African American Educators’ Ideas and Practices for Increasing High School Graduation Rates, 1920–1940

This study explores African American educators’ ideas about school completion in the 1920s and 1930s as a way to begin to understand their contributions to the historical discourse on school completion. Using publications from African American professional teaching organizations, the author elevates and examines how African American educators both discussed and engaged in rhetoric around high school completion. The study finds that African American educators primarily advocated for institutional adjustments when discussing ways to increase high school completion. Specifically, African American educators overwhelmingly encouraged schools and teachers to adjust the school day, differentiate the curriculum, and restructure guidance programs to address high school completion concerns. However, the author finds that high school completion did not exist as an isolated educational concern. Instead, the data indicate that African American educators viewed high school completion as part of a long-term strategy for racial uplift and economic advancement.