Progressive Education, After-School Programs and their Impact on the Lives of African American Males: An Introduction

Abstract

This edition of the Peabody Journal of Education analyzes the historical and contemporary role of after-school programs in the development of African American males. In this introduction, the author places after-school programs within an historical context of progressivism, progressive education and social change in 19th-century America. As these new ideas of children and childhood were conceptualized, four significant social changes in America—industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and an “American reformation”—sparked the implementation of remedies for social ills within urban settings. This article suggests that the early 20th-century focus on after-school programs for African Americans were the results of lessons learned from early “remedies” targeting “new” immigrants. Moreover, the later desire to assist African American youth through these national and local youth development organizations was spurred by the rapid migration of African Americans to the urban northeast and Midwest during the first quarter of the 20th century. Moreover, the failed efforts of African Americans to acquire decent housing, the resulting crowding into segregated neighborhoods, and the deteriorating conditions of these urban, African American neighborhoods drew the attention of progressives, both African American and White, who were knowledgeable of and/or serving immigrant communities to provide similar services in urban, African American communities. ¹

This statement does not suggest that the African American community lacked interest in the development of organizations to serve their youth; however, these conditions did spark the interest of the larger community to act.

Notes

This statement does not suggest that the African American community lacked interest in the development of organizations to serve their youth; however, these conditions did spark the interest of the larger community to act.

This statement does not suggest that the African American community lacked interest in the development of organizations to serve their youth; however, these conditions did spark the interest of the larger community to act.