"Educating the African American Child: The Concord Baptist Elementary School Experience, 1960-1990"

Team Members/Contributors

Barbara E. Austin-Lucas Columbia University Contact Me

About this dissertation fellowship

A significant number of African American parents have lost faith in the public school system and have sought alternatives to public education. In the last ten years, the number of private schools operated by Black Churches have increased dramatically. Unfortunately, information is not readily available on the organization, development and maintenance of African American Institutions. This ethnographic study of Concord Baptist Elementary School in the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York endeavors to examine and explore how a church sponsored learning center contributes to the educational development of African American children. The collection of data to date has included six months of nonparticipant on site observation (field notes), interviews with key informants (audio and video tapes) and questionnaires distributed to students and parents. The completion of this study (the analysis and writing) will focus upon understanding the twentieth century role of the Black Church in the education of African American children. It will examine the influence of church—operated educational institutions upon the quality of family life in African American communities. This study will endeavor to identify the educational configuration operative in the lives of Concord Baptist Elementary school children.

Image Title Year Type Contributor(s) Other Info
  Educating the African American Child: The Concord Baptist Elementary School Experience, 1960-1990 1992 Dissertation Barbara E. Austin-Lucas