Subtle, vicious effects”
Lillian Steele Proctor's Pioneering Investigation of Gifted African American Children in Washington, DC
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9886191 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sevan G Terzian (0000-0002-6569-4096, University of Florida, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 351-371 |
| Publication date | 2021-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Education Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2680 • E-ISSN: 1748-5959 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/heq.2021.22 |
| OpenAlex | W3191688251 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
This essay examines the first detailed study of gifted African American youth: Lillian Steele Proctor's master's thesis from the late 1920s on Black children in Washington, DC. Unlike formative research on gifted children by educational psychologists, Proctor's investigation emphasized children's experiences at school, home, and community in determining their abilities, opportunities, and accomplishments. Proctor's work also anticipated African American intellectuals’ critiques of racist claims about intelligence and giftedness that would flourish in the 1930s. In focusing on the nation's capital, her investigation drew from a municipality with a high proportion of African American residents that was segregated by law. Proctor pointed directly to systemic racism as both contributing to the relative invisibility of gifted African American youth and in thwarting opportunities to realize their intellectual potential. In an environment of racial subordination and segregation, these gifted children found themselves excluded from cultural resources and educational opportunities
African american · Formative assessment · Pedagogy · Racism · Sociology · American History and Culture · Anthropology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · Race, History, and American Society
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |