Varied and Powerful Movement: A Scholarly Examination

01 Nov Varied and Powerful Movement: A Scholarly Examination

The History of Education Society will hold its annual meeting from Thursday, November 3, through Sunday, November 6, at the Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island.  I will be one of the presenters on the program whose mission is to present and discuss scholarship, and advance the goals of the Society through panels, symposia, receptions and other opportunities that allow for exchanging ideas, and presenting new research.

Alongside other speakers, I will present in the panel session titled, “Varied and Powerful Movement: Black Student Activism at HBCUs during the Mid-Twentieth Century,” with my focus being on my paper: “This Movement has Many Facets”: The Southern College Response to the Sit-ins of 1960.

I will examine how presidents and chancellors of southern colleges responded to the student sit-in demonstrations against segregated lunch counters in 1960. Using speeches, statements, and personal correspondence, my talk will demonstrate that some academic leaders of traditionally White institutions responded vocally with directives to cease the sit-ins while several leaders of Black colleges supported students. I will be the first to provide evidence, that multiple presidents of public Black colleges, not just private Black institutions, were vocally supportive of the sit-ins, contrary to much of the literature about this era.

Learn more about the History of Education Society’s meeting here.