This paper examines the first mandatory Black history curriculum in a US public school system, implemented in Chicago Public Schools between 1942 and 1945. Researched and designed by Madeline Morgan, the curriculum supplemented existing social studies lesson plans with Black people's contributions to US society. How did she win approval for the…

While educating international students is celebrated as a means of promoting mutual understanding among nations, American higher education has always been entangled with geopolitics. This essay focuses on Tang Tsou, the Chinese scholar who came to the United States as a student in 1941, eventually becoming the nation's leading China expert and…

Chicago's magnet schools were one of the nation's earliest experiments in choice-driven school desegregation, originating among civil rights advocates and academic education experts in the 1960s and appearing at specific sites in Chicago's urban landscape during the 1970s. The specific concerns that motivated the creation of magnet schools during…

Describes the growth of extracurricular activities in Chicago, Illinois high schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Examines the origins and membership of student clubs and the emergence of systematic educator involvement in them, which established adult control and discipline. Discusses implications for the ongoing study of…

Four sets of issues as they relate to the city of Chicago during the late 19th and early 20th centuries are examined: race and the liberal agenda, the role of academics in public policy, the organization of teachers, and the ambiguities of progressive policy. (RM)

Examines the historical integration-segregation dilemma from the passage of the first Illinois school law in 1825 to the solidification of the segregation era in the 1930s. Discusses structural impediments to Black students' academic achievement and identifies forces which sought to establish a vocational education caste system for Blacks.…

Utilizes evidence from the 1860 federal census to determine rates of school attendance in Chicago (Illinois). Employs multivariate statistical techniques to establish the correlates of those rates. Considers the impact of the Irish immigration and the role of the Catholic Church. Includes eight tables of statistical data. (MJP)

Considers the state of the urban public education system in Chicago (Illinois). Addresses the effects of demographic and economic changes, the role of Benjamin Coppage Willis as superintendent of the Chicago schools, and the effects of inequality and plans for desegregation. (CMK)