African-American Teachers and the Roles They Play

Using the oral histories of eight recently retired school teachers, this chapter identifies the multiple roles they played as they worked effectively with African-American students. These roles included teacher as mediator, activist and active supporter of student growth and development. In playing these roles, teachers addressed the social, economic and political circumstances of their students. Through these roles, the teachers increased student motivation and promoted student resiliency. The teachers, thus, present models for effective teacher-student interaction that could be used to help prepare all teachers to work more effectively with African-American and other minority youth.