A portrait of Charles Sumner, advocate for civil rights, 1840-1874 :implications for educational leadership in the 21st century /by Andrew T. White.

This study examined the life of Charles Sumner, an early civil rights, school integration activist in Massachusetts and, later, as the anti-slavery pro education advocate in Congress before and after the Civil War. The study design was historical and integrated the legal Bluebook citation system with the more traditional American Psychological Association (APA) dissertation format, a format departure designed to encourage interdisciplinary research, in this case law and educational leadership. The study focus was on early school integration efforts and the concept of diverse learning communities, a term used to describe Sumner's social justice philosophy. Sumner argued the first school integration case in the United States: Roberts v City of Boston, 1849. While he lost that case, it set in motion abolition sentiment in the north and fueled Sumner's dedication to repealing the Fugitive Slave Act, supporting school integration, and advancing equal rights. As an orator, his outspoken and eloquent vision of integrated public common schools resonant with modern k-12 education. His civil rights influence was important to the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment and his legacy would finally be acknowledged by Chief Justice Earl Warren as dicta in Brown v Board of Education . The study concluded with four conclusions and fourteen recommendations, with implications directed toward k-12 school administrators, higher education policy makers, and law school curriculums.;Among the conclusions was the need to re-establish Sumner as an important civil rights figure and assert Sumner's version of natural rights in the study of Fourteenth Amendment law. Among the recommendations were additional study of the first school integration case, Roberts v City of Boston, additional inter-disciplinary research on Sumner's role in the development of school integration, research on Sumner's co-counsel in Roberts, black attorney Robert Morris, examination of the potential for the rise of a social caste-system--a fear often voiced by Sumner as a consequence of segregated schools--through the expansion of charter and private schools, and additional study on community engagement as a critical element in social justice education.Thesis (Ph. D., Education)--University of Idaho, April 20, 2010