The Lost Education of Horace Tate: Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools

by Vanessa Siddle Walker

Overview

The harrowing account of the black Southern educators who "bravely pressed on for justice in schools" (The New York Review of Books) even as the bright lodestar of desegregation faded

This "well-told and inspiring" story (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is the monumental product of Lillian Smith Book Award–winning author Vanessa Siddle Walker's two-decade investigation into the clandestine travels and meetings—with other educators, Dr. King, Georgia politicians, and even U.S. presidents—of one Dr. Horace Tate, a former Georgia school teacher, principal, and state senator. In a sweeping work "that reads like a companion piece to 'Hidden Figures,'" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), post-Brown generations will encounter invaluable lessons for today from the educators behind countless historical battles—in courtrooms, schools, and communities—for the quality education of black children.

For two years, an aging Tate told Siddle Walker fascinating stories about a lifetime advocating for racial justice in schools. On his deathbed, he asked her return to his office in Atlanta, where upon his passing she discovered an attic filled with a massive archive documenting the underground actors and covert strategies behind the most significant era of the fight for educational justice. Until now, the courageous tale of how black Americans in the South won so much and subsequently fell so far has been incomplete. The Lost Education of Horace Tate is "a powerful reminder of the link between educators and the struggle for equality and justice in American history" (The Wall Street Journal).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620976029
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	658,971
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Vanessa Siddle Walker, a professor at Emory University, has studied the segregated schooling of African American children for more than twenty years. She is the president of the American Educational Research Association, a member of the National Academy of Education, a former Spencer fellow, and a recipient of the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in education. She lives near Atlanta.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Finding the Hidden Provocateurs 1

Prologue: Before the End 7

Part I The Education of a Young Principal

1 In the Shadow of His Smile 13

2 Now You See Me, Now You Don't 29

3 My Dear Mr. Marshall 40

4 The Balm in Gilead 55

5 A Simple Scheme to Do a "Simple Little" 71

6 To Help Our People 83

7 Fighting White Folk 98

8 Out of the Public Eye 115

9 Seasons of Opportunity 124

10 Paying the Cost 136

Part II The Education of Negro Leaders

11 Just Trying to Be a Man 145

12 Moving on Up 159

13 In This Present Crisis 172

14 Shifting Sands 186

15 The Ties That Bind 201

16 Paying the Cost-Again 214

Part III The Education of a People

17 Walking the Ancient Paths 221

18 Policing the South 233

19 Justice Restructured in Dixie 245

20 As Freedom Turns 257

21 Not a Two-Way Street 270

22 We Hold These Truths 285

23 Fighting Back 301

24 A Charge to Keep I Have 317

25 Justice Betrayed 334

26 A Second-Class Integration It Is 352

27 Nobody but a Fool 363

Epilogue: The Last Word 368

Author's Note: A Look in the Rearview Mirror 373

Acknowledgments 379

Notes 383

Index 455

Editorial Reviews

05/28/2018
In this narrative history backed up with detailed scholarship, Walker, professor of African-American educational studies at Emory University, sheds light on the mostly unsung heroes—black teachers, principals, and other school personnel—in the battle for equal education in the South leading up to Brown v. Board of Education. Drawing on two years of interviews and the long-hidden archives of lifelong education activist Horace Tate, a former Georgia state senator who was a school teacher and principal in his younger years, the author recounts how Tate and others secretly fought the “separate but equal” ethos to get roomier buildings, school buses, and other educational necessities for African-American pupils. Their work had to be clandestine because, Walker writes, “even those trying to fly under the radar who attempted to challenge inequality could pay with their livelihoods, their health and sometimes their lives.” Walker gleans facts and colorful details from documents like letters and meeting minutes to illuminate how the personable Tate and his colleagues, “masterly tricksters,” deliberately obfuscated their activist roles behind their docile public faces as teachers and principals. This well-told and inspiring tale, with its rarely discussed angle on the school segregation fight, will draw in readers interested in meaningful work and activism, or just a well-told tale. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Lost Education of Horace Tate:
"The Lost Education of Horace Tate provides a granular feel for the hopes, fears and frustrations of teachers and school administrators who struggled for basic justice. . . . Reading her book is a powerful reminder of the link between educators and the struggle for equality and justice in American history. For Horace Tate and his colleagues, teaching the lessons of democracy was never about indoctrination. It was—as it remains today—about deepening students' awareness of the promise of American ideals and how much work is necessary to make them more than a dream."
—Wall Street Journal

"As readers discover Tate's place in history, they'll also enjoy reading about Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. DuBois and other activists portrayed in rarely seen moments."
—BookPage

★ "Walker's extensively documented work is a much-needed corrective contextualizing the landscape of school desegregation; required reading for those interested in the past, present, and future of education of African American children."
—Library Jounal (Starred Review)

"Quotes, anecdotes, archival photos, and other primary sources document the relentless battle for equality for southern schools, resulting in victories that affected education across America. Historical background provides context, and personal insights underscore the realities, dangers, conflicts, and triumphs. Readers follow Tate as he progresses from observer to organizer to leader, eventually becoming an example for a new generation of activists. Both education and civil-rights scholars will appreciate Walker's new insights."
—Booklist

★ "This well-told and inspiring tale, with its rarely discussed angle on the school segregation fight, will draw in readers interested in meaningful work and activism, or just a well-told tale."
—Publisher Weekly (Starred Review)

"[A] new perspective on segregated schooling and education reform in the South. . . . A fresh, well-documented study of the complex struggle for equality in education."
—Kirkus Reviews

"A more conscientious torchbearer of the history of black educators in America you will not find. Vanessa Siddle Walker is a brilliant thinker, a teacher's teacher, and a sage storyteller. Her words illuminate the passion, the tragedy, and the inventiveness behind the struggle for equality in the South."
—Lisa Delpit, bestselling author of Other People's Children

"Walker compels us to see that the main struggle for educational equality unfolds off stage. This subterranean process, reproduced over generations, transmitted advocacy that made, remade, and ultimately overturned Jim Crow from the bottom up. This is a passionate, original, and brilliant study of how black educators navigated racially segregated schooling."
—James D. Anderson, dean of the College of Education, University of Illinois

"In an era when policymakers are quick to shutter urban public schools and fire their black teachers in the name of competition, Walker's incisive scholarship on the brilliance and dedication of the black educators discarded during the school desegregation era requires us to confront the full cost to our nation of racialized policies that erase committed professionals because of the color of their skin."
—Amy Stuart Wells, professor of sociology and education, Teachers College, Columbia University

"A beautiful story, a powerful life, and an essential read."
—Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor of urban education, University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of The DreamKeepers

"African American teachers intentionally operated outside the public eye to achieve justice during Jim Crow; so much so, that their bravery has been forgotten. The writing is suspenseful. The story is tragic. Yet it provides practical lessons about the critical work of educators in times of civil unrest."
—Jarvis R. Givens, assistant professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"Meticulous in its historical detail and compelling in its narrative. . . . It is both a tragic tale, and a cautionary one for those who continue the struggle today. Well worth reading!"
—Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

Praise for Vanessa Siddle Walker's Their Highest Potential:
"A compelling story."
—Journal of American History

"Excellent."
—MultiCultural Review

"This is a first-rate book and a very moving story."
—James D. Anderson, author of The Education of Blacks in the South

"[A] must read . . ."
—Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Praise for Vanessa Siddle Walker's Race-ing Moral Formation:
"Groundbreaking and riveting . . . [A]n essential book."
—Andrew Garrod, Dartmouth College

From the Publisher

2018-05-01
A historian of black education discovers an underground network of advocates and reformers.Drawing on two years of interviews and more than 15 years of research, Walker (African-American Education Studies/Emory Univ.; Hello Professor: A Black Principal and Professional Leadership in the Segregated South, 2009, etc.) focuses on the career of teacher, school principal, and Georgia state senator Horace Tate (1922-2002) to offer a new perspective on segregated schooling and education reform in the South. Before embarking on research for this book, Walker believed the "repeatedly told and almost universally accepted" story that "the NAACP protested injustice and crafted the successful Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case" that incited grass-roots movements, civil disobedience, and legal protests. Tate's testimony, however, along with the massive amount of archival material he provided for her, revealed generations of black educators acting strategically and covertly to achieve change. While the NAACP served as the face of reform, the organization could not have succeeded without these behind-the-scenes players. Much of Tate's career happened by accident: He attended Fort Valley State College, where by chance he took a part-time job as student chauffeur for the college's president, Horace Mann Bond, a savvy administrator who "manipulated the levers needed" to solve problems. By observing Bond, Tate learned how to achieve goals by focusing on the weaknesses, psychology, and prejudices of his opponents. Tate's first teaching job came by accident, too, when a principal, studying at Fort Valley, needed to hire a college graduate to teach in his high school. Through that position, Tate became a member of the Georgia Teachers and Education Association, an active and influential society of black educators (Tate eventually became executive secretary). When the principal was drafted into World War II, Tate took over as administrator. As he rose in the profession, he became involved in teacher training and designing innovative curricula that he kept "concealed from white eyes" who would object to an ambitious vision for black students.A fresh, well-documented study of the complex struggle for equality in education.

Kirkus Reviews