connected the women’s lineages, and (re)imagined Black women educators’ futures in Pilate’s wine house. I will address how the findings, presented here as the layers, answer my first research question and illustrate oppositional knowledges, oppositional looks, and transforming silence into speaking and action (Collins, 2002; hooks, 1992; Lorde, 2007). The content and process of creating the layers required me to utilize my own oppositional knowledges, looks, speaking, and action. Additionally, in order to carefully craft authentic layers that could represent the women in content and form, I used the layers to emphasize key themes and aspects in each woman’s life. For example, I highlight Laney’s resistance to stereotypical gender norms, Barrett’s enactment of collectivism to build and support her school, Bethune’s faith in God, and Clark’s political activism. 193 As I crafted the layers, I also asked myself: How do I bring the archive to the reader? and How can I bring Black women educators’ legacies to the present moment? This, in part, is the significance of Pilate’s wine house. Pilate's wine house metaphorically provides a space where I can: (1) merge art and science (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Hoffmann Davis, 1997), (2) explore the deep, ancient places of my ancestors (Lorde, 2007), my own family, and the archives of the women whom I also consider my ancestors, and (3) employ radical ideas, like magical realism, afrofuturism and revisionist history. Pilate's wine house is a place where resistance and art thrive. Through Morrison's use of magical realism in creating Pilate, she is not rejecting Eurocentric ideologies about family, time, and reality, but Morrison is evoking a type of marronage in which Black women can live, love, and thrive. Lucy Craft Laney begins our journey, starting her school in 1883. Her layers illustrate her oppositional knowledge, oppositional looks, and how she used speaking and action to advocate for Black education and the youth at her school. The first layer, “The Impossibility of being First, Black, & Woman” and the third layer titled, “What was a colored woman supposed to be?” are examples of Laney’s oppositional knowledges in how she embodied gender expansive characteristics that challenged gender stereotypes and drew much criticism of her leadership and appearance. Nevertheless, Laney’s oppositional knowledges led her to challenge misogynoir (Bailey, 2010) and realize her vision of liberation for Black women and Black people. Further, as exemplified in layer 3, she transformed silence into language and action by encouraging Black women to also pursue leadership roles in their families, communities, and careers. Laney utilized oppositional looks “to change reality” (p. 116) as shown in layer 2, “A Tribute.” In this layer, Laney’s gaze in the portrait looks beyond the criticism and praise, and consistently stays on her vision of the school, liberation, and the future. This is representative of 194 how she committed to seeing her school flourish through natural disasters, lack of funding, racism, and sexism. This dovetails with layer 4, “The Haines Journal,” which gives examples of how Laney’s vision–preparing Black people for the future and new opportunities through schooling–came into fruition through speaking and action, recruiting and hiring two Canadian women to start a kindergarten and nursing program. Finally, Laney used her social position and education to open Haines Normal and Industrial Institute, in Augusta, Georgia in 1886 (McCluskey, 2017). Through her school, Laney mentored and inspired a generation of Black women educators, such as Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Janie Porter Barrett-- who used their resources to make significant strides in making education more accessible for Black girls. Specifically, Janie Porter Barrett and Mary McLeod Bethune are both mentee’s of Laney. They both taught at the Haines Institute and have expressed their appreciation for Laney– her leadership, encouragement, and boldness– that inspired them to go on to create their own schools in Ashland, Virginia and Daytona, Florida respectively. Next, our journey takes us to a mentee of Laney, Janie Porter Barrett. Working at the Haines Institute gave Janie Porter Barrett a framework for activism in the Black community. Laney’s story of starting the school with very little financial support, but a clear vision of Black education, echoes the opening of Barrett’s school. Barrett dedicated her life to protecting Black girls in Virginia and provided a safe learning environment for them to learn and grow. When visiting Hampton, Virginia, Barrett saw a need to protect and teach Black girls. With her previous experience at the Haines Institute and ability to leverage relationships with women’s clubs across the state, Barrett’s school opened in 1915. 195 Barrett’s layer 1, “Heart to Heart Talks: Teaching Advocacy through Open Forums,” and layer 2, “Being an Honors Girl: Diary entry from a girl’s perspective,” illustrate her oppositional knowledges in her pedagogy and leadership at her school. She intentionally created space to listen to Black girls and provided classes in both agriculture and liberal arts. The structure of the school and her relationships with the girls allowed the girls to trust her. Barrett encouraged the girls in landscaping competitions, sewing and cooking classes, and perhaps most innovatively, she provided health care. While sewing and cooking may be stereotypical gender expectations, these aspects of the school, combined with liberatory notions of collectivism and building relationships, contribute to the evidence of Barrett’s oppositional knowledges. Layer 3, the map of donations between 1926 - 1927, is a visual representation of collective action. Through the archives, Barrett documents her partners and donors who helped support and provide for the girls. Her collaboration with Maggie L. Walker and women's clubs helped Barrett reach people across the country. The results of her actions are shown through the items that were gifted to the girls and the events, such as the Christmas Party and marching competition. Finally, layer 4, “A Time There Will Be No Need” shows Barrett’s oppositional gaze, from her vision of the school when she saw the bleak living conditions of Black girls, to dedicating the land and building to benefit the future of Black girls in Virginia. Layer 4 emphasizes how she dared to see an equitable and free future for Black girls. The next step on our journey is to join Mary McLeod Bethune. At the Haines Institute, encouraged by Laney, Bethune had the opportunity to start a Sunday School for the students. Laney’s belief in Bethune to start something new gave her the courage, vision, and excitement to start her school in Daytona. Mary McLeod Bethune went on to national acclaim as an advisor 196 throughout multiple presidential administrations, but not before she became the first and only Black woman to transform a K-12 school into a college. Bethune’s layers, like those women before her, also illustrate her enactment of Black Feminist Epistemologies. The first layer, a timeline of the school, and the second layer, “Five Little Girls and Albert Jr.,” document one aspect of Bethune’s life and the actions she took to transform her oppositional looks into reality. These layers focus on how Bethune started and continued to lead the school through transitions over the next several decades: from her vision for the school, why she chose Daytona and the partners who supported her, to the first day of school in 1904, and her last day in 1943. Each of the examples show a time when Bethune’s vision, speaking, and action changed reality. Layer 3, “The Good Teacher,” is an example of Bethune transforming silence into speaking and action. This layer collages together excerpts from a 1934 speech by Bethune about teaching and education in the U.S. Her words challenge fellow educators and philanthropists to continue to support education and a democratic experiment that resists banking method pedagogies (Freire, 2005). Layer 4, “Table of Contentment” portrait and poem, is an example of Bethune’s oppositional knowledges that were undergirded by her undying faith. With every fiber in her being, Bethune believed God would guide her to victory over all of her obstacles. With this same passion, she believed in the equality that racism and sexism denied her. The poem also doubles as a prayer, further illuminating Bethune’s faith. Finally, Septima Clark fore fronted political activism and utilized literacy as a tool to empower Black adults to vote and confront internalized racism in the Black community. Septima Clark’s narrative clearly encapsulates this legacy of education and activism. Mellen Charron (2009) argued “[t]he black men who acted as administrative school liaisons had a political 197 mission distinct from that of black women teachers at the grassroots, who served as liaison between the schoolhouse and the neighborhood” (p .4). This is significant to Clark’s legacy within the context of the lineage presented in this project because Clark enters at the precipice of the (white) women’s liberation and civil rights movements. However, tracing her work through Mary McLeod Bethune, Janie Porter Barrett, and Lucy Craft Laney illustrates the grassroots organizing Black women not only participated in, but led, over the previous sixty years. It was Anna Julia Cooper’s (1892) A Voice From the South in which she argued Black women’s freedom was integral to everyone’s freedom and expressed her faith in Black women’s ability to lead this liberation movement. Further, in 1910, educator, activist, and wife of Booker T. Washington, Margaret Murray Washington argued that Black teachers are skilled organizers because of their disposition towards activism and ability to unite communities (White, 1999). With this backdrop, Clark, born in 1898, grew up and embraced her position as a teacher activist. Clark’s layers are designed to exemplify her embodiments of oppositional knowledges, oppositional looks, and transforming silence into speaking and action. Layer 3, “This is My Feeling,” is a poem from Clark’s perspective that illuminates her oppositional knowledges through using her own words and reflections on her life and beliefs. The poems’ word articulates how Clark had to change from utilizing Eurocentric ideologies to centering the needs, ideas, and experiences of the Black folks she met. This transition shows oppositional knowledges because she was open to resistance and taking a different ideological approach based on what her community expressed. Clark’s oppositional knowledges can also be seen when she described herself as a fighter, which is contrary to her family’s beliefs. This dynamic is depicted in Layer 4, the untitled story, in which Clark returns to live at home and struggles against her mother’s differing ideologies around political activism. 198 Layer 1, Citizenship Class pamphlet, and layer 2, Septima Clark’s Notes, show Clark’s oppositional gaze and her ability to utilize speaking and action. Creating the Citizenship Classes required Clark to collaborate with Myles Horton and Bernice Robinson. Through these discussions, her vision of the school differed from Horton but, in the end, her vision prevailed as the final plan. Clark was able to connect with local experts and lead the Citizenship Schools for one or two weeks. During this time, she trained teachers and built relationships with the community. She went into towns and spoke to the people and then created a plan to respond to their needs– whether it was literacy, banking, or legal help. Clark was there to help community members figure out the most appropriate actions. Overall, the four Black women educators in this project are part of a constellation of Black pedagogues in the U.S. These women’s narratives each symbolize a generation of teaching. Black women educators’ success has traditionally been a collaborative effort that results in a collective success for their communities. Each woman’s legacy illustrates aspects of Black Feminist Epistemologies by utilizing transforming silence into language and action (Lorde, 2007), oppositional looks (hooks, 1992), and oppositional knowledges (Colins, 2002). All four of the women’s narratives and layers also illuminate ways researchers can utilize an intersectional lens (Crenshaw, 1989) in their approach to historical archival work. 199 Implications (Reimagining Futures) Reimagining futures within the context of these four Black women pedagogues can be difficult based on what can be found in the archives. I utilize their direct words, accomplishments, annual reports, and speeches to illustrate their visions of the future of Black education, specifically for Black girls. In envisioning futures of education for Black girls and women, I draw from Janie Porter Barrett’s deed to the school campus property, Mary McLeod Bethune’s last will and testament, and Clark’s reflections on her life and legacy. I construct these futures by using their specific language and how they lived their lives in order to glean what their future visions might be. For example, the archives may not provide many direct reports of Lucy Craft Laney personal thoughts; however, using an analytic lens to examine what is contained in the archives, we know she has a fighting and indefatigable spirit. Similarly, Clark, whose spirit gave her courage and challenged others to be bold enough to take risks for liberation, fought for voter registration, political autonomy, education, and financial literacy. A deeply important implication of this work is the significance of dreams. Clark and Bethune both talked about the dreams they had. Clark and Stokes Brown (1990) wrote: “I feel that I have grown old with dreams that I want to come true, and that I have grown old believing there is always a beautiful lining to that cloud that overshadows things” (p. 124 - 125). Bethune wrote about three dreams, in particular. She believed her dreams were a vivid foreshadowing and calling on her life. Altogether, the dreams encouraged Bethune to work in service to young people and to remain committed to her school. The ways these women held onto their dreams throughout their lifetimes renews our hope in dreaming. Their dreams gave them radical hope and faith in society that can often be crushed by our reality. Today, we can look around and easily find many reasons to give up hope. However, this is not terribly different from Clark, 200 facing the loss of her job, she continued to have faith in her organizing and activism to push for a material change. Beyond theoretical and pedagogical implications, this dissertation also has methodological implications. This work illuminates possibilities for qualitative research that blend fiction and nonfiction. Evans-Winters (2019) argued that there ...remains a need for academic texts that center, amplify, and politicize the everyday lived experiences and multiply ideas of Black women (and girls) in the U.S. and across the African Diaspora [...] it is through stories, personal reflections and a shared consciousness with marginalized communities that researchers who embrace a qualitative tradition are able to appreciate individuals and a group’s full humanity. p. 9 This dissertation builds on Evans-Winters’ interrogation of Western notions of research and forges a path for researchers to delve into Black women’s “shared consciousness” as valid stories to share and publish. I hope this makes space for more creative research projects that disrupt Eurocentric notions of time and space (Evans-Winters, 2019), rely on the foundation of our ancestors and their wisdom (Lorde, 2007), and take up creativity as an outlet to analyze and discuss data. 201 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bethune, E. (2018). 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