DOCSLIB.ORG

Student Experiences During the 1954-1955 Merger of Harris and Stowe Teachers Colleges

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Student Experiences During the 1954-1955 Merger of Harris and Stowe Teachers Colleges University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 12-13-2005 Student Experiences During the 1954-1955 Merger of Harris and Stowe Teachers Colleges Kenneth Allen Wetstein University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Wetstein, Kenneth Allen, "Student Experiences During the 1954-1955 Merger of Harris and Stowe Teachers Colleges" (2005). Dissertations. 614. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/614 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT EXPERIENCES DURING THE 1954-1955 MERGER OF HARRIS AND STOWE TEACHERS COLLEGES by KENNETH ALLEN WETSTEIN M.S.Ed. in Guidance & Counseling Eastern Illinois University, 1993 B.A. in Political Science Eastern Illinois University, 1991 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of the UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI – ST. LOUIS In Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration December, 2005 Advisory Committee Chairperson: Dr. Shawn Woodhouse, Ph.D. Assoc. Professor, Higher Ed. Admin. Committee: Dr. Lynn Beckwith, Jr., Ed.D. Dr. Patricia Boyer, Ph.D. Dr. Barton Herrscher, Ed.D. Wetstein, Kenneth, 2005, UMSL, p. ii ABSTRACT STUDENT EXPERIENCES DURING THE 1954-1955 MERGER OF HARRIS AND STOWE TEACHERS COLLEGES Kenneth Allen Wetstein This project is a historiography of the merger of Harris and Stowe Teachers Colleges following the Brown v. Board of Education U.S. 483 (USSC 1954) Supreme Court decision. In September 1954, these two racially segregated teachers colleges, both operated by the St. Louis Board of Education, were merged on the Harris Teachers College campus. This merger represented the first instance of desegregated public education in the city of St. Louis. Fourteen alumni who attended the two colleges during this period participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews, recalling their experiences during the merger. This study also involved the collection of data archived during this period as well as an analysis of contemporary newspaper accounts. The study presents the merger in both its historical and personal contexts. Historically, this merger symbolizes the beginning of desegregated public education in St. Louis. On a personal level, this study tells the story of the Harris-Stowe merger from the perspective of the students involved. The data from this project suggest three major findings: 1) the merger was free of animosity and proceeded without incident; 2) despite the smooth physical desegregation, little, if any, significant social integration was achieved between the Black and White students; and 3) the students from Stowe and the students from Harris experienced the merger in substantively different ways. Factors that explain these findings are discussed. ii Wetstein, Kenneth, 2005, UMSL, p. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While writing a dissertation is best characterized as a solitary activity, it is impossible to claim to have completed a project of this magnitude without any help. I wish to thank the many people who provided support and comfort along the way. First and foremost: I thank the participants in this study for their generosity and openness. To my dissertation chair, Dr. Shawn Woodhouse: thank you for agreeing to take on this project under unusual circumstances. Thank you for your generosity, your strict but gentle eye as an editor, and your patience with a writer still struggling to control his colloquial tendencies. You instilled in me a discipline of thought and writing that will serve me well in future endeavors. Your leadership and guidance produced a wonderful research experience. I also want to thank the members of my committee. Each of you has contributed to this project in important ways. Dr. Boyer: thank you for inspiring this topic. Your course on the History of Higher Education led me to the fascinating story of Harris and Stowe Teachers Colleges. Two years later, here we are! Dr. Beckwith: thank you for helping me cultivate participants for this study. One phone call from you opened the door to finding alumni from the period. Without your help I fear I might still be “cold calling” alumni from the St. Louis phonebook! Dr. Herrscher: ever since I ran across your contact information listed in the Harris-Stowe archive room guest book, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. Thank you for not writing a paper about the merger of Harris and Stowe eleven years ago, and thanks especially for being so supportive of, and interested in, this topic. I hope this study meets your expectations. iii Wetstein, Kenneth, 2005, UMSL, p. iv My classmates in the higher education program have been nothing but supportive. This network of mutual support helped me believe in my topic whenever I had doubts. I want to single out one colleague in particular: Rob Wild. Rob and I have proceeded in lock step, pushing and pulling each other through all of the milestones of the dissertation process: building our first three chapters during the exit course; preparing for comprehensive exams; presenting our proposal defenses; and working through the natural ebb and flow of the lonely process of writing. Rob: your support, insight, and empathy carried me through this project and kept me motivated and on-task. Many professionals provided support along the way. Thanks to Marie Romano for her expert and amusing transcription work. Thanks to Marti Knorr, Librarian at Harris-Stowe, for his gracious support during my frequent visits to the archive room. Thank you to Sharon Huffman, archivist at the St. Louis Public Schools Archives, for helping me find so many original documents from the period and also for her encyclopedic memory for all manner of trivia regarding the St. Louis public schools. My colleagues at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy have been invaluable. Sometimes a dissertation can derail the work product of even the most organized student affairs professional (I am not). Thank you to Barb Gist, Rachel Daggs, Rebecca Jones, Freddie Wills, Jennifer Roberts, and Anne Bracket for picking up my “slack” at various times. Special thanks to Dr. Ken Kirk, Ph.D., Dean of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, for his understanding and support throughout this process. The most important source of support has been my family. To my parents, Paul and Kate Wetstein: thank you for instilling in me a love for books, a thirst for knowledge, and an inestimable respect for the transformational power of education. I was lucky to iv Wetstein, Kenneth, 2005, UMSL, p. v grow up in a house filled with love, newspapers, books, and crowded with a lot of smart people willing to discuss and argue about all of the above. My brothers and sisters form a powerful debating society! To my wife’s family, the Czirrs of northern Kentucky: thank you for being my cheerleaders along the way. I have finally used up my excuse for missing so many family functions and I look forward to seeing all of you again in the near future; yes, I am finally done! To my two young daughters, Caitlyn and Chloe: thank you for greeting me like a conquering hero every time I come home. When you are old enough to read this study, you may finally begin to understand why Daddy spent so many Saturdays at the library. I plan to make up for a lot of lost time very soon! Finally, I must acknowledge my incredible wife, Carrie. She has stood beside me through all of the high and low points of this process and never wavered in her support. Words cannot begin to describe all that she has done to make this project possible. As she likes to say: “it’s the little things that make the difference.” The multitude of “little things” that she did to help me along the way amount to one massive debt I will never be able to re-pay. Could I have completed this project without her? Absolutely not; and it wouldn’t be worth doing anyway. For that reason, I dedicate this dissertation to her. Thank you so much Carrie. I love you! Ken Wetstein, October 2005 v Wetstein, Kenneth, 2005, UMSL, p. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1 Background ............................................................................................................................................2 Legal History of Segregated Public Education in St. Louis and Missouri ........................................3 Legal History of Segregation in Public Education in America: Roberts to Brown ..........................6 Establishment of legal segregation ..............................................................................................7 Erosion of legal segregation ........................................................................................................8 History of Harris Teachers College, 1857-1954 .............................................................................10 History of Stowe Teachers College, 1890-1954 ..............................................................................11 The Relationship Between Harris and
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Donations to the Library 2000S
    DONATIONS TO THE LIDRARY 277 DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY Michael Andrews (BA 1960) The birth of Europe, 1991; The flight of the condor, 1982; The life that lives on Man, 1977 13 May 1999 - 12 May 2000 Anthony Avis (BA 1949) The Librarian is always delighted to hear from any member of the Gaywood past: some historical notes, 1999; The journey: reflective essays, College considering a gift of books, manuscripts, maps or photographs 1999 to the College Library. Brigadier David Baines Abdus Salam International Centre Documents relating to the army career of Alan Menzies Hiller A. M. Hamende (ed.), Tribute to Abdus Salam (Abdus Salam Memorial (matric. 1913), who was killed in action near Arras in May 1915 meeting, 19-22 Nov. 1997), 1999 D.M. P. Barrere (BA 1966) David Ainscough Georges Bernanos, 'Notes pour ses conferences' (MS), n. d. Chambers' guide to the legal profession 1999-2000, 1999 P. J. Toulet, La jeune fille verte, 1918 Robert Ganzo, Histoire avant Sumer, 1963; L'oeuvre poetique, 1956 Dr Alexander G. A.) Romain Rolland, De Jean Christophe a Colas Breugnon: pages de journal, Automobile Association, Ordnance Survey illustrated atlas of Victorian 1946; La Montespan: drame en trois actes, 1904 and Edwardian Britain, 1991 Ann MacSween and Mick Sharp, Prehistoric Scotland, 1989 Martyn Barrett (BA 1973) Antonio Pardo, The world of ancient Spain, 1976 Martyn Barrett (ed.), The development of language, 1999 Edith Mary Wightrnan, Galla Belgica, 1985 Gerard Nicolini, The ancient Spaniards, 1974 Octavian Basca Herman Ramm, The Parisi, 1978 Ion Purcaru and Octavian Basca, Oameni, idei, fapte din istoria J.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Keith Thomas' the Wolfson History Prize 1972-2012
    THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 1972-2012 An Informal History Keith Thomas THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 1972-2012 An Informal History Keith Thomas The Wolfson Foundation, 2012 Published by The Wolfson Foundation 8 Queen Anne Street London W1G 9LD www.wolfson.org.uk Copyright © The Wolfson Foundation, 2012 All rights reserved The Wolfson Foundation is grateful to the National Portrait Gallery for allowing the use of the images from their collection Excerpts from letters of Sir Isaiah Berlin are quoted with the permission of the trustees of the Isaiah Berlin Literary Trust, who own the copyright Printed in Great Britain by The Bartham Group ISBN 978-0-9572348-0-2 This account draws upon the History Prize archives of the Wolfson Foundation, to which I have been given unrestricted access. I have also made use of my own papers and recollections. I am grateful to Paul Ramsbottom and Sarah Newsom for much assistance. The Foundation bears no responsibility for the opinions expressed, which are mine alone. K.T. Lord Wolfson of Marylebone Trustee of the Wolfson Foundation from 1955 and Chairman 1972-2010 © The Wolfson Foundation FOREWORD The year 1972 was a pivotal one for the Wolfson Foundation: my father, Lord Wolfson of Marylebone, became Chairman and the Wolfson History Prize was established. No coincidence there. History was my father’s passion and primary source of intellectual stimulation. History books were his daily companions. Of all the Foundation’s many activities, none gave him greater pleasure than the History Prize. It is an immense sadness that he is not with us to celebrate the fortieth anniversary.
    [Show full text]
  • 1979 Commencement Program, University Archives, University Of
    UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA Two Hundred and Twenty-Third Commencement for the Conferring of Degrees PHILADELPHIA CIVIC CENTER CONVENTION HALL Monday, May 21, 1979 10:00 A.M. Guests will find this diagram helpful in locating in the Contents on the opposite page under Degrees the approximate seating of the degree candidates. in Course. Reference to the paragraph on page The seating roughly corresponds to the order by seven describing the colors of the candidates school in which the candidates for degrees are hoods according to their fields of study may further presented, beginning at top left with the Faculty of assist guests in placing the locations of the various Arts and Sciences. The actual sequence is shown schools. Contents Page Seating Diagram of the Graduating Students 2 The Commencement Ceremony 4 Commencement Notes 6 Degrees in Course 8 The Faculty of Arts and Sciences 8 The College of General Studies 16 The College of Engineering and Applied Science 17 The Wharton School 25 The Wharton Evening School 28 The Wharton Graduate Division 30 The School of Nursing 34 The School of Allied Medical Professions 36 The Graduate Faculties 37 The School of Medicine 42 The Law School 43 The Graduate School of Fine Arts 45 The School of Dental Medicine 48 The School of Veterinary Medicine 49 The Graduate School of Education 50 The School of Social Work 52 The Annenberg School of Communications 53 The School of Public and Urban Policy 53 Certificates 54 General Honors Program 54 Medical Technology 54 Occupational Therapy 54 Physical Therapy 56 Dental Hygiene 57 Advanced Dental Education 57 Social Work 58 Commissions 59 Army 59 Navy 59 Principal Undergraduate Academic Honor Societies 60 Prizes and Awards 63 Class of 1929 69 Events Following Commencement 71 The Commencement Marshals 72 Academic Honors Insert The Commencement Ceremony MUSIC Valley Forge Military Academy and Junior College Band CAPTAIN JAMES M.
    [Show full text]
  • T He Journal of Ecclesiastical History
    00220469_69-1_00220469_69-1 08/01/18 6:54 PM Page 1 The Journal ofThe Journal Ecclesiastical History 69 The Journal of Ecclesiastical History Vol. No. 1 January 2018 Volume 69 Number 1 January 2018 CONTENTS i ARTICLES Pope Innocent III and the Annulment of Magna Carta RICHARD HELMHOLZ 1 The A Church in Transition: The Intriguing Use of the Pallium in Tudor England PAUL AYRIS 15 Early Modern Mendicancy: Franciscan Practice in the Bohemian Lands MARTIN ELBEL 39 Surrogate Fathers: The Lazarists as Jesuit Successors in the Eighteenth Century, Journal 1759–1814 SEÁN A. SMITH 57 Joseph Milner and his Editors: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Evangelicals and the Christian Past Vol. PAUL GUTACKER 86 of 69 REVIEW ARTICLE Restoration and Reaction: Reinterpreting the Marian Church No. 2018 1 January THOMAS S. FREEMAN 105 Ecclesiastical THE EUSEBIUS ESSAY PRIZE and THE WORLD CHRISTIANITIES ESSAY PRIZE 113 REVIEWS 114 BOOKS RECEIVED 231 AUTHORS’ ADDRESSES iv History ® Cambridge Core MIX For further information about this journal Paper from please go to the journal website at: responsible sources cambridge.org/ech ® Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. 30 Sep 2021 at 00:12:49, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use. 00220469_69-1_00220469_69-1 08/01/18 6:54 PM Page 2 The Journal of Ecclesiastical History Editors Copying James Carleton Paget, University of Cambridge This journal is registered with the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Alec Ryrie, University of Durham Danvers, MA 01923, USA (www.copyright.com). Organizations in the USA who are also registered with CCC may therefore copy material (beyond the limits permitted by sections Assistant Editor 107 and 108 of US copyright law) subject to payment to CCC.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Atrocities Against Civilians in East Prussia, 1914–1915 Author(S): Alexander Watson Source: the Journal of Modern History, Vol
    “Unheard-of Brutality”: Russian Atrocities against Civilians in East Prussia, 1914–1915 Author(s): Alexander Watson Source: The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 86, No. 4 (December 2014), pp. 780-825 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/678919 . Accessed: 06/01/2015 10:02 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Modern History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 158.223.21.100 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 10:02:11 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions “Unheard-of Brutality”: Russian Atrocities against Civilians in East Prussia, 1914–1915* Alexander Watson Goldsmiths, University of London On August 11, 1914, a week and a half after war had broken out between Germany and Russia, a terrified crowd from the East Prussian border village of Radszen appeared at the office of the local district administrator. That morning, the people told him, there had been a clash between a German cavalry patrol and a larger Russian force in their village.
    [Show full text]
  • Le Riviste Storiche Britanniche E La Storiografia Italiana Di Ilaria Favretto
    Le riviste storiche britanniche e la storiografia italiana di Ilaria Favretto Le riviste accademiche in Gran Bretagna attraversano ormai da anni una vera e propria età dell’oro. Diversi sono i motivi. In primo luogo, i mercati globali su cui le riviste pubblicate in lingua inglese possono contare, mercati che sono determinanti per la sopravvivenza e per la sostenibilità economica dei singoli progetti editoriali e che, negli ultimi anni, hanno conosciuto un’e- norme espansione grazie a database come JSTOR e alla possibilità per il jour- nal publishing di affiancare agli introiti provenienti dagli abbonamenti la ven- dita online di singoli articoli. Un altro fattore da considerare è l’impatto del Research Assessment Exer- cise (RAE), un esercizio di valutazione a cui tutte le università del Regno Uni- to vengono sottoposte dal governo con scadenza più o meno quinquennale e sulla base del quale vengono stanziati i finanziamenti statali per le singole isti- tuzioni. Fra gli indicatori considerati dall’RAE vi è la produzione scientifica del corpo accademico. Secondo i criteri di valutazione stabiliti dall’RAE gli articoli pubblicati in riviste cosiddette refereed – vale a dire riviste che si av- valgono di lettori che giudicano la qualità e l’originalità dell’articolo propo- sto senza essere a conoscenza dell’identità dell’autore –, ottengono una valu- tazione altissima, che, in ordine di importanza, segue solo di poco la pubbli- cazione di monografie. Ciò ha dato uno stimolo importantissimo alla produ- zione di articoli (e di conseguenza alla nascita di nuove riviste accademiche) a scapito di altre forme di comunicazione e di trasmissione di sapere come capitoli all’interno di opere collettanee (considerati di valore limitato perché non passati al vaglio di lettori esterni), manuali universitari, saggi di caratte- re divulgativo (due tipi di pubblicazione che non vengono quasi conteggiati nell’RAE), recensioni o voci per enciclopedia.
    [Show full text]
  • Catlin, Modern European History
    MINOR FIELD: MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY, 1870–1989 Jonathon Catlin | Princeton University | Spring 2018 The Twentieth Century in Retrospect 1. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 1875–1914 (1987) 2. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991 (1994) 3. Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (1999) 4. Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 (2005) 5. Dan Diner, Cataclysms: A History of the Twentieth Century from Europe’s Edge (2007) Global Perspectives 6. John Darwin, The Empire Project: The Rise and Fall of the British World-System 1830–1970 (2009) D 7. Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 (1987) 8. C. A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World 1780–1914 (2004) 9. Jürgen Osterhammel, The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century (2014) 10. Alice Conklin, A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895–1930 (1997) Fin-de-Siècle Nation and Culture 11. Carl Schorske, Fin-de-siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture (1979) 12. Carl Schorske, German Social Democracy, 1905-1917 (1955) 13. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983; 2016) 14. Philip Nord, The Republican Moment: Struggles for Democracy in Nineteenth-Century France (1995) 15. Pieter Judson, The Habsburg Empire: A New History (2016) 16. Ruth Harris, Dreyfus: Politics, Emotion, and the Scandal of the Century (2010) 17. Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1940 (1984) 18.
    [Show full text]
  • Section Membership
    SECTIONS 81 Section membership Fellows are assigned to a ‘Section of primary allegiance’ of their choice. It is possible to belong to more than one Section (cross-membership, by invitation of the Section concerned); this is approved by Council, the members to serve for a period of five years. In the following pages cross-members are listed after primary members, together with their primary Section and the date of appointment. The Emeritus Fellows of each Section are also listed separately. And the primary affiliation of Corresponding Fellows is also indicated. Membership of the Ginger Groups is listed on page 97. * Indicates membership of Section Standing Committee.
    [Show full text]
  • ACADEMIC BOOKS: a SPECIAL ISSUE Richard J
    NO.29 JANUARY 2017 ISSN 2047-1866 BRITISH ACADEMY REVIEW REVIEW ACADEMY BRITISH British Academy ReUNDERSTANDING PEOPLES, vi CULTURES, e SOCIETIES w – PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE ACADEMIC BOOKS: A SPECIAL ISSUE Richard J. Evans on Europe’s NO.292017 JANUARY century of power ¶ Steve Smith and Catherine Merridale on writing the The British Academy’s purpose is to inspire Russian Revolution ¶ David Hand and support high achievement in the humanities on how his new book measures up ¶ and social sciences throughout the UK and internationally, and to promote their public value. Twelve months of influential and prize-winning books ¶ So what does the future hold for the academic book? British-Academy-Review-magazine-cover_100117_PRINT.indd 1-3 10/01/2017 16:31 British Academy Review ISSN 2047–1866 © The British Academy 2017 The British Academy Review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. The British Academy Review contains articles illustrating the wide range of scholarship which the British Academy promotes in its role as the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Views of named writers are the views exclusively of those writers; publication does not constitute endorsement by the British Academy. Suggestions for articles by current and former British Academy grant- and post-holders, as well as by Fellows of the British Academy, are very welcome. Suggestions may be sent to the Editor, James Rivington, at [email protected] Designed by Soapbox, www.soapbox.co.uk Printed in
    [Show full text]