National narratives on the movement to desegregate Southern schools, as construed by dominant cultural forces, focus on school desegregation from the vantage point of dominant culture; portraying school desegregation as a singular and inevitable event emanating from jurisprudence and principles of democracy, with little attention to the complexities of those most impacted. This article argues the importance of including counterstory to such narratives, specifically highlighting the narratives of African American teachers. Using qualitative methods, the study this article demonstrates how African American teachers’ personal narratives of school desegregation provide a window into the complexities of school desegregation illuminating the ways in which race, social class standing, gender, and personal relationships compounded individual support, views, resistance, and participation in the movement to desegregate Southern schools.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following individuals for their invaluable feedback and suggestions on earlier drafts of this manuscript: Adrienne Dixson, Mary Jane Curry, Jeffrey Choppin, and Nancy Ares. Special thanks to William Pink and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and insightful suggestions. This article is dedicated to study participant Momma Nanny, 1904–2005.
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Jeannine E. Dingus in an Assistant Professor of Margaret Warner School of Education and Human Development in University of Rochester.
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Dingus, J.E. “Doing the Best We Could”: African American Teachers’ Counterstory on School Desegregation. Urban Rev 38, 211–233 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-006-0034-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-006-0034-6