In using the autobiographies of African-Americans as a heuristic, educators are provided with a context to view African-American educational history. The autobiographies of African-Americans tell stories of triumph over adversity as also revealed in Melba Beals' autobiography, "Warriors Don't Cry," a recount of the struggle to integrate Central…

John D. Rockefeller and a group of friends and advisors established the General Education Board a century ago. They established the Board, among other endeavors, with the intention that it improve the education of African Americans in the American South. Over its sixty-two year history, the Board far outdistanced the other "Northern"…

Seeking to distance themselves from the educational patterns they dislike, some contemporary advocates of academic studies overlooked an important problem that they share with the progressives they criticize. For example, Diane Ravitch blamed the absence of academics in schools on what she called the progressive educators' efforts to provide…

Nearly two thousand years ago, Quintilian wrote a guide for the education of the ideal citizen which combined theory with educational practice. He believed in the importance of early education, the place of play and joy in learning, the necessity to base education on students' individual patterns of growth and learning, the magnitude of the…

The name Alcott is familiar and associated with author Louisa May Alcott and Transcendental philosopher/educator Amos Bronson Alcott. Yet the literary world has come to know May Alcott not for the talented artist she was, but as Amy, the spoiled, artistic character in Louisa's novel "Little Women". May Alcott Nieriker is worthy of investigation,…

The Wright family, descended from the patriarch Allen Wright, who arrived in the new Choctaw Nation after surviving the "Trail of Tears," played an important role in Oklahoma politics and society. Following removal to Oklahoma, Allen went on to become Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation and gave the name, Oklahoma, to the southwest territory. He…

Early childhood instruction and the experiences that accompany can serve life-long lessons. Depriving children of education during this critical period in life can have significant consequences on cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical development. This article features one of the forerunners to special education, Michael Anagnostopoulos…

The Progressive Education Association (PEA) emphasized the responsibilities of teachers as citizens within a democracy. Teachers could and should create miniature democracies within each of their classrooms, educating boys and girls on the virtues of such a society. Education for a better democracy was a descendant of George S. Counts' stronger…

This article features the life and accomplishments of Horace Jeremiah Voorhis in the field of progressive education. Voorhis earned the first Master of Arts degree in Education awarded by the Claremont Graduate Schools after he submitted his master's thesis, "The Education of the Institution Boy: A General Outline of Policies for the Voorhis…

This brief glimpse into how schools responded to a national tragedy only hints at the magnitude of responses. No school board policy or university program had prepared American educators to respond to events like those of September 11 attack. Teachers and principals simply found themselves confronting a tragic event. Still, they quickly determined…

The stages of life are now many, each having its own boundaries, logic, and a prescribed perspective of appropriate relations amongst and between members of the many stages. Just as there is a developing curriculum for the young, there is a developing curriculum in the area of elder care. Within the paradigm of staged human development, the end…

This article features the life and accomplishments of Stuart Appleton Courtis. As a teacher, a developer of tests in a variety of subjects, a member of several school surveys, a student of educational measurement, and a director of a bureau of educational research, Courtis participated in the twentieth-century transformation of public education.…

Far from being the lone voice for a new social order, Harold Rugg was one many educators throughout the United States who believed that education should offer more to the American way of life than graduating students with some form of common knowledge, but with little ability to effect necessary change. And in 1934, few Americans would disagree…

This 2001 annual publication contains 31 articles on topics germane to the history of education. Each year, this journal publishes papers presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest History of Education Society. After the "Introduction" (R. J. Taggart) articles in this year's issue are: "Origins of the American Federation of Teachers: Issues…