The plight of the African American student: a study of the schooling experiences of African American professionals in public education and how their schooling experiences impacted their careers and subsequent lives

The purpose of this study was to conduct research on the early history of segregation and desegregation, which directly impacted how African Americans were educated—or not educated—in American history. My focus was geared toward investigating several aspects within the historical educational experiences of African American students. Two time periods were examined. The first time period chronicled the schooling experiences of African Americans who attended segregated, or both segregated and desegregated schools, after the Brown decision of 1954. The second time period chronicled the schooling experiences of African Americans who attended only desegregated schools. Although research has been done on segregation and desegregation, this study focused on the schooling experiences of African Americans. Themes were analyzed to see if African American’s career outcomes were affected by the available educational opportunities during these time periods. Narrative research was used to collect the participants’ life experiences within the two specific time periods. Eleven African American participants were interviewed. Restorying was used to make sense of those experiences as they related to the topic being researched. The questions given to the participants were aimed at gathering personal accounts of the challenges and struggles African Americans faced, and currently face, in education in our country. Several themes emerged from analyzing the narratives of the participants. These themes pertained to unequal facilities of African American schools compared to white facilities; a shared sense of community among African American students, families, and communities; high regard for education in African American families and communities; hostile environments created by whites in response to the desegregation of schools by African American students; and the ongoing discrimination of African American students; and the ongoing impact of the positive experiences in segregated schooling on their subsequent lives