African American Education during and after Segregation

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Introduction African American Education During and After Segregation Education has always been valued in the African American community. During slavery freed slaves and those held captive, organized to educate themselves. After emancipation the value of education became even more important to ex-slaves, as it was their emblem of freedom and a means to full participation in American Society (Newby & Tyack, 1971). During this time many schools for African Americans were both founded and maintained by African Americans. African Americans continued to provide education throughout their own communities well into the 1930’s (Green, McIntosh, Cook-Morales, & Robinson-Zanartu, 2005). The atmosphere of these schools resembled a family. The teachers along with principals extended the role of parenting and shaped student learning and discipline (Siddle-Walker, cited in Morris, 1999). African American Schools were embedded within the community and were viewed as good. Brown’s Effect on African American Education In 1954 through Brown V. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decided that forced segregation denied African Americans equal protection under the law as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment. Brown mandated equal access and opportunity. This decision created a wave of effects throughout the African American community. Unequal outcomes were fueled by low expectation and cultural incompatibilities along with the drainage of resources such as the removal of the best teachers through reassignment to desegregated schools or through firing (Green et al., 2005). Black students were also bused to predominately White schools disproportionately, causing many African American schools to close (Morris, 1999). Morris further state... ... middle of paper ... ... problem of disproportionate minority representation in special education. The Journal of Special Education, 32(48), 48-51. Serwatka, T.S., Deering, S. & Grant P. (1995). Disproportionate representation of African Americans in emotionally handicapped classes. Journal of Black Studies, 25, 492-506. Skiba, R., Simmons, A., Ritter, S., Gibb, A. Rausch, M.K., Cuadrado, J., & Chung, C.G. (2008). Achieving equity in schools: History, status and current challenges. Exceptional Children, 74(3), 264-288. Skiba, R., Simmons, A., Ritter, S., Kohler, K., Henderson, M., Wu, T. (2006). The context of minority disproportionality: Practitioner perspectives on special education referral. Teacher College Record, 108(7), 1424-1459. Williams, E. (2007). Unnecessary and unjustified: African American parental perceptions of special education. The Education Forum, 74, 251-259.

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