Beyond The Big House: African American Educators On Teacher Education

by Ladson-Billings, Gloria

• ISBN13: 9780807745816
• ISBN10: 0807745812
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-15
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

Using in-depth interviews and storytelling, Ladson-Billings depicts deeply personal portraits of these scholars' experiences to confront race and racism, not only theoretically, but within their everyday professional lives in "the Big House" of the academy. Ladson-Billings gives these portraits even greater resonance and meaning by pairing these teacher educators with historical figures,such as Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, and Charlotte Forten#x14;whose contributions to the struggle for social justice are a wellspring of hope and courage to all educators, and a tribute to African Americans whose political, scientific, and spiritual efforts made life better for us all. This compelling book is important reading for all educators who want to transform teacher education for the better.

Author Biography

Gloria Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	ix
James A. Banks
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xix
Introduction	1	(12)
Teacher Education as the Big House	2	(4)
The Prevailing Themes of African American Teacher Educators' Work Lives	6	(6)
Conclusion	12	(1)
The Method and the Madness: What I Did and Why I Did It	13	(13)
How the Interviews Developed	21	(3)
The Technical Details	24	(2)
Joyce King -- Yemaja	26	(20)
``How Did I Find My Way to College?''---Joyce King's Early Story	27	(5)
``I Had a Picture of Someone Who Was Making a Difference''---Young, Gifted, and Black	32	(1)
``You Can't Transcend It, but You Have To Do More Than Just Survive It''---Professional Connections	33	(1)
Thoughts on Teacher Education	34	(1)
``They're Not Bothered by the Things I'm Bothered by---Black Professional Life	35	(5)
``It's Like Trying To Turn an Elephant''---The Impact of Culture on Professional Identity	40	(2)
Joyce King's Scholarly Contribution	42	(2)
``Yeah, They Won Today, but I Am Still Here''---Concluding Thoughts	44	(2)
Carl Grant -- High John the Conqueror	46	(18)
``You Have To Get Off That Campus''---My Relationship With Carl Grant	47	(2)
``I Come From a Very Strong Family''	49	(1)
``One Day in Marshall Fields''---Carl Grant Becomes a Teacher	50	(2)
``African Americans Don't Get Out of the University of Chicago''---Moving on to Graduate School	52	(2)
``It's About Life, Living, People . . . Fairness and Social Justice for Everybody''	54	(3)
Carl Grant's Scholarly Contribution	57	(1)
``Racism Is Still a Part of the Experience''	58	(3)
``The First Person You Pay Is Yourself''	61	(3)
Jacqueline Jordan Irvine -- Harriet Tubman	64	(19)
``Don't Make Me Kill That Woman''---My Relationship With Jacqueline Jordan Irvine	67	(1)
``Those Good-Looking Black Women''---Jackie Irvine's Road to the Academy	68	(3)
``What About the Other Children?''---Focusing on Urban Education	71	(1)
``I Only Had a Brief Window When I Wasn't Taking Care of Somebody''---Scholar as Caregiver	72	(1)
``I Don't Know If It's a Vision or a Dilemma''---Improving Teacher Education	73	(2)
``What Do the Black People Think About You?''---Racial Differences in Professional Life	75	(2)
Jacqueline Jordan Irvine's Scholarly Contribution	77	(3)
``The Minute We Get It, They Want To Change It''---Mentoring Young Scholars	80	(1)
``The Lord Didn't Put You Here for No Reason''---Meaning and Purpose in African American Scholars' Work	81	(1)
Concluding Thoughts: Research Without a Sense of Purpose Tends To Lose Its Purpose	81	(2)
Geneva Gay -- Biddy Mason	83	(15)
``Stumbling Backwards in Blind Faith''---Geneva Gay's Early Story	84	(2)
``Going To Be as Black as I Want To Be''---Graduate School as an Identity Watershed	86	(2)
Geneva Gay's Scholarly Contribution	88	(1)
``My Personal Is the Heart and Soul of My Professional''---Geneva Gay as Teacher Educator	89	(2)
Getting ``Down and Dirty'' To Teach---The Pedagogy of Geneva Gay	91	(1)
``You've Got To Be in Role''---Differences in Black and White Academic Life	92	(3)
``Affirmation Before Reformation''---The Essence of Geneva Gay	95	(3)
William Tate -- Nat Turner	98	(17)
``Just Show Up on the First Day''---The Early Life of William Tate	99	(2)
Taking Baby Pictures---My Relationship with Bill Tate	101	(3)
``He's Not Looking Like a Prophet''---Stories of Encouragement (and Discouragement)	104	(1)
``There Are Only a Few of Us Who Are in the Position To Raise These Questions''---The Role of African American Teacher Educators	105	(2)
The Scholarly Contributions of William Tate	107	(1)
``I'm Working on Having a `We' Career''---Bill Tate's Professional Life	108	(1)
``It's Good To Have a Person Who Will Challenge You''---Forms of Mentoring and Support	109	(2)
``When Are You Going To Get a Real Job?''---The Invisible Culture of African American Family Support	111	(1)
``There Are Others of Us in This Community Who Know You Can Do It''---Taking on the Charge of Intellectual Leadership	112	(3)
Cherry A. McGee Banks -- Charlotte Forten	115	(13)
``My Journey Has Not Been a Direct One''---Cherry Banks's Early Professional Life	117	(2)
``I Have This . . . Absolutely Impossible Dream''---Cherry Banks's Vision of Teacher Education	119	(2)
The Scholarly Contributions of Cherry A. McGee Banks	121	(1)
``I'm Beginning To See Things That I'd Never Seen Before''---Cherry Banks's Impact on the Profession	122	(1)
``African American Students in All the Different Programs Would Come to Me''---Working in White Institutions	123	(1)
``We Managed To Pull Ourselves Together and To Survive and To Move On''---The Influence of African American Culture on Cherry Banks's Work	124	(2)
``I Have Had Wonderful Opportunities Presented to Me''---Carving an Independent Scholarly Identity	126	(2)
Lisa Delpit -- Lagniappe	128	(13)
Who Was Anna Julia Cooper?	129	(1)
Who Is Lisa Delpit and Why Are They Saying Those Things About Her?	130	(2)
``Will It Help the Sheep?''---Lisa Delpit's Contribution to Teacher Education	132	(1)
Journeying With African American Teacher Educators: What It All Means	133	(6)
Coda	139	(2)
References	141	(6)
Index	147	(9)
About the Author	156