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The Southern Progressive Educator on Race and Pluralism: The Case of William Heard Kilpatrick

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Ronald K. Goodenow
Ronald K. Goodenow*
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
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Extract

The work of William Heard Kilpatrick (1871–1965) in the area of race and ethnic relations presents an opportunity to explore how one of the foremost educators of his time responded to a difficult and potentially dangerous aspect of American life. A consistent spokesman for New South approaches to racial injustice and a key member of the early intercultural education movement, he was also an influential officer of the New York Urban League in its formative years. Indeed, Kilpatrick's example as a pioneer in these affairs provides insight into the “liberal pluralist” outlook which came to prevail in American education for almost forty years, an outlook which only recently has come under scrutiny and criticism by scholars of race relations and ethnicity.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , Summer 1981 , pp. 147 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by History of Education Society 

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References

Notes

1. According to sociologist Milton Gordon, liberal pluralism is “characterized by absence, even prohibition, of any legal or governmental recognition of racial, religious, language, or national origins groups as corporate entities with a standing in the legal or governmental process, and a prohibition of the use of ethnic criteria at any time for discriminatory purposes, or conversely for special or favored treatment.” Hence, while schools, for example, may recognize ethnic “differences” they should not give credibility to demands for separate or distinctive treatment based on race or ethnicity. Indeed, it is part of the ideology of public schooling in American to blur fundamental differences or “conflicts” between people as a matter of policy. For a discussion of Gordon's views within the context of recent debates on this issue see Franklin, Vincent P., “American Values, Social Goals, and the Desegregated School: A Historical Perspective,” in Franklin, Vincent P. and Anderson, James D., New Perspectives On Black Educational History (Boston, 1978). For background information on the progressive education movement see Cremin, Lawrence A., The Transformation of the School: Progressivisim in American Education 1876–1957 (New York, 1961) Cremin's book remains the single most helpful scholarly interpretation of the movement. One interesting work which offers a somewhat revisionist interpretation and takes up the response of progressive educators, including Kilpatrick, to racism and ethnicity as factors in American life is Feinberg, Walter, Reason and Rhetoric: The Intellectual Foundations of Twentieth Century Educational Policy (New York, 1975). I have found Feinberg's arguments especially provocative and have gained from his willingness to share materials and ideas. Likewise, Nicholas Montalto's insights on intercultural education and Hal Lewis' on William Kilpatrick were helpful. The staff of the Rockefeller Foundation Archives in Pocantico Hills, New York, was, as always, generous. For research and other assistance I wish to acknowledge the support of the Trustees of Trinity College and the State University of New York Research Foundation. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southern History of Education Society in 1977. I have chosen not to compare Kilpatrick with other progressives in this brief essay, nor have I tried to offer a broad overview of the place of race and ethnicity in progressive ideology. For this overview I refer the reader to some of my other work, namely, Goodenow, Ronald K., “The Progressive Educator, Race and Ethnicity in the Depression Years: An Overview,” History of Education Quarterly, 15 (Winter, 1975): 365–394; “Racial and Ethnic Tolerance in John Dewey's Educational and Social Thought: The Depression Years,” Educational Theory, 26 (Winter, 1977), 48–64; “The Progressive Educator on Race, Ethnicity, Creativity and Planning: Rugg, Harold in the 1930's,” Review Journal of Philosophy and Social Science, 1 (Winter, 1977): 45–57; and “Paradox in Progressive Educational Reform: The South and the Education of Blacks in the Depression Years,” Phylon: The Atlanta University Review of Race and Culture, 39 (March, 1978): 49–65. For additional information on education in the South in the years covered in this essay see Goodenow, Ronald K. and White, Arthur O., Education and the Rise of the New South (Boston, 1981).Google Scholar

2. Kilpatrick, William Heard, “Social Planning: Today's 1776 and 1787, An Editorial,” Frontiers of Democracy, 6 (March 15, 1940): 165–166.Google Scholar

3. Pells, Richard H., Radical Visions and American Dreams: Culture and Social Thought in the Depression Years (New York, 1974), p. 368.Google Scholar

4. For a helpful discussion of this point see Ibid. Pells' bibliography is especially comprehensive.Google Scholar

5. See the Minutes of the April 29, 1932, meeting of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board of the Progressive Education Association, PEA Mss, Teachers College, Columbia University, Library.Google Scholar

6. Cited in Cole, Stewart, “The History of the Bureau of Intercultural Education,” an unpublished manuscript made from tape recordings of an interview by Olive Hall of the Boston University, c.a. 1958. The original manuscripts are on file at the Boston University Human Relations Center. They are henceforth referred to as Hall Mss.Google Scholar

7. Tenenbaum, Samuel, William Heard Kilpatrick (New York, 1951), 60. Tenenbaum's generally uncritical biography is frustrating. Although he had access to Kilpatrick's personal papers, which are not currently available to scholars, and refers in his preface to assistance from black educators, Holmes, D. O. W. and Whiting, Helen, he presents virtually no helpful information on Kilpatrick's work in the area of race and ethnic relations. And, although he mentions the aid of interculturalist, Helen Trager, Kilpatrick's intercultural work is not discussed. Chipman, D. M., “Young Kilpatrick and the Progressive Idea,” History of Education Quarterly, 17 (Winter, 1977): 407–415, is equally frustrating.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8. For a more extensive discussion of regionalism and its literature see Goodenow, , “… Harold Rugg in the 1930s.” For another overview which contains a more exhaustive bibilography, especially on the Commission, see Dykeman, Wilma and Stokely, James, Seeds of Southern Change: The Life of Will Alexander (Chicago, 1962). For a discussion which traces the roots of the Commission back to the pre-World War I University Commission on Southern Race Questions and carries its activities up to the 1930s see Tindall, George B., The Emergence of the New South, 1913–1945 (Baton Rouge, 1967), pp. 175–183. C. Vann Woodward places it within the bounds of southern progressivism in The Strange Career Of Jim Crow (New York, 1966), pp. 126–127. See also Burrows, Edward Flud, “The Commission on Interracial Cooperation: A Case Study in the History of the Interracial Movement in the South,” (Ph D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1955). The Commission's educational programs are discussed in Baker, Paul, Negro-White Adjustment (New York, 1934). There were organizations to the political left of the Commission. For a history of one see Krueger, Thomas A., And Promises To Keep: The Southern Conference For Human Welfare, 1938–1948 (Nashville, 1967). For a general overview of southern liberalism see Sosna, Morton, In Search Of The Silent South: Southern Liberals And The Race Issue (New York, 1977). Sosna includes considerable helpful bibliographic information on the Depression Years, but his interpretation is that of a mainline intellectual historian caught up in essentially regional history. There is surprisingly little in this book of interest to the social or educational historian.Google Scholar

9. Southern education programs funded by the Federal Government in the 1930s provide fertile ground for research. There is evidence that in trying to balance nondiscrimination mandates with local mores and practices the Federal program most often cited by progressive educators as enlightened social planning came down in favor of separate and unequal black education. See Grant, Nancy, “Government Social Planning and Education for Blacks: The TVA Experience 1933–1945,” in Goodenow, Ronald K. and White, Arthur O., Education And The Rise Of The New South.Google Scholar

10. Kilpatrick, William Heard, Our Educational Task As Illustrated In The Changing South (Chapel Hill, 1930), pp. 14–16.Google Scholar

11. Ibid., 19–20, Kilpatrick did note that some immigrants were “invigorating” and that he wished to discuss “cultural” as opposed to “racial” qualities in order to avoid what he called “biological dubieties.” Google Scholar

12. Ibid., 52–53.Google Scholar

13. Ibid., 36.Google Scholar

14. Tenenbaum, , William Heard Kilpatrick.Google Scholar

15. Cater, T. A. (editor), The Functions Of The Liberal Arts College In The Social Process (Talladega, 1934), pp. 19–21. See also “Inaugural Conference at Talladega College,” The Quarterly Review Of Higher Education Among Negroes, 2 (April 1934): 143–144. Gallagher's tenure as President of Talladega as well as his social reconstructionist philosophy are discussed in Goodenow, Ronald K., “Buell Gallagher as President of Talladega College: An Educational Reconstructionist in Action,” Cutting Edge: Journal Of The Society For Educational Reconstruction, 8 (Winter, 1977): 9–19.Google Scholar

16. Kilpatrick, William Heard, “Resort to Courts by Negroes to Improve Their Schools a Conditional Alternative,” The Journal Of Negro Education, 4 (July, 1935): 414–417.Google Scholar

17. Ibid.: 418.Google Scholar

18. Locke, Alain, “The Dilemma of Segregation,” The Journal of Negro Education, 4 (July, 1935). Locke's life and work are worthy of detailed study. An early supporter of the New Negro movement of the 1920s, this Howard University philosopher was to become an advocate of cultural pluralism and progressive education in the 1930s and 1940s. For examples of his work that are relevant to this study see Locke, Alain, “Minorities and the Social Mind,” Progressive Education, 12 (March, 1935): 141–146; “With Science as His Shield (The Educator Must Bridge Our ‘Great Divides’), Frontiers Of Democracy, 6 (April 15, 1940): 208–210; “The Unfinished Business of Democracy,” Survey Graphic, 31 (November, 1942): 454–84; “Pluralism and Ideological Peace,” in Hook, Sidney and Konvitz, Milton R. (editors), Freedom And Experience (New York, 1947), 63–69; “Whither Race Relations? A Critical Commentary,” Journal Of Negro Education, 13 (Summer, 1944): 398–406; and with Stern, Bernhard, When Peoples Meet (New York, 1942).Google Scholar

19. Locke, , “The Dilemma of Segregation: 407–418.Google Scholar

20. Thompson, Charles H., “Court Action Only Reasonable Alternative to Remedy Immediate Abuses of the Negro Separate School,” The Journal of Negro Education, 4 (July, 1935): 419–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21. See Kluger, Richard, Simple Justice (New York, 1977), 335–336, Handbook For The Study Conferences Of The Supervisors Of Virginia Elementary Schools, State Board of Education, Bulletin, 21 (Richmond, August, 1938) and Kilpatrick, William Heard, “What Kind of College,” The Virginia Teachers Bulletin, 21 (March, 1944): 9–10; “Conflict Areas in American Intercultural Life,” The Journal Of Educational Sociology, 16 (February 1943): 341–344; and “Education for Freedom,” Proceedings Association Of Colleges And Secondary Schools For Negroes, 1952 (n.d.): 64–68, and “Enduring Principles in a Social Philosophy of Education,” National Educational Outlook Among Negroes (March, 1938): 7–9.Google Scholar

22. See Gallagher, Buell Gordon, American Caste And The Negro College (New York, 1938), pp. 7–12. Similar views are set out in Kilpatrick, William H., “Modern Educational Theory and the Inherent Inequality of Segregation,” Progressive Education, 33 (March, 1956): 40–42, 63.Google Scholar

23. Buell Gallagher to the author, September 27, 1971.Google Scholar

24. For background information and literature on intercultural education see Goodenow, , “The Progressive Educator, Race and Ethnicity”; Goodenow, Ronald K. and Montalto, Nicholas, “The Origins of Intercultural Education, 1930–1945,” unpublished manuscript; and Glazer, Nathan, “Public Education and American Pluralism,” Chapter 4 in Coleman, James, et al, Parents, Teachers And Children: Prospects For Choice In American Education (San Francisco, 1977).Google Scholar

25. See Goodenow, and Montalto, , “The Origins of Intercultural Education …” Google Scholar

26. For examples of Kilpatrick's views on the Depression, social planning and politics see Kilpatrick, William Heard, A Reconstructed Theory Of The Educational Process (New York, 1935), p. 25; Education And The Social Crisis: A Proposed Program (New York, 1932), pp. 5–36; “The New Management: A Fresh Hold in a Continuing Effort,” Frontiers Of Democracy, 6 (October, 1939): 4–5; and “Social Planning… .” Google Scholar

27. Kilpatrick was not entirely satisfied with his role as Service Bureau chairman. He had difficulty with competing personalities, with a lack of Protestant interest—most funding came from Jewish sources—and the work was more time consuming than he expected. He did, however, keep his position until 1951. For details on his work, speaking engagements and some of the ideological and personal differences which influenced Service Bureau programs see “Interview with William Kilpatrick,” October 24, 1958, and “Bureau for Intercultural Education Questionnaire,” March 28, 1959. Hall Mss. See also Helen, G. and Trager, Frank N., “W. H. Kilpatrick and Intercultural Education,” Progressive Education, 34 (March, 1957): 52–53, 58.Google Scholar

28. Service Bureau for Intercultural Education, “Request to the General Education Board for Funds for a Research Project– 1940–1943” GEB Mss.Google Scholar

29. The New York Times, May 14, 1939, Section 3, 5.Google Scholar

30. Rugg, Harold, editor, Democracy And The Curriculum (New York, 1939), pp. 291–97, 307.Google Scholar

31. Kilpatrick, William Heard, “The Problem of Minorities, An Editorial,” Frontiers Of Democracy, 6 (April 15, 1940): 199. See also Kilpatrick, William Heard, “A Four Year Educational Program, the Underlying Principles,” The Social Frontier, 3 (October 1936): 11; and Kilpatrick, William Heard, “Education and Intolerance,” The Social Frontier, 5 (May, 1939): 130–31.Google Scholar

32. “Intercultural Education and Democracy,” Intercultural Education News, 2 (October 1940): 1, unsigned editorial, presumably written by the journal's editor.Google Scholar

33. Kilpatrick, William Heard, “Cultural Democracy in War and Peace,” Intercultural Education News, 4 (January, 1941): 1.Google Scholar

34. See Goodenow, , “The Progressive Educator, Race and Ethnicity …” for citations.Google Scholar

35. Kilpatrick, William Heard and Van Til, William (editors), Intercultural Attitudes In The Making (Ninth Yearbook of the John Dewey Society) (New York, 1947), pp. 2–5.Google Scholar

36. Kilpatrick, William Heard, “Modern Education and Better Human Relations,” Freedom Pamphlet prepared by the American Education Fellowship for the Anti-Defamation League (New York, 1949), pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

37. Quoted in Lewis, Edward Shakespear, “The Urban League, A Dynamic Instrument in Social Change: A Study of the Changing Role of the New York Urban League, 1910–1960.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1961, p. 247.Google Scholar

38. Gallagher, Buell, Kilpatrick's student, asserts that Kilpatrick openly preferred the Urban League approaches to discrimination to those of the NAACP. Gallagher to the author.Google Scholar

39. Lewis, , “The Urban League,” p. 116.Google Scholar

40. Quoted in Lewis, Edward S., “The Man and His Causes—the Urban League,” Educational Theory, 16 (January, 1968): 97.Google Scholar

41. Lewis, , “The Urban League …”, passim .Google Scholar

42. See Urban League of Greater New York, “Reports to Its Friends, 1946,” Introduction.Google Scholar

43. Kluger, , Simple Justice.Google Scholar