Education Commons^™

The Diversion Of Diversity: Uncovering The Antiblackness Of Diversity Initiatives, M. Jordan Alexander

Honors Theses

In more recent years, Diversity has been a driving force in universities across the country. As underrepresented groups in the United States have gained more traction in the political and legal realms, they have gained the agency and the ability to advocate for their inclusion in institutions and structures that previously denied their access. This gaining of agency within these public realms is what has fueled higher education institutions across the country to really push for diversity, in both their faculty and student populations. The ideology behind this push is multiculturalism or multiracialism; this idea by its premise, the inclusion …

Navigating Education Terrain: Tracing The Black Agenda, Alvaro Peters

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the legislative, social and economic development of public education in the United States. Since its inception in the 17th century, American schools have been subject to criticism, yet many of the same issues (rote, homogenous teaching, lack of achievement, educators devoid of passion and purpose) still occupy convoluted dialogue between education reformists and parents alike. However, within this narrative lies the more complex narrative of education for Black Americans. For much of this country’s history, Black Americans have existed in an often intensely segregated environment. Molded by ruthless disenfranchisement, a certain “Black educational agenda” managed to ripen …

Education And Liberation: A Look At The Early Development And Directions Of The Virginia Public School System (1879-1899), John B. Terzian

Honors Theses

From its founding in 1870 and early development, Virginia’s public school system and its leadership provide a roadmap for many of the factors that have shaped America’s social landscape and racial politics. The onset of a rapidly industrializing Southern economy was instrumental in forming the direction for black education following Reconstruction and embodies the ideological debate regarding the purpose of education as it relates to racial uplift. The emergence of leaders like Booker T. Washington had an enormous impact on reshaping attitudes toward blacks and their potential as citizens. Ultimately, the ideological hegemony which victimized blacks served as a mechanism …

The Struggle For Black Studies At Howard University, Johnnie L. Ware

Honors Theses

Booker T. Washington provided for the masses and their economic plight in his thinking, but neglected the cultural-political theory, and the creation of a black intelligentsia. W.E.B. DuBois, on the other hand, directed attention to the intelligentsia, and cultural-political theoretics, but, in his early and most famous approach, failed to provide sufficiently for the masses. Possibly as a consequence of historical circumstances - the location of most blacks of that day in the South and the irreconcilable mores of segregation - neither developed theoretics for invating white colleges.

this was left to the more recent years, when the early advocates …