There is conflict in memory over the quality and character of legally segregated schools for blacks. On one hand, there is a profoundly negative national memory of these schools as "inherently inferior" compared to their white counterparts. On the other hand, there are overwhelmingly positive counter-memories of these schools as "good" among many former students, teachers, and community members. This dissertation explores one aspect of this conflict in memory by examining the collective remembering and perspectives of former teachers. The research is driven by two enduring questions: (1) How can we explain the existence of a national memory of legally segregated schools for blacks as "inferior" and the collective remembering among former teachers of these same schools as "good?" (2) Given the well-documented inequalities linked to the geopolitics of race and racism in the Jim Crow South, from the perspective of former teachers, what was the quality and character of teaching in the all-black school before federally-mandated desegregation in the South? The data consists of 44 oral history interviews with former teachers in three counties in the North Carolina coastal plains, local and state archival materials, and secondary historical sources. The dissertation is divided into three parts. In the first part, I advance a theory of collective remembering based upon hidden transcripts. I found that participants in my study remember from hidden transcripts—latent reports of the social world created and lived in all-black schools and communities. In the second part, I show how the voices of collective remembering among participants reveal hidden social relations and practices that were constructed away from the guise of white educational authorities. I found that participants fashioned situated pedagogies for the acquisition of educational capital that black youth could exchange for jobs, civil rights, and social power. In the third part, I conclude that the national memory of "inherently inferior" all-black public schools does not tell the whole story about legally segregated education. Ultimately, I found that the oral narratives of Jim Crow's teachers reveal a critique of power and a fight for respectability that shaped teachers' work in the Age of Jim Crow. ^

<p> This exploratory study utilizes a qualitative, ethnographic approach to locate and contextualize Latino/a Artist Educators (LAEs) in Miami, Florida. Foundational and cutting-edge, it brings together many distinct perspectives to illuminate the power and promise of a newly imagined yet group of individuals to build and sustain alternative democratic spaces. Building on critical educators Paolo Freire, bell hooks, Henry Giroux and Howard Zinn, as well as extending the framework of critical theorists Gloria Anzald&uacute;a, Cornel West and others, this research begins to sketch the influence of the LAEs interviewed in Miami from 2003-2013. As a sociocultural ethnographic study positioned at the crossroads of many fields, this research is hopefully the first step toward understanding the central value of LAEs&rsquo; work in Miami. </p><p> Through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, field notes, and archival data, the perspective of 52 individuals who self-identify as &ldquo;Latino/a,&rdquo; &ldquo;artist,&rdquo; and &ldquo;educator,&rdquo; are brought into view for analysis and discussion. Open-ended interview questions included queries ranging from motivation and inspiration, to identity, to perceptions of the Latino/a artist (LAE) community, to opinions on schooling and educational processes, to mentoring and how they sustain themselves. Sample questions included: &ldquo;How does your ethnicity, background and culture shape or impact your art/work/teaching?&rdquo; and &ldquo;What can the art world learn from the &lsquo;culture of education&rsquo; and vice-versa?&rdquo; </p><p> The demographic breakdown of the 52 individuals participating in the research study included 30% Cuban, 26% Puerto Rican&mdash;with the real story in the remaining 44% representing a panoply of many Latino nations. LAEs averaged 36 years old at the time of interviews, with males outnumbering females, 56% to 44%. The average LAE has lived in Miami for 20 years. Although the preponderance of LAEs are performing artists (rather than visual artists), nearly 40% claim to be &ldquo;multidisciplinary&rdquo; or &ldquo;interdisciplinary&rdquo; and practice multiple artistic pursuits. Paradoxically, what LAEs have most in common is their diversity and divergence. </p><p> However, not all analysis yielded a divergence of results. LAEs resonated with synchronicity and strength around the expression of four themes&mdash;necessity, urgency, fluidity and agency. All stated explicitly that their creative endeavors were an inextricable part of their identity, providing expression, connection, mental challenge, and healing. None of the LAEs interviewed saw their art (and to a lesser degree, their teaching) as &ldquo;optional.&rdquo; This necessity, this insatiable, non-negotiable need to create and educate was accompanied by a palpable sense of urgency. Each LAE expressed with enthusiasm and intensity their works-in-progress and the realization that the situation with our youth is both pivotal and critical. Perhaps the most exemplary quality of LAEs in Miami is their astounding flexibility or fluidity, the ability to shape-shift, integrating and capitalizing on the specific milieu as it changes over time and space. Finally, these three combined&mdash;necessity, urgency, and fluidity&mdash;result in a powerful sense of agency; LAEs believe that their creative and educational investments are powerful influences in affecting the health and vitality of our youth, our schools, our communities and our society. </p><p> Many additional findings illuminate the range of LAEs teaching styles, motivational sources, philosophical and political views, and their characterization and critique of the LAE communities where they live, work, and create. These findings could be applied in countless ways to continue this trajectory of research and discovery&mdash;better supporting and understanding LAEs, clarifying the conflicted yet active role of resistance that artists play in the gentrification process, and even understanding how schools and our society need to evolve in order to support, nurture and protect democracy at its core&mdash;creating spaces for diverse views, dissent, dialogue, debate and maintaining the deepest respect in the process. </p><p> Future research should include more detailed analysis of collective and individual efforts of the activities of artist/educators involving gender implications, other ethnicities, and the importance of place by including other big cities. Additionally, other variables might be considered more thoughtfully: the central role of music in the creative process, as well as the impact of audience members, venue owners and emcees/hosts in co-creating alternative democratic spaces. </p><p> LAEs&rsquo; creative and educational work has impacts beyond our scope of measurement; to this day, numerous LAEs continue to create the fabric of the artistic, edgy, latino/a/caribeno/a, bohemian aesthetic&mdash;the &ldquo;image&rdquo;&mdash;that is so alluring internationally, and forms the basis for tourism and wealth in Miami, and the prerequisite for imagining the development of Wynwood. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)</p><p>