Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia
Many localities in America resisted integration in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education rulings (1954, 1955). Virginia’s Prince Edward County stands as perhaps the most extreme. Rather than fund integrated schools, the county’s board of supervisors closed public schools from 1959 until 1964. The only formal education available for those locked out of school came in 1963 when the combined efforts of Prince Edward’s African American community and aides from President John F. Kennedy’s administration established the Prince Edward County Free School Association (Free School). This temporary school system would serve just over 1,500 students, both black and white, aged 6 through 23. Drawing upon extensive archival research, Resisting Brown presents the Free School as a site in which important rhetorical work took place. Candace Epps-Robertson analyzes public discourse that supported the school closures as an effort and manifestation of citizenship and demonstrates how the establishment of the Free School can be seen as a rhetorical response to white supremacist ideologies. The school’s mission statements, philosophies, and commitment to literacy served as arguments against racialized constructions of citizenship. Prince Edward County stands as a microcosm of America’s struggle with race, literacy, and citizenship.
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Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia
Many localities in America resisted integration in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education rulings (1954, 1955). Virginia’s Prince Edward County stands as perhaps the most extreme. Rather than fund integrated schools, the county’s board of supervisors closed public schools from 1959 until 1964. The only formal education available for those locked out of school came in 1963 when the combined efforts of Prince Edward’s African American community and aides from President John F. Kennedy’s administration established the Prince Edward County Free School Association (Free School). This temporary school system would serve just over 1,500 students, both black and white, aged 6 through 23. Drawing upon extensive archival research, Resisting Brown presents the Free School as a site in which important rhetorical work took place. Candace Epps-Robertson analyzes public discourse that supported the school closures as an effort and manifestation of citizenship and demonstrates how the establishment of the Free School can be seen as a rhetorical response to white supremacist ideologies. The school’s mission statements, philosophies, and commitment to literacy served as arguments against racialized constructions of citizenship. Prince Edward County stands as a microcosm of America’s struggle with race, literacy, and citizenship.
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Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia

Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia

by Candace Epps-Robertson
Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia

Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia

by Candace Epps-Robertson

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Overview

Many localities in America resisted integration in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education rulings (1954, 1955). Virginia’s Prince Edward County stands as perhaps the most extreme. Rather than fund integrated schools, the county’s board of supervisors closed public schools from 1959 until 1964. The only formal education available for those locked out of school came in 1963 when the combined efforts of Prince Edward’s African American community and aides from President John F. Kennedy’s administration established the Prince Edward County Free School Association (Free School). This temporary school system would serve just over 1,500 students, both black and white, aged 6 through 23. Drawing upon extensive archival research, Resisting Brown presents the Free School as a site in which important rhetorical work took place. Candace Epps-Robertson analyzes public discourse that supported the school closures as an effort and manifestation of citizenship and demonstrates how the establishment of the Free School can be seen as a rhetorical response to white supremacist ideologies. The school’s mission statements, philosophies, and commitment to literacy served as arguments against racialized constructions of citizenship. Prince Edward County stands as a microcosm of America’s struggle with race, literacy, and citizenship.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780822986454
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date: 10/02/2018
Series: Composition, Literacy, and Culture
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 166
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Candace Epps-Robertson is an assistant professor of English at the University of North Carolina. Her research examines the social histories of literacy and cultural rhetoric, in particular how these practices develop and respond to oppression.

Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgments Preface: A Genealogy through Stories Introduction: The Power, Possibility, and Peril in Histories of Literacy Chapter 1. Rhetoric, Race, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia Chapter 2. Manufacturing and Responding to White Supremacist Ideology in the “Virginia Way” Chapter 3. “Teaching Must Be Our Way of Demonstrating!”: Institutional Design against White Supremacy Chapter 4. Free School Students Speak Chapter 5. Pomp and Circumstance: The Legacy of the Prince Edward County Free School Association for Contemporary Literacy Theory and Pedagogy Appendix: Timeline of Key Local, Regional, and National Events Related to Civil Rights Notes Works Cited Index
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