Theses and Dissertations - Department of Educational Leadership, Policy & Technology Studies

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Between loud girls and finer womanhood: analyzing Black girls' experiences in a social club
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2013) Williams, Jeena; Adams, Natalie G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This descriptive case study examines how participants in LADY, a social club for adolescent Black girls in the southeast, learn from their mothers and club advisors about Black womanhood. Findings revealed that Black girls in LADY were taught aspects of finer womanhood that informed their ideas about Black womanhood in three significant ways, specifically through finer womanhood, surveillance, and creating an "us" and "them" dichotomy. This study illustrated how advisors trained participants for finer womanhood through club activities and workshops. In addition to club advisors, mothers monitored girls' interactions in an effort to guide them into Black womanhood. Also, this study highlighted the "us" and "them" dichotomy that LADY had through their exclusionary membership criteria. This empirical research has implications for both Girls' Studies and Black Feminist Theory (BFT). It expands Girls' Studies by including scholarship about Black girls' lived experiences. It contributes to BFT by showcasing how age is a category of difference that needs to be incorporated into BFT in order to study Black girls' lives. It also has implications for similar social clubs by highlighting adults' and girls' complex and multifaceted relationships that influence girls' preparation for Black womanhood.
Black Belt 100 Lenses: exploring a participatory photography project conducted with high school students in Alabama's Black Belt region
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Knight, Elliot; Hall, James C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This study examines the experiences of high school students who participated in the 2011 Black Belt 100 Lenses Summer Camp, a participatory media program implemented in Alabama's rural Black Belt region. A multimethod bricolage approach was employed in order to gain diverse perspectives through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and analysis of participant photographs and writings. Diverse theoretical perspectives--constructivism, critical pedagogy, Paulo Freire's Education for Critical Consciousness, poststructuralism, and feminist theory--informed my analysis and findings. Analysis of participant interviews led to the emergence of the overarching concepts seeing differently and getting out there as metaphors of experience. These concepts frame a discussion of the interactions students had with one another to form meaning during and after the camp. Connections are drawn between the structured and unstructured points of interaction during the camp and the following learning and innovation skills and processes: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and confidence. Students reported the development of all of these skills and the processes and environments leading to their development are discussed. This study also examines relevant literature on participatory photography projects, including photovoice and Literacy Through Photography, and the commonalities and distinctions between Black Belt 100 Lenses and other projects around the world. Following a critical pedagogic commitment to place and local knowledge, a discussion of the Black Belt region and students' relationships to their communities is included. Ultimately, this study makes an argument for the importance of diverse interaction in a creative learning environment and the conditions and impacts of the development of learning and innovation skills and confidence. Although the study is not intended to provide a road map for the development of similar participatory projects, there is a great deal of information included on the development, theoretical influences, and practical considerations that have formed Black Belt 100 Lenses. This study is valuable for a range of people from community-based arts practitioners, educators, methodologists, photographers, community developers, and people with an interest in the Black Belt region.
Black women undergraduates: challenging history to reframe its context in a PWI
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2016) Moore, Rosalind Lenika; Adams, Natalie G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This qualitative study explores the experiences of women at South University, a southeastern predominately white institution, as they grappled with the complex intersection of their race and gender, the history of the institution, and academic expectations. Framed within Critical Race Feminism, this study utilizes storytelling to illuminate challenges experienced by Black women in mitigating access to opportunities for leadership, challenging stereotype assumptions from the institution and theirs peers, cultivating cultural capital, and exploring personal constructions of themselves within an educational setting. The individual stories told by women illuminate the knotty terrain that exists between historical context and those doubly bound by both race and gender scripts. Results of the study demonstrate that Black women at South University need both formal and informal systems of support to be successful. Further, experiences of Black women at PWIs are difficult because of both institutional and historical systems of oppression in the way they experience the classroom, adapt representations of themselves within the environment, and in the way that they respond to institutional barriers. Students ultimately believed that they could have a quality education, but felt that current institutional practices failed to acknowledge and represent the challenges that the intersection of their race and gender. This study is important because it examines the impact of the historical and present day context that exists at PWIs in relation to the lived experiences of Black women and challenges institutions to pay attention to the rarely discussed impact of that environment on their educational experience. A primary recommendation of the study is to require institutions marred by negative history to publicly and systematically engage diversity, equity, and inclusion by acknowledging past issues, requiring curriculum and teachings about those challenges, and by establishing formal systems of support through the development of policy, practices, and resource centers to aid in challenging the institution’s culture. Overall, this offers hope that the collective voices of Black women attending SU can provide a catalyst for changing institutional practices and acknowledging the power of historic circumstances.
Breaking through the invisible ceiling to the superintendency for black women in Georgia
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Thomas, Abifee; Mitchell, Roxanne M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The purpose of this general qualitative study was to attempt to understand the lived experiences of black female superintendents, an underrepresented group in the school superintendency. I sought to identify the supportive constructs leading to the superintendency, the barriers to overcome in pursuit of the superintendency, and how the black female superintendent experience has changed over time. We employed a purposive sample in the recruitment of study participants. The six participants of this study are retired and practicing black female superintendents in the state of Georgia. Three are retired and served 1984-1999, the period closest to the year of appointment of the first black female; the other three currently practice in GA, and they accepted their appointments during or after 2000. The primary means of data collection for this study was the use of semi-structured interviews. Through the utilization of coding, I was able to categorize then reduce chunks of data into meaningful units as I looked to connect the codes to provide insight or explain the phenomenon of the black female superintendency in GA. Thematic analysis was conducted to generate a set of themes surrounding the superintendents' experiences collected from the in-depth interviews to attempt to answer the research questions of the study. These themes were: (1) What are the lived experiences of black female superintendents in Georgia? (2) What obstacles or barriers do black female superintendents have to overcome? (3) What are the commonalities among experiences of black female superintendents? (4) How have the experiences of black female superintendents changed over time? The six themes identified in the data analysis include chartering new territory, the inner circle, race and gender matters, getting there, evolution of the black female superintendency, and second set of rules. Filtering boundaries and black feminist thought are the lenses, through which, I analyzed and interpreted the vulnerabilities of black women to screening-out processes in pursuit of executive school leadership and to determine if gender, racism, or race-related influences are barriers to the superintendency. Evidence from the study suggested that there are particular barriers that thwart the career advancement of black female educators in Georgia.
The campus speech wars: the problem of freedom in higher education
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) McLelland, Lane Busby; Tomlinson, Stephen; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This study seeks to provide administrators and faculty with a better grasp of the dynamics of the Campus Speech Wars (CSW) so they may develop civic education strategies that more thoroughly address the problem of campus conflicts over freedom of expression. I employ a feminist theoretical perspective to critique a commonly accepted narrative about the causes and solutions of the CSW, the most notable articulation of which is found in Lukanioff and Haidt (2018). I specifically apply Hirschmann’s (1996, 2003, 2008, 2013) feminist framework of analysis to consider four campus cases, which Lukanioff and Haidt (2018) use to make their arguments: Yale University, University of California at Berkeley, Middlebury College, and Evergreen State College. This feminist analysis begins to tease out the interrelated issues of identity, power, and liberal political theory entangled in the CSW. In doing so, it identifies potential priorities for civic learning that more adequately attend to the relational concerns a feminist critique brings to the prevailing discourse influenced by Lukanioff and Haidt (2015, 2018). I argue that administrators and faculty will be more adept at dealing with the problem of freedom in higher education if they can recognize the ideological roots and inherent biases of the ways we think and talk about what makes us free. Such an understanding will be critical if American colleges and universities hope to educate citizens who are more capable of working together to honor liberty for all in our diverse democracy.
Civilizing the academy: critical discourse analysis of a university civility campaign
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Shaaban-Magana, Lamea; Adams, Natalie G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Students, administrators, and faculty often position the university as a site of incivility while paradoxically claiming that the primary role of the university is to uphold tenets of civility and to teach our students how to be civil. In this study, I investigate the application of a of a large public research university’s civility campaign as education and social practice, interwoven within diversity discourses and practice. Using critical theories, and critical discourse analysis, I place in conversation a micro, meso, and macro assessment, including the appraisal of more than 130 documents that directly or indirectly relate to the civility campaign. I offer a discussion on how “civility” is discursively constructed within the texts of a campus civility campaign targeted to students, what rationalities and assumptions underlie the texts, and how university students are constructed and situated as educational subjects with and through the civility discourses. Major study findings consist of four enduring historical conceptual frameworks of civility: civility as enactment of courtesy, politeness, manners and decorum; civility as virtue; civility as a political foundation for civil society and citizenry; and civility as a dialogic/conversational model. Other significant findings include civility applied throughout the campus campaign as: unity in spite of difference; a function or expression of community; a response to diversity; an element of safety; and competing notions as a condition for, extension of, and threat to freedom of speech. The study findings pose questions regarding accountability and the practice of campus civility campaigns, and the compatibility of this practice to the ideals purported in higher education. Finally, I propose implications for higher education practice and future research directions.
Collective efficacy, organizational citizenship behavior, and school effectiveness in Alabama public high schools
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Cooper, James Darrell; Tarter, Clemens John; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
For several decades, researchers have searched for school-level properties that can overcome the negative consequences of student SES on school effectiveness. Two promising constructs that have been identified are collective teacher efficacy (CE) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). This study examined the relationship between these two constructs and their contributions toward school effectiveness. A total of 1,859 teachers were surveyed from a random sample of 45 public high schools in Alabama. Established instruments were used to survey teachers' perceptions of CE, OCB, and school effectiveness in their schools. Three measures of school-level effectiveness were used in this study: teachers' perceptions, math achievement, and reading achievement. Achievement data were obtained for each school from the Alabama State Department of Education. The findings for CE and school effectiveness supported past research findings. CE is significantly related to school effectiveness. This held for all measures of school effectiveness, even when controlling for SES and OCB. As CE levels rise in a school, so does school effectiveness. Findings for OCB and school effectiveness were mixed. Zero-order correlations found a significant relationship between OCB and all measures of school effectiveness. However, multiple regression analyses revealed the only significant relationship between OCB and school effectiveness, when controlling for SES and CE, to be with teachers' perceptions of effectiveness. OCB does not make unique contributions to school effectiveness as measured by student achievement. Findings did indicate a significant relationship between the constructs of CE and OCB.
Distance education faculty reflections: a look at civic responsibility and community engagement
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Odom-Bartel, Rebecca Lei; Adams, Natalie G.; Wright, Vivian H.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Civic responsibility and moral character are at the heart of many higher learning institutions' mission statements (Boyte & Kari, 2000; Thomson, Smith-Tolken, Naidoo, & Bringle, 2011; Urban &Wagoner, 2000). However, little research exists that examines how civic education should be incorporated into online education, what civic education looks like in an online environment, or if traditional methods of delivering civic education are appropriate for distance learning. This study was qualitative in nature and uses grounded theory methods to allow the opportunity for the participants to construct what it means to produce a citizen by using distance education as the local discourse. Faculty were interviewed to allow for their perceptions and reflections of online civic education to uncover a clearer understanding of what civic education, civic responsibility, and community engagement means in a distance education environment. Through data collection and analysis several interesting findings emerged. Time played a key factor in the delivery and ultimately the success of an online course with civic engagement components. Data suggests that development could take several semesters when taking into account factors such as accurate assessment of students, collaboration with community partners, communication, and general coordination of the course. Perhaps the most interesting finding focused on how the definition of citizenship and ultimately how faculty presented civic education was changing. Much of the research suggests that civic education is evolving to include a more global definition. This dynamic and changing understanding of civic education exemplified in the data is in concert with the current literature on civic education and engagement ((Bartik, 2004; Becker, 1993; Brandl & Weber, 1995; Caputo, 2005; Enrlich, 1997; Furo, 2010; Giles & Eysler, 1994;Kerringan, 2005; Kuh, 2011; Malin, 2011; Markus, Howard, &King, 1993; Perry & Katula, 2001; Weiss, 2004; Wesch, 2009; Wilhite & Silver, 2005). These changes and variations in definition of citizenship and civic education are all effecting how civic education should be incorporated in the 21st century learning.
Engaging exclusionary lines of community: principals' understandings, from theory to practice
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2013) Parrish, Tasha M.; Erevelles, Nirmala; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
School-community partnerships have become one avenue for educators to invest in the child by partnering with sources beyond school walls. Yet, it has been argued that partnerships simply serve current interests and agendas (Anderson, 1998) and do little to offer authentic change (Auerbach, 2010; Popkewitz, 2004). Thus, school-community partnerships face the same fate as other reform efforts of reproducing the current system unless school leaders are willing to take the risk to critically examine those aspects of school and society that are so often seen as someone else's problem. Through this exploratory qualitative study, I interviewed nine principals in the Southeast, from rural, urban, and suburban regions. I asked questions to help identify how principals perceive their schools' host communities and discover what school-community partnerships the principals pursued, supported, or desired to have implemented within their schools. The study was conducted using a poststructuralist understanding of community as both "imagined" and existing within a discourse which excludes or devalues certain members (Anderson, 1983; Butler, 1993; Foucault, 1990). Data consisted of interviews of principals and parent-teacher organization (PTO) presidents, field notes, and archival data. Findings reveal principals occupy a precarious role in utilizing partnerships to improve their schools and communities for the students. The implications for this study underscore the need for a strong focus on self-evaluation of beliefs and understandings of community within principal preparation programs.
Entanglements of sexualities and genders within higher education employees and policies
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Hitchins, Jessi; Atkinson, Becky M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This qualitative doctoral inquiry explored the intra-actions, entanglements, and lived materialities of university policies and LGBTQIA+ employees. At a public university located in the Deep South, three university-wide policies and interviews from twenty-seven queer and trans-spectrum employees were collect from October 2014 through January 2015. The data acquired during that timeframe was analyzed by thinking with Karen Barad’s (2007) new material feminisms. The multimethod framework operationalized new material feminisms concepts alongside qualitative research interviews and policy analysis as the methodological tools. Through methodological mapping, three assertion rose from the findings that made the following claims: 1) a university façade existed and was constructed through policies that require, reward, and hide the subjugation and compliance of its employees; 2) policy attempted to homogenize queer and trans spectrum identities and in doing so made gender and sexuality identities matter; and 3) policy language produced material implications and cloaked information relevant to LGBTQIA+ employees’ lives. These assertions provide evidence of material realities in organizational policies and everyday experiences of employees.
An ethical becoming for senior student affairs officers: phronetic leadership
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Brackett, Hawken Teague; McKnight, Douglas; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This study investigates the leadership and decision-making approaches of two Senior Student Affairs Officers. Through in-depth qualitative data analysis and findings from participant interviews, conclusions were developed regarding how the participants' approaches to leadership are similar to phronetic leadership. Phronetic leadership is developed with an understanding of an Aristotelian conception of virtue ethics and a Foucauldian conception of regimes of rationality and relations of power. The effects of technical rationality and relations of power on the participants' abilities to practice and develop phronetic leadership were explored through the study. It is argued that phronetic leadership is a form of leadership that should be developed and practiced by Senior Student Affairs Officers, as this approach to leadership makes possible an ethical approach to leadership. It is argued that the moral philosophy of phronetic leadership-virtue ethics-is superior to the moral philosophy of leadership approaches that are technically rational, such as managerialism. Yet, the dominant discourse in higher education lends to practices, norms, and relations of power that are indicative of technical rationality, and not of phronesis (practical wisdom).
Finding my place in Dixie: race, place and the politics of belonging through the eyes of a Korean adoptee
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Gaskill, Lisa; McKnight, Douglas; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
No matter if people perceive me as white or Asian, the messy realities of my transnationality leave me stuck somewhere in between multiple identities. I am Asian by birth but often identify as white because of my adoption into a white family. Yet, because of the stigma against adoptees in South Korea and the color line in the South, I remain situated somewhere between black, white and Other. Living in a region where racial lines have been clearly defined, my identity is indefinable. I view this world through multiple lenses, yet feel like I do not belong anywhere. This autobiographical exploration is an attempt to understand how place has constructed my identity even as I struggle to name it and take control of it in a way that critiques the old binaries within the Deep South as well as the gendered assumptions about what a southern woman is or should be. South Korea’s strong beliefs regarding ethnic nationalism and the primacy of blood kinship are problematic for transnational adoptees like me and impact the spaces that I occupy. I will examine the ways in which my identity as a Korean adoptee problematizes the South’s racial dichotomy, the politics of belonging and the archetype of white southern womanhood.
A geographical classification of Master's Colleges and Universities
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Kinkead, John Clinton; Katsinas, Stephen G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This study had two primary objectives. First, this study sought to create a classification system to which publicly-controlled Carnegie classified Master's Colleges and Universities could be grouped according to geographical service (rural-serving, suburban-serving, or urban-serving. Second, once the classification system was developed and applied, the study, using descriptive statistics, sought to describe selected characteristics of these institutions. The variables chosen to describe these institutions included membership status in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), student unduplicated headcount enrollments, number of degrees awarded, student race/ethnicity, student financial aid, and student loan indebtedness. Using population data from the 2000 United States decennial census, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the National Center for Education Statistics' Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), this study had four major findings. First, most (94%) of publicly-controlled Carnegie classified Master's Colleges and Universities are participating members of AASCU. Second, publicly-controlled Carnegie classified Master's Colleges and Universities are approximately 61% rural-serving, 21% suburban-serving, and 17% urban-serving. Of the 2.5 million students enrolled during academic year 2006-07, 50% were enrolled in a rural-serving institution, while 25% and 24% were enrolled in suburban-serving and urban-serving institutions, respectively. Third, publicly-controlled Carnegie classified Master's Colleges and Universities enroll and graduate a very diverse student body. In total, students at public master's institutions are 61% White, 13% Black, and 11% Hispanic. While this is true in total, significant minority enrollments were observed from the rural, suburban, and urban subclasses. Fourth and finally, student financial aid at public master's institutions has not kept pace with the need for student loans. In nearly every subclass, loans represent the single largest percentage of financial aid. Regretfully, the average loan taken out by a student at a public master's institution is nearly $4,000. Moreover, the suburban-serving sector of public master's institutions posts the highest loan figure of $4,474. The study concludes with recommendations for policy, practice, and future studies. Discussions of the findings with an overall relevance to the future of higher education in the 21st century are offered.
Great expectations and post-feminist accountability: negotiating femininity in a modern day sorority
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2016) Gillan, Kathleen R.; Adams, Natalie G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The purpose of study was to understand how femininity is produced within historically white sororities. In order to achieve this understanding, participants’ experiences were analyzed through a qualitative lens informed by post-feminism and girls’ studies. Drawing theoretically from Anita Harris’ discourse of girl power (or the can-do girl) and Angela McRobbie’s (2009) post-feminist concepts of double entanglement, post-feminist masquerade, and ‘the perfect’; the construction of femininity, was explored within the context of sorority membership. Specific attention was given to the effort required, of sorority members with formal leadership experience, to interpret, negotiate, reproduce, and resist femininity. The goal of this study was to provide a more complex understanding of sororities and their members. Since this is an initial study, limitations were discussed as well as recommendations for future study.
How students' interpretation of place relate to educational experiences in high school
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Gordon, Tedi Taylor; Tomlinson, Stephen; Kuntz, Aaron M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Schools are designed, renovated, and built without much consideration given to how students experience the very halls they walk or the classrooms they inhabit. As a result, educational researchers often render absent the impact of school places on students and overemphasize nonmaterial considerations such as curricula or accountability. This lack of knowledge leads educational stakeholders to assume that particular practices in teaching, organization, and policy will affect the educational experiences of students in beneficial ways. The purpose of this research is to explore students' interpretation of the school environment, referred to as place, as it relates to the experiences in high school. The study used an in-depth interviewing strategy that involved a walking tour, individual interviews, and focus groups of 16 high school students from central Alabama. The findings suggest that the place of school is multidimensional. Place shapes us cognitively, emotionally, and physically. The study explores these dimensions in order to explain how place shapes us through experience. The results demonstrate that educational stakeholders can benefit from an understanding of how students perceive their schools and the particular places they comprise.
Institutional factors that affect the mathematical achievement of African American females
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Chatman, Audrey Eileen; Adams, Natalie G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This dissertation explored how institutional factors impact the mathematical achievement of African American middle school females. The purpose of the research was to provide insight into African American females' perception of their mathematics experiences and demonstrate how both internal and external factors contribute to their achievement. Data collection occurred at a middle school in Southeastern Alabama and included classroom observations, individual interviews, participant journals, and analysis of state standardized assessments, report card grades, discipline information, and system-wide benchmarks. The achievement gap and resiliency research served as the framework for analyzing the effect of motivational factors on the achievement of African American females in mathematics. The findings in this study established that internal resiliency factors, such as persistence and confidence in self are essential to continuous improvement in mathematics. Further the data demonostrated that school related factors such as teacher, peer interaction, and engaging strategies assist in shaping students' attitude towards mathematics. The implications for this research are for educators to reassess hidden biases and begin to view African American females as a rising minority model for resiliency and mathematical excellence.
Life science teachers' decision making on sex education
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2013) Gill, Puneet Singh; Erevelles, Nirmala; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The desires of young people and especially young bodies are constructed at the intersections of policies that set the parameters of sex education policies, the embodied experiences of students in classrooms, and the way bodies are discussed in the complex language of science. Moreover, more research points to the lack of scientifically and medically accurate information about sex education. Through this research, I hope to extend the discussion about sex education to life science classrooms, where youth can discuss how sex occurs according to scientific concepts and processes. However, science classrooms are caught in a double bind: They maintain positivist methods of teaching science while paying little attention to the nature of science or the nature and function of science that offer explanations of scientific phenomena. In this study, I describe how science teachers made decisions about what to include or not include about sexuality in a life science classroom and the discursive frameworks that shaped these decisions. I also analyzed the ways that these relationships functioned to produce certain truths, or discourses. The current trends in research concerning SSI are pointing to understanding how controversial issues are framed according to personal philosophies, identities, and teaching approaches. If we can understand science teachers' inner aspects as they relate to sexuality education, we can also understand the deep-seeded motivations behind how these specific issues are being taught. In science classrooms where a discussion of the body is part of the curriculum, specific discourses of the body and sex/sexuality are excluded. In this study, I describe how science teachers made decisions about what to include or not include about sexuality in a life science classroom and the discursive practices that shaped these decisions.
Lost stories of training head start teachers: The University of Alabama, a Federal program, and meanings of race
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Ingram, Amanda Noelle; Adams, Natalie G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The purpose of this study was to examine the partnership between the University of Alabama and Project Head Start from 1965 to 1975. Head Start was a War on Poverty program that sought to provide preschool education to poor children, first through a summer program, and later through a yearlong school program. Project Head Start created a need for trained early childhood educators. In the rush to launch the program in mere months, universities planned training programs across the country to prepare teachers for the first Head Start program. The University hosted the second largest training in the country with teachers in attendance from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Georgia. From June to July 1965, the University of Alabama trained over 1,700 teachers during three separate one-week sessions hosted at four sites. While the Office of Economic Opportunity specifically designed Head Start to address poverty, race played an unmistakable role in the program. Launched after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Head Start was designed at the federal level to be a completely racially integrated program. While this lofty goal was not achieved, especially in the initial launch of the program, the aim of desegregation was realized in the teacher-training program at the University of Alabama. Through archival research and oral history, this study primarily focused on the Head Start teacher-training programs at The University of Alabama that were interracial programs at a time when widespread desegregation had yet to reach either the University or city. This study also investigated the initial implementation of Head Start in Tuscaloosa in 1965. In contrast to the teacher-training program that occurred on campus, the town’s Head Start operated as a completely segregated program illustrating the persistence of segregation in the South and underscoring the significance of the desegregated program that occurred at the University. The partnership between the University and Project Head Start extended through the 1970s and contributed to desegregation of the campus Child Development Center.
More than a game understanding the subjectivities of Black male athletes through space and race at a predominantly White institution
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Tyus, LaTasha Smith; Erevelles, Nirmala; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Black male student athletes who attend Predominantly White Institutions or PWIs (Esposito, 2011) are afforded an opportunity to represent the institution through competitive sports; yet, they face many academic and personal challenges while they are doing so. Although much literature exists that examines the experiences of Black male student athletes and the forms of discrimination and racism they encounter, there is still a need for in-depth qualitative research that focuses on the daily lived experiences of Black male students and the different spaces they occupy at their PWI. Moreover, more exploration is needed into how the subjectivities they encounter within the spaces at their PWI constitute their identities. Within this research study, Black male athletes share their personal experiences of attending a PWI and occupying different spaces at the institution. Furthermore, their lived experiences (Ladson-Billings, 2009) offer insight into how they negotiate being a person of color at a PWI who is often praised for his athletic talents; yet at times he finds himself living as an racialized (Smith, Yosso & Solorzano, 2007) person because of his skin color.
More than just a game: the impact of sports on racial segregation in one southern town
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Robinson, Robert L.; Adams, Natalie G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The research examines the impact of sports in the Civil Rights Movement, particularly addressing school desegregation during 1965–1971 in Valdosta, Georgia, based on interviews with nine Black football athletes who played for Valdosta High School during that period. The Valdosta High School football team had a tradition of excellence that was recognized throughout the state of Georgia. Valdosta and most of Lowndes County had a clear history of racial violence and bigotry. However, when the community was faced with mandated desegregation of the high school, instead of resorting to violence, the citizens focused on football. The outstanding success of African American football players and the entire time under the leadership of their head coach built a bridge between the White and Black communities. What could have been a period of intense brutality and community upheaval became a time of championships and glory.

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