Hello Professor : A Black Principal and Professional Leadership in the Segregated South

Like Many Black School Principals, Ulysses Byas, Who Served The Gainesville, Georgia, School System In The 1950s And 1960s, Was Reverently Addressed By Community Members As Professor. He Kept Copious Notes And Records Throughout His Career, Documenting Efforts To Improve The Education Of Blacks. Through Conversations With Byas And Access To His Extensive Archives On His Principalship, Vanessa Siddle Walker Finds That Black Principals Were Well Positioned In The Community To Serve As Conduits Of Ideas, Knowledge, And Tools To Support Black Resistance To Officially Sanctioned Regressive Educational Systems In The Jim Crow South. Walker Explains That Principals Participated In Local, Regional, And National Associations, Comprising A Black Educational Network Through Which Power Structures Were Formed And Ideas Were Spread To Schools Across The South. The Professor Enabled Local School Empowerment And Applied The Collective Wisdom Of The Network To Pursue Common School Projects Such As Pressuring School Superintendents For Funding, Structuring Professional Development For Teachers, And Generating Local Action That Was Informed By Research In Academic Practice. The Professor Was Uniquely Positioned To Learn About And Deploy Resources Made Available Through These Networks. Walker's Record Of The Transfer Of Ideology From Black Organizations Into A Local Setting Illuminates The Remembered Activities Of Black Schools Throughout The South And Recalls For A New Generation The Role Of The Professor In Uplifting Black Communities. --publisher Description. Introduction: Once Upon A Time In A Forgotten World -- Playing Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde -- From High School Dropout To Classroom Teacher -- In Spite Of This Old Devil Segregation -- In Georgia, Where I Am Free To Express Myself -- Whatever Is In The Best Interests Of Kids -- Not Without Partnering With The Community -- Conclusion: The Price For Running Twice As Fast. Vanessa Siddle Walker With Ulysses Byas. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [271]-279) And Index. Contents......Page 8 Preface: Me Speaks, Finally......Page 10 Introduction: Once upon a Time in a Forgotten World......Page 18 1 Playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde......Page 34 2 From High School Dropout to Classroom Teacher......Page 64 3 In Spite of This Old Devil Segregation......Page 98 4 In Georgia, Where I Am Free to Express Myself......Page 141 5 Whatever Is in the Best Interests of Kids......Page 176 6 Not without Partnering with the Community......Page 210 Conclusion: The Price for Running Twice as Fast......Page 248 After All Data Are In: Some Notes on Methodology......Page 258 Notes......Page 262 Bibliography......Page 288 B......Page 298 C......Page 301 E......Page 302 G......Page 303 H......Page 305 N......Page 306 S......Page 307 T......Page 309 Y......Page 310 Explains that principals participated in local, regional, and national associations, comprising a black educational network through which power structures were formed and ideas were spread to schools across the South in the 1950s and 1960s.