The Missed Education of the Negro: An Examination of the Black Segregated Education Experience in Southampton County, Virginia 1950-1970

The Missed Education of the Negro: An Examination of the Black Segregated Experience in Southampton County, VA 1950-1970, takes readers, scholars, and students back in time to explore the nuances of Black segregated education during the Jim Crow Era in Southampton County. Poet, author, educator, and senior military spouse Dr. Latorial Faison recaptures a Black experience left behind as she also highlights the unique characteristics of Black teacher pedagogy and its positive effects on students of color. All the while, Faison pays homage to her Southern roots: the history, the people, and the place where her life began.Dr. Faison's research study examined the Mid-Twentieth Century Black segregated education experience in rural Southampton County, Virginia, from 1950 to 1970 to explore student perceptions of the Black segregated education experience. The scholar holds that graduates of numerous Black schools in the segregated South prove that Black educators defied systemic odds to nurture, cultivate, and commission Black achievement and excellence in students of color during one of the darkest eras in history.Faison's research offers resolutions to three critical issues in public schools: widening achievement gaps for African American students, a lack of culturally relevant teaching, and the absence of essential links and connections to the African American community. Theories that frame Faison's research are Identity Development Theory, the Theory of Eurocentricity, and Critical Race Theory (CRT). These theoretical approaches assist in revisiting segregated education history to understand the dynamics of existing educational disparities, inform practice, and promote more successful outcomes for African American students.Sixteen in-depth participant interviews were conducted by Dr. Faison to explore perceptions of the Black segregated education experience in rural Southampton County, Virginia. Through phenomenology, critical ethnography, narrative portraiture, and poetic analysis, the researcher highlights the nuances of a unique educational experience and reviews and analyzes data from a cultural aspect.Faison's research addresses the academic challenges of educating African Americans with regard to history, race, and culture. It also supports the hypothesis that academic, social, and professional success and achievement are more likely outcomes when minority students, particularly African American students, have more equitable, inclusive, and culturally relevant educational experiences.The Missed Education of the Negro captures the Black segregated experience in sixteen participant narratives that bear witness to what education, Black educators, and attending high school during the legalized segregation of the Jim Crow Era were really about. This research provides a unique, intricate look into a Black or African American life, complete with strong family values, unequivocal respect and appreciation for education, and the strength of a conscious, unified community of Color. Read more