On the Way to School - Community Control, Some Observations, excerpt

Date: Feb 20, 1970

Caption: Preston Wilcox advocated for local, community-controlled schools by comparing community control with centralized school governance.

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Preston Wilcox was a human rights activist and professor at Columbia University who supported Black studies on college campuses and community control for K-12 schools. Wilcox became deeply involved with East Harlem’s community control district.

In this document, Wilcox sketched his understanding of how community-controlled schools differed from schools in a centralized system. He emphasized his view that community control could help Black schools separate themselves from anti-Black policies enforced by white people who at the time controlled cities and their public schools. He also emphasized ways that he hoped community-controlled schools in Black communities would differ in terms of their values and the atmosphere they created for students.

Wilcox viewed white control of Black education as a major problem across the country, not just in Harlem, and a core reason for Black people to seek self-determination in education.

Categories: K-12 organizing, community activism

Tags: democracy, self-determination, school administration, joy, curriculum, Black people

This item is part of "The Push for Community Control" in "Who Governs Schools?"

Item Details

Date: Feb 20, 1970

Creator: Preston Wilcox

Source: Preston Wilcox Papers

Copyright: Under copyright

How to cite: “On the Way to School-Community Control, Some Observations, excerpt,” Preston Wilcox, in New York City Civil Rights History Project, Accessed: [Month Day, Year], https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/on-the-way-to-local-control.

Questions to Consider

What did Wilcox mean when he argued that predominantly Black schools should be controlled by the local community?
Were community-controlled schools as Preston Wilcox understood them similar to the local ward-controlled system of governance in place from the 1840s to 1902? How so? How were they different?
Wilcox compared community control - meaning schools that serve Black students being controlled by the Black community - with centralized schools, which in New York City at the time were led by predominantly white educators and officials. Which of the benefits of community control, in his view, are most appealing to you? Which are you unsure about or do you have concerns about?

References