| This research study focused on how the gemeinschaftlich Free Hill School and community in rural Clay County, Tennessee, educated students for character from 1930--1965. Built in 1930, partially through Julius Rosenwald Foundation funding, the Free Hill School was a segregated African American school that closed in 1965 during the integration movement.; The research questions developed for this study were adapted from the leading contemporary model of character education, the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education(TM) (Lickona, Schaps, & Lewis, 1997). Several qualitative research methods such as the life-story interviewing of 10 former Free Hill students, discourse analysis, collection and analysis of archival/documentary records, and thematic discussion were utilized to provide answers to the questions posed and to provide linkages with the existing literature on character education in segregated African American schools.; Data analysis revealed that the Free Hill School and community worked together to promote shared ethical values to students in a manner similar to the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education(TM) (Lickona et al.). As noted in the existing research literature on character education in segregated African American schools, character education in Free Hill was driven by four themes: caring, consistent messages, exemplary teachers, and the school curriculum (Siddle Walker, 1996). An implication for researchers and practitioners is that character education was successful in because it was in-grained into the school curriculum and community. Furthermore, neighborhood schools could benefit from adopting gemeinschaftlich qualities that existed in Free Hill like caring and shared responsibility to promote a sense of community among students, teachers, and parents and to provide consistent messages to from the home and school about important character values. |
