TE Research Talk: ArCasia James-Gallaway

The Department of Teacher Education’s Elementary Social Studies Education Search Committee cordially invites you:

“Intersectional Lessons on Black (In) Adequacy: Black Students’ Social Education During School Desegregation”

In newly desegregated schools, how did informal curricula shape African American students’ social education, and what did school desegregation teach them about their social identity-dependent roles in U.S. society? Join ArCasia James-Gallaway as she examines the implementation of school desegregation to address these questions in light of Black students’ intersectional identities, focusing on a micro-urban Texas city in the 1970s. Foregrounding elementary school years of affirmation and adequacy in segregated Black schools, this presentation demonstrates how African American students’ social education transitioned to one of Black inferiority and inadequacy after schools desegregated. This talk analyzes strategies of social education, namely white stakeholders’ application of anti-Black stereotypes, to engage the concept of the hidden curriculum and offer that of the tacit curriculum. Drawing from oral history interviews and archival records, “Lessons on Black (In)Adequacy” comes out of a larger study that examines how Black students’ social identities differentiated their experiences in newly desegregated schools, applying intersectionality to highlight nuances of African American student experiences. Linking this historical research to current social studies education, this talk provides an example of tailoring social studies curricula to include local histories that can enhance its significance for elementary school students.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

ArCasia D. James-Gallawayis a doctoral candidate in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose work primarily focuses on African Americans’ struggles for educational justice in the past. Supported by a Ford Foundation Fellowship, Baylor University’s Wardlaw Fellowship, and an Illinois Distinguished Fellowship, her research has appeared in refereed journals and edited scholarly volumes. After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin, she taught social studies domestically and abroad before completing her master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.