The purpose of this study is to write the life history of a black woman educator is order to enhance our understandings of educational activism and social change in the Deep South. African American educators have been marginalized and under represented in their communities despite the roles they have played in ameliorating educational inequalities. The life history of seventy-year-old Clara Byrd Glaspers activism as a black woman educator is one example.
Life history, as a method of research, reveals an individuals life experiences from their perspective and provides the appropriate methodology to explore the following research questions: In the context of activism, what do we learn from Claras story about the process of social change?; what does it mean to be a black woman educator activist fighting for educational equality?; what are the motivating factors that sparked Clara Glaspers fight for educational equality?; what strategies did Clara Glasper use to meet the challenges she encountered in a segregated society? These questions are answered through a combination of life history interviews and an examination of historical documents connected with the longest running desegregation lawsuit in the history of the United States, forty-seven-year-old <u>Clifford Eugene Davis, et al. v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, et al.</u>(Mathews & Jarvis, 1997).
The fifteen recorded interviews approximately two hours in length were conducted from July 2000 to December 2002. The interviews were edited into a first person narrative spanning Clara Glaspers entire life. An introduction providing a context begins each chapter. Next, Claras first person narrative becomes the body of each chapter. Reflections follow the narrative at the end of each chapter where my voice is heard.
This research concludes that unlike other black women educator activists, Clara Glaspers activism for social change went through three stages: awareness, advocacy, and full-time activism. Embedded in her life story, three themes emerge that necessitate a rethinking of their implications for the field of education: activism, educational equality, and racism. Lastly, this life history is important to the field of education because it raises serious questions about how African Americans continue to be marginalized.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-04072004-165133 |
| Date | 08 April 2004 |
| Creators | Miller, Carol Marie |
| Contributors | Petra Munro, William Doll Jr., Xigen Li, Denise Egea-Kuehne, Nina Asher |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04072004-165133/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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