Pedagogical Progressivism and Black Education: A Historiographical Review, 1880–1957

At a moment when scholars are reexamining historical narratives at both the K–12 and university level, this emerging history of Black pedagogical progressivism could help reshape how historians, teachers, and teacher educators discuss one of the most influential periods in the history of education. In many contemporary schools of education, courses on curriculum theory, history of education, and educational foundations discuss the Progressive Era with little or no mention of the presence or pedagogies of Black educators. Black voices are regularly ignored or consigned to well-worn topics like the debates between Du Bois and Washington. The history of Black engagement with pedagogical progressivism opens new ground to discuss how Black educators contributed to and challenged the dominate educational discourses of their day.