Historical Value
 

In Associate Professor Philo Hutcheson's history of education class, College of Education doctoral student Tene Harris asked a simple question: When schools were desegregated in the 1960s, what happened to the African-American teachers?

 

This query became the focus of her dissertation and has allowed Harris the opportunity to explore the history of Burney-Harris High School, one of the first accredited African-American high schools in Georgia.

 

"My family moved to Athens, Ga., when I was nine years old and in my church, there were many former teachers and administrators who always spoke about 'the great Burney-Harris High School.' So this was my opportunity to research it," said Harris, who this past fall interviewed several former students, teachers and administrators from Burney-Harris and reviewed Board of Education meeting minutes and issues of the Athens Banner-Herald. "Hearing these students from Burney-Harris, some of them 80 years old, recall their teachers and principals and the impact they made on them was incredible."   

  

Like Harris, Vanessa Siddle Walker, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Educational Studies at Emory University, has conducted research on African-American schools in the segregated South. Harris met Walker at a book signing, where she suggested Harris delve into the connections among African-American teachers in schools like Burney-Harris across the state.

 

"My research looks at the value of black schools, the networks they had and the displacement that happened upon desegregation," Harris explained.    

 

To read more about Harris's work in the COE, click here.