| I analyzed the institutional behavior of George Peabody College for Teachers during the years surrounding the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Via institutional reports, prepared both internally and externally, archival materials, published histories of the college and other Nashville institutions, oral histories, and university publications, I identified a complex matrix of forces bearing upon Peabody during the era of desegregation. Ranging from local, regional, and national pressures, fiscal problems, and concerns within the field of teacher education, this combination of factors rendered Peabody College unlikely to respond significantly to the exigencies of desegregation.; Despite the myriad forces arrayed any substantial response by the officials of Peabody College to the changing needs of American education following desegregation, college President Henry Hill embraced a mild integration of the college in advance of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). A skilled and savvy tactician, Hill understood that maintaining Peabody's national prominence and foundation funding required the integration of the institution, but that Nashville and the undergraduate population of the school was unlikely to accept so radical a change. Thus, with no publicity, Hill integrated Peabody College.; The analysis contextualizes Hill's actions within institutional, local, regional, disciplinary and national trends. Faced with a weakened financial status, violence in Nashville during civil rights clashes, the national humiliation suffered by Vanderbilt University via its clumsy handling of an activist student, the low status of teacher education following the failure of the life-adjustment curriculum, and a largely passive student population, Hill's actions must be appreciated as progressive and proactive, but also calculated to match what Peabody could accomplish in this context. |
