White activism and social justice in educational leadership: the work of Jean-Charles Houzeau

Abstract

Through a close reading of Jean-Charles Houzeau’s ‘My Passage at the New Orleans Tribune: A Memoir of the Civil War Era’, I began the process of attempting to adjudicate between an abolitionist––a type of individual who has been made possible in our collective imagery through our historical education––and an active anti-racist educational leader––someone who is more of a recent twentieth–twenty-first century figure in our collective consciousness. Next, I question the absence of active white anti-racists throughout history curriculum and our dependence on the almost docile and paternalistic character of abolitionists as the singular historical example of white allies or radicals. Finally, I consider the implications for not providing a spectrum of white resistance in curriculum for educational leaders, students and the work of social justice in schools wholly.

Notes

Kirsten T. Edwards’s manuscript took top prize in the journal’s 10th Annual Emerging Scholar Manuscript competition, graduate student category. Congratulations Kirsten! Information on the contest, how to volunteer to be a reviewer, or how to submit a manuscript can be found on the journal’s website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/competitions/tedl.pdf or by contacting the assistant editor in charge of the competition Noelle Witherspoon Arnold: [email protected]

1. Accessed from the Historic New Orleans Collection Williams Research Center.

2. Accessed from the Historic New Orleans Collection Williams Research Center.