Desegregating Teachers—Contesting the Meaning of Equality of Educational Opportunity in the South Post Brown

Shircliffe (U. of South Florida) explores the battle to desegregate public school teachers in the South and its outcomes, placing the discussion within the context the larger stories of school desegregation in general and the struggle over the professional identity of teachers in the battle to eliminate racial discrimination in public education. From the theoretical orientation of critical race theory, she investigates how school administrators, federal courts, civil rights lawyers, and local political actors viewed and reacted to the issue of segregated public school faculties and staff during the school desegregation era and the issue of racial balance among teachers as a measure of equality of educational opportunity for African American students; the influence of local and state contexts of social history, demographics, and politics on the development and implementation of faculty and staff desegregation; and the ways in which school officials and teachers perceived and responded to faculty desegregation. Finally, she considers lessons that can be learned about patterns of teacher recruitment and retention as relevant to building and maintaining a diverse teaching force. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Barbara J. Shircliffe has a PhD in social foundations and is a faculty member at the University of South Florida. Her scholarship focuses on the history of segregation and desegregation, oral history, and school policy.