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RACE TALK IN A TEACHER BOOK CLUB by VICTORIA ELAINE WALLACE PETTIS (Under the Direction of Margaret Graham) ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative study was to interview and observe 10 English teachers who participated in a book club at their urban public high school in a southeastern college town and examine, using critical race theory, how they negotiated issues of race in five books. Related research questions examined how various teachers responded to texts that included themes about stereotypes and racism, what connections teachers made about race in the texts to their own lives, and what ways membership in the book discussion club has been meaningful in the lives of secondary English teachers. The predominant means of data collection for the five monthly book club meetings were participant observation and field notes, researcher’s log, audiotapes, and interviews. Data were analyzed using the open coding method. Nine themes emerged from the analysis: 1) making connections, 2) offering resistance, 3) expressing support/approval, 4) stories, 5) stereotypes, 6) white privilege, 7) institutional racism, 8) roles, and 9) benefits. General conclusions surround teachers’ selection of text that reflect diversity within American society and the creation of classroom environments that support a sustained dialogue about race and racism. Conclusions also reflect the need for teachers themselves to participate in teacher education and professional development programs to educate them about how to foster conversations about race and institutional racism and to examine the teacher’s role in addressing those issues in public schools. A final conclusion of the study was the need for teachers to consider creating their own book clubs among their colleagues and/or adopting the format in their classrooms so that readers are empowered to share their stories and connect with each other as a community. INDEX WORDS: Critical Race Theory, Literature Circles, Multicultural Literature, Secondary English, Professional Development, Race, Reading Community, Reading Groups, Teachers, Teacher Book Clubs RACE TALK IN A TEACHER BOOK CLUB by VICTORIA ELAINE WALLACE PETTIS B.A., Jacksonville State University, 1988 M.Ed., University of Georgia, 1992 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Victoria Elaine Wallace Pettis All Rights Reserved RACE TALK IN A TEACHER BOOK CLUB by VICTORIA ELAINE WALLACE PETTIS Major Professor: Margaret Graham Committee: Barbara McCaskill Elizabeth St. Pierre Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2004 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the loves of my life: my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; my husband, Royce; and my daughters, Jasmine and Mariah. It is also dedicated to the memory of my father, Memphis Wallace and my mother-in-law, Christine Leslie Pettis. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For me, writing this dissertation involved more than just my own hard work and perseverance. First, I must give credit to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who inspired me to undertake this endeavor and carefully ordained, anointed, and ordered my success. This dissertation also involved a network of “human” support provided to me by the participants in this study, my dissertation chair and committee, mentors, family, friends, colleagues, and other young scholars. This document was made possible through the financial support of the American Education Research Association (AERA)/Spencer Pre- Dissertation Fellowship Program, the National Council of Teachers of English Cultivating New Voices of Scholars of Color Grant (NCTE CNV), and the Teaching Tolerance Foundation. To Margaret Graham, my major professor, I thank you for being my first line of defense. You opened your home to me whenever I felt the need to talk through my confusion or yearned for your personal feedback, direction, or advice. You are the greatest listener any doctoral student could ask for. You made it easy for me to “feel dumb” with dignity. You provided the nurturing and gentle prodding I needed in a mentor/major professor when I was so unsure of myself. To the other members of my doctoral committee, Dr. Barbara McCaskill and Dr. Bettie St. Pierre, I am so appreciative of the insight and expertise both of you freely offered to me throughout this process. To say that I am honored and humbled to have had this opportunity to work with scholars of your caliber is an understatement. Dr. St. Pierre, I want to thank you for helping me think through the hard stuff called “methodology” You have a knack for providing a young scholar with critiques that feel like compliments. v vi To Dr. Fenice Boyd, you acted as the big sister/mentor that I sorely needed during the first year of my doctoral program. I remember fondly how you pulled me aside into your office and bluntly told me that taking one class per semester would take me ten years. I would still be working on this degree if I had not taken your advice. I am especially grateful for the time you took me to lunch, inquired about my research and professional interests, and prodded me to take a look at teacher book club research. I would never have found my research niche if it had not been for you. Dr. McCaskill, you are a young scholar’s gold mine. Thank you for allowing me to call you at home when I needed to vent. I always felt better and more energized after our talks. I treasure the independent study we did together; it involved reading lots of great multicultural works that I later used in my own high school classroom. This phenomenal experience eventually led me to finding the five books for this study. To Dr. Derrick Alridge, you helped me through the early years of my doctoral program by giving me the advice, “Bite your lip and get through the coursework.” You were right. I prayed as I bit my lip. That habit got me through. To my best friend, Vicki Hill, I thank you for waiting patiently while encouraging me from the sideline. You are truly my friend. To members of Timothy Baptist Church – particularly my pastor Rev. Jerry F. Hutchins and members Rev. Jesse and Paula Halbert, Rev. Robert and Denese Williams, Rev. Sherman Crockett, Shirley Sims, Michael and Beverly Robinson, and Robbie and Karen Hooker –I want to thank you for praying me through this very difficult journey. Thank you for holding me accountable. It would have been easier to quit if you had only stopped asking about my progress. I am eternally grateful to two families, the Halberts and Williams, who helped sustain me by taking care of my daughters when I had to make various trips across the country to make presentations on earlier parts of this dissertation. You gave me peace of mind by taking care of my two most precious jewels. vii To Arnetha Ball, NCTE CNV mentor, I thank you for your calming presence each time we met. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing as a young scholar, but you assured me that I had what it took to be in academe. Our pairing had to be ordered by God. Each time we met, you provided me with the confidence and direction I needed at different stages of my work. To Gloria Ladson-Billings, my AERA/Spencer Pre-Dissertation Fellowship Program mentor, I thank you for introducing me to critical race theory (CRT). I was awestruck to sit with you, one of the top gurus in the CRT field, and hear you talk me through this theory, as well provide me with a list of other researchers and their works, which were critical to my understanding of this theoretical framework. To the mentors and fellows at NCTE CNV, you acted as a family of supportive scholars. I am particularly grateful to CNV sisters KaaVonia Hinton and Cynthia Lewis. You two have been the best cheerleaders. Dr. Nancy Tolson, I want to thank God for meeting you. You helped me put the revision process in perspective. I admire you personally and professionally so much. To my colleagues, Dr. Miller Jordan, Dr. Anthony Rucker, Dr. Chandra Power, Allison Nealy, Marlana Thompson, and Keith Wilson, I am so thankful for your sympathetic ears and encouragement you provided me on the job. Those days were too many to count. It was like God orchestrated the timing of your help so that it seemed like at least one person was encouraging me almost on daily basis. To my husband Royce and daughters Jasmine and Mariah, I am blessed with the greatest family on earth. Thank you for sticking by me for the past five years. Royce, I love you for going beyond the call of duty as husband, father, and friend. What I will remember most in my darkest hours was your emphatic insistence that I was the smartest, strongest woman you knew. Jasmine and Mariah, you are the apple of your mother’s eye. Thanks for demonstrating understanding and flexibility way beyond your youthful years. I hope that whenever in life you want to quit, you will remember the many obstacles I had viii to overcome these past five years to achieve this goal. Put God first. Know that hard work and perseverance does pay off. Finally, I want to thank my ten colleagues who agreed to participate in this study. For five months, you gave of yourselves and your time to faithfully attend the book club meetings. A year later, you continued to support this project by reading and providing feedback at every stage of this document. For the part that each of you played in this dissertation, may God richly bless each and every one of you.

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