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