Life History 1

Legacy of a Pioneer African American Educator

Gunars Cazers

Stillman College

Matthew Curtner-Smith

The University of Alabama

Authors’ Note

We thank Dr. Archie Wade for sharing his story.

1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

Life History 2

Please address correspondence concerning this article to

Gunars Cazers, Department of Health and Physical Education,

Stillman College, P.O. Box 1430, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403.

E-mail: gcazers@stillman.edu

Running head: LIFE HISTORY

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose was to reconstruct the historical and legendary

contribution of one exemplary African American physical education

teacher educator who lived and worked in the Deep South prior to

and immediately following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education

court case. The following questions guided data collection and

analysis: To what extent was the participant marginalized in his

profession and within the community? How was the participant’s

life experiences influenced by stereotype threat? To what degree

did self-efficacy help mediate marginalization and stereotype

threat?

Method

2

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

Life History 3

The participant in this study was Dr. Archie Wade, a retired

professor of physical education teacher education from the

University of Alabama. A life history methodology was used. Data

were collected primarily through semi-structured interviews and

analyzed using qualitative methods.

Results

Key findings were that Wade faced race-based marginalization

throughout his life. He dealt with stereotype threat but was not

significantly influenced by it. He persevered partly due to his

strong sense of self-efficacy.

Conclusion

Wade was both transformed as the old South changed and played a

part in that transformation. His story is simultaneously

uplifting, in that it illustrates the extent to which life has

improved for some African Americans living in the Deep South, and

sobering, in that it reveals that the region’s system of higher

education may not have made as much progress as it should have.

Wade’s story also has the potential to be a catalyst for change

in the lives of other teachers and teacher educators.

Key Words: marginalization, life history

3

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

Life History 44

59

60

61

62

63

64

Life History 5

Legacy of a Pioneer African American Educator

Life history is a qualitative research design that can be

particularly effective in giving voice to those who are otherwise

silenced (Sparkes, Templin, & Schempp, 1993; Squires & Sparkes,

1996). Rather than employing a single technique, it can involve

the use of a range of data collection strategies including the

examination of documents and the writing of biographies and case

histories based on interviews (Sparkes, 1993). Moreover, as noted

by Goodson (1980), life history enables researchers to unearth

the link between a teacher’s personality and pedagogy:

In understanding something so intensely personal as

teaching, it is critical that we know about the person the

teacher is. Our paucity of knowledge in this area is a

manifest indictment of the range of our sociological

imagination. The life historian pursues the job from his own

perspective, a perspective which emphasizes the value of the

person’s “own story.” (p. 69)

Crucially, since it involves the telling of a teacher’s “life

story” and examining how this story is shaped by historical,

social, and political factors (Dollard, 1949; Goodson, 1980,

5

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

Life History 6

1992), life history also serves to explain how the wider context

impacts teachers and teaching.

Life Histories of American Physical Educators

While the design has been used to good effect by sport

pedagogues working in other countries (e. g., Armour, 1997;

Sparkes et al., 1993), to-date, there have been relatively few

life histories conducted with American physical education

teachers and, as far as we are aware, none with American physical

education teacher education faculty. Perhaps the earliest study

using this methodology in the United States was carried out by

Earls (1981) who produced case studies of “distinctive teachers”

with the goal of describing the qualities that made them highly

effective. In the next decade, Schempp (1993) used life history

to examine how one high school physical education teacher

constructed knowledge and Templin, Sparkes, Grant, and Schempp

(1994) employed an interactionist framework to construct the life

history of a veteran physical education teacher and reveal how he

dealt with subject marginalization and teacher-coach role strain.

Similarly, Curtner-Smith (1997, 1998, 2001) recorded the life

history of first-year physical education teachers through the

6

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

Life History 7

lens of occupational socialization theory and focused on how the

teachers’ acculturation, professional socialization, and

organizational socialization influenced their teaching. These

studies revealed that teacher’s pre-university biographies and

the school cultures in which they taught were more powerful

socializing agents than their physical education teacher

education (PETE). They also indicated, however, that it was still

possible for PETE faculty to socialize pre-service teachers

towards desirable pedagogical perspectives and practices.

Purpose

Sparkes et al. (1993) focused on three dimensions that

served to marginalize English physical education teachers. These

were the status of physical education as a subject, gender, and

sexual orientation. These authors went on to suggest that, in the

future, researchers utilize the life history design to examine

other potential dimensions of marginality including class,

ableness, age, and race/ethnicity. It is this latter dimension of

race/ethnicity on which the current study was focused. Its

purpose, therefore, was to use life history methodology to

reconstruct the historical and legendary contribution of one

7

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

Life History 8

exemplary African American physical education teacher educator

who lived and worked in the Deep South prior to and immediately

following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education court case.

Specifically, the paper addressed the following research

questions: To what extent was the participant marginalized in his

profession and within the community? How was the participant’s

life experiences influenced by stereotype threat? To what degree

did self-efficacy help mediate marginalization and stereotype

threat?

Theoretical Framework

Two theoretical perspectives guided the construction of the

participant’s life history during this study. These were

stereotype threat (Steele, 1997) and self-efficacy theory

(Bandura, 1977).

Stereotype Threat

Most people are familiar with the term stereotype: “a

standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of

a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion” (Merriam-

Webster, n.d.). Stereotype threat (Steele, 1997) is different; it

can influence the actions and behaviors of those who belong to or

8

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

Life History 9

identify with a group about which a negative stereotype exists.

Stereotype threat involves a perceived threat in a particular

situation. Milner and Woolfolk Hoy (2003) explained: “when

stereotyped individuals are in situations where the stereotype

applies, they bear an extra emotional and cognitive burden . . .

the possibility of confirming the stereotype, in the eyes of

others or in their own eyes” (p. 265). For example, in one study

white male engineering majors scored worse on a test of math when

told that their scores would be compared with Asians taking the

test (Aronson et al., 1999). Such persons can feel “threatened”

by their potential to act or think in such a way as to confirm

the negative stereotype in the eyes of others. They may also feel

pressure to act in such a way as to invalidate the negative

stereotype (Milner & Woolfolk Hoy, 2003). Concern about

confirming the negative stereotype may also have an adverse

impact on a person’s performance in a given context (Aronson,

2004; Stone, Sjomeling, Lynch, & Darley, 1999). Two examples of

groups who may suffer from stereotype threat provided by Steele

(1997) were females within a mathematics class and African

Americans within any scholastic context. Specifically, Steele

9

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

Life History 10

(1997) studied “African Americans, who must contend with negative

stereotypes about their abilities in many scholastic domains, and

women, who must do so primarily in math and physical sciences”

(p. 613).

Self-Efficacy Theory

A second useful tool for this study was the self-efficacy

theory. Following Bandura (1977) and others who built on this

work, Pajares (1996), Schunk and Pajares (2002) Tschannen-Moran

and Woolfolk Hoy (2001), a person’s self-efficacy describes the

degree to which he/she believes in his/her ability to perform in

a specific context (e. g., teaching in a school or university).

Individuals with a strong sense of self-efficacy in a given

context are more likely to persist when faced with obstacles and

view difficult tasks as challenges to be overcome than those with

a weak sense of self-efficacy. Teachers with high self-efficacy

are, then, more likely to persist in their chosen careers,

facilitate pupil learning, attempt to realize more difficult

goals, be open to new ideas, and show a greater enthusiasm for

teaching than those with low self-efficacy (Armor et al., 1976;

Milner & Woolfolk Hoy, 2003).

10

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

Life History 11

Four main sources serve to strengthen or weaken self-

efficacy (Bandura, 1977). The first of these, mastery experiences, is

concerned with the degree of success a person achieves in a given

context. In teaching, for example, those who see their pupils

make progress will have a higher level of self-efficacy and are

more likely to persist in the face of the occasional failure than

those who see little evidence of achievement. The second source,

vicarious experiences, is not usually as potent as the first. It

involves the observation of another person, with whom the

observer identifies, performing in a similar role. In teaching,

this might involve one teacher observing another tackling serious

managerial issues successfully or unsuccessfully. The former

scenario may strengthen self-efficacy and the latter may weaken

it. The third source, social persuasions, is concerned with the level

of feedback a person receives about his/her performance from

trusted and credible sources. In teaching, this might involve a

beginning teacher receiving feedback from a mentor. Positive

feedback increases self-efficacy while negative feedback

decreases it. The final source, emotional arousal, suggests that how

one perceives one’s reactions to stressful situations can enhance

11

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

Life History 12

or decrease one’s sense of self-efficacy. For example, if a

university faculty member with low self-efficacy perceives

feeling nervous before teaching a large lecture class as a sign

of weakness, his/her self-efficacy will be lowered. Conversely, a

faculty member with high self-efficacy who perceives the

nervousness as unrelated to his/her ability and learns to control

his/her nerves will increase self-efficacy. Both the theories of

stereotype threat and self-efficacy proved useful in explaining

how our participant dealt with life circumstances.

Method

Participant

The participant in this study was Dr. Archie Wade, now a

retired professor of physical education teacher education from

the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. For

reasons of brevity, we will refer to him as Wade, unless

referring to him in his childhood. Wade was an elder statesman

who was held in high esteem, revered as a teacher, mentor,

gentleman, and deeply respected by students and colleagues alike

during his latter years at the university. He worked at the

University of Alabama from February 1970 until June 2000. In

12

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

Life History 13

addition, he had been the first African American faculty member

hired at the hitherto all white University of Alabama. We must

remember that at the time that Wade started his new position,

African American scholar/athletes such as himself were denied

access to a college education at large universities in the South.

Moreover, the 30 years during which Wade worked at the University

of Alabama and the 30 years preceding his hiring were some of the

most turbulent in the history of the southern United States.

Arguably, this period represented the time when the region

underwent its most significant period of social change.

Tuscaloosa, geographically situated between Birmingham, where in

1963 police with guard dogs attacked citizens protesting racial

segregation, and Selma, Alabama, where in 1965 on “Bloody Sunday”

civil rights marchers were attacked on the Edmund Pettus Bridge,

was during the Civil Rights Movement at the vortex of social

change.

When we approached Wade and described the purpose of our

research, he thought long and hard about participating in the

study before agreeing to do so and completing the informed

consent form required by the university's human subjects

13

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

Life History 14

regulation. His initial reluctance to participate was due to his

shyness, naturally reserved nature, and being somewhat weary of

and worn down by a lifetime of dealing with racial issues and

politics. At this time he also requested that we not attempt to

hide his identity and that we use his real name in any formal

publications or presentation of the research. The University of

Alabama institutional review board approved the research.

Historical Background

Prior to 1954 life for African American educators in

the American South was particularly difficult. It was almost

impossible for African Americans to become physical educators

because they were denied access to large universities in the

South attended by Caucasian students. One alternative was to

enroll in smaller “black colleges,” now called historically black

colleges and universities (HBCU). These institutions prepared,

and continue to prepare, physical educators, as well as offering

degree programs in a variety of other disciplines.

Since all schools in the Deep South (i.e., Louisiana,

Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) were

segregated, Caucasian children and youth also attended white

14

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

Life History 15

schools, while African Americans attended other “separate but

equal” black schools. In addition, African American and Caucasian

physical educators could only teach in schools attended by

children and youth of their own race. Moreover, black schools

were generally inferior to those attended by Caucasian children

in terms of funding, facilities, and teacher salaries (Brown v.

Board of Education, 1954).

One place where African American men could participate in

athletics and learn a little about life was the local Young Men’s

Christian Association (YMCA). Although these institutions were

also segregated, those designated for African Americans proved to

be “sanctuaries that preserved [their] manhood and prepared men

and boys for their leadership in the struggle for equality”

(Mjagkij, 1994). Similarly, the African American church was not

only a place of worship, but also a community center where the

Civil Rights Movement was born and planned (Swatos, 1998).

Segregated schooling came to an end (at least legally)

following the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling that

proclaimed the “separate but equal” doctrine to be

unconstitutional. The reasoning behind this ruling was that

15

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

Life History 16

forcing African American children to attend separate schools made

them feel inferior. Nevertheless, former African American

teachers who were employed prior to 1954 are equivocal as to

whether it was advantageous to do away with black schools (see

Fairclough, 2006). In the following life history, we hear one

physical educator’s story and experiences both in segregated and

integrated institutions of learning.

Data Collection

The first author collected data during a series of three in-

depth, semi-structured interviews with Wade in July of 2009.

Interview duration was between 80 and 116 minutes each and took

place in Wade’s home in Tuscaloosa. All three interviews were

recorded and transcribed verbatim. During the first interview,

the main focus was on Wade’s childhood and adolescence and

included discussion of his family, early sporting experiences,

physical education, teachers and coaches as well as key events in

his life prior to his enrollment in college. The second interview

was concerned with Wade’s own undergraduate education. Specific

topics examined included his sporting experiences, professors,

and physical education teacher education. During the third

16

285

286

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

294

295

296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

Life History 17

interview, the main emphasis was on Wade’s post-college career.

Topics discussed included his participation in professional

sport, experiences as a physical educator in the college and

university in which he worked, and the influence of his

colleagues, administrators, and students on his work environment.

Within all three interviews, key historical and political events

recalled by Wade were also noted. In addition, and also during

each interview, Wade was asked specific questions aimed at

gauging the degree to which he was influenced by stereotype

threat and his level of self-efficacy. Questions posed during all

three interviews are shown in the appendix.

Secondary and supplemental data sources for the study

included informal interviews and e-mail correspondence with one

retired staff member, one retired president, one current staff

member, and three current faculty members from the University of

Alabama who were knowledgeable about the history of the

institution. The authors also examined online documents

describing the University of Alabama’s history such as the

university’s Black Faculty and Staff Association’s website.

Finally, we attended the induction of Wade into the local YMCA’s

17

305

306

307

308

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

317

318

319

320

321

322

323

324

Life History 18

Hall of Fame during which he and other community members,

including Dr. Joffre Whisenton, a key figure in Wade’s life,

recalled some of their struggles during the civil rights era.

These data could be used to triangulate, support, and enhance the

oral history statements provided by Wade.

Data Analysis

Data were coded and categorized and key themes identified by

employing analytic induction and constant comparison (Goetz &

LeCompte, 1984). Codes and categories were driven by the three

sub-questions we were attempting to answer and the two

theoretical perspectives that guided the study. In addition, and

following Armour (2006) and Bogdan (1974), a timeline of Wade’s

life highlighting its socio-historical context was constructed.

Trustworthiness was insured by regularly performing member

checks, examining the data for discrepant cases (Goetz &

LeCompte, 1984), and sharing a draft of this manuscript with Wade

so he could provide feedback as to its accuracy. For example,

Wade was asked if our interpretation of the integrating the

stadium incident was accurate following the interviews. Following

his reading of the earlier draft of the manuscript, Wade

18

325

326

327

328

329

330

331

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

341

342

343

344

Life History 19

indicated that our interpretations of the key events of his life

were indeed accurate. The following is a (re)presentation of

Wade’s life history.

Dr. Archie Wade’s Life History

Childhood and Adolescence

Hard work and discrimination. The eldest of seven siblings,

Archie Wade was born in the small town of Big Cove, Alabama in

1939. His father worked in a printing shop in nearby Huntsville

and on the small family farm aided by his relatives. Wade

recalled this work as being particularly challenging:

That’s probably the toughest thing I had to do in my

life . . . go out in the field and chop cotton from the time

the sun comes up until it goes down and for two to three

dollars a day . . . when it was 90 degrees. . . . Tough

times. . . . There was no shade. Of course, you don’t have

any trees out in the field, so the only time you actually

got in to be relieved of the sun was during lunchtime.

(Interview 1)

19

345

346

347

348

349

350

351

352

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

362

Life History 20

Wade also had vivid memories of growing up in rural

segregated Alabama and the racial discrimination he faced at an

early age:

I remember . . . the busses that we had to ride [to the

elementary school designated for African Americans]. They

were never new. They were always the busses that were handed

down. The White race got the new busses. We got what they

had used. . . . The bus that I rode . . . did not have

windows and didn’t have seats. . . . The up front was metal,

but from the windshield back was wood. And it had curtains

on each side that you rolled up and you let them down during

the winter. . . . That’s just the way it was. (Interview 1)

School sport and physical education. In congruence with the

“separate but equal” doctrine of the time, Archie attended

segregated elementary and middle schools without gymnasia or

physical education programs. In 1944, Wade attended first grade

in the Gurley Grammar School in Gurley, Alabama. From 1945 until

1951 he attended the Berkley Elementary School in Berkley,

Alabama. From 1951 to 1954 he attended a newly built Berkley

Middle School. In his middle teens, however, the family moved to

20

363

364

365

366

367

368

369

370

371

372

373

374

375

376

377

378

379

380

381

382

Life History 21

Tuscaloosa, a larger city, where his father opened his own

printing shop. In Tuscaloosa young Archie attended two segregated

high schools, Industrial High School for one year in 1955 for

tenth grade, and he completed his high school years at the nearby

and newly built Druid High School, graduating in 1957. Wade

remarked that his “outstanding” and “organized” physical

education teachers did well with “limited resources.” One of

these teachers, Hugh Martin, was particularly influential:

He was a really good physical educator and he was one of

those people that I really appreciate going into the field

because of the way he conducted his classes. He was a person

who really made sure that everything was done right. He

followed procedures. He was really fair even though he was

firm. . . . I just liked the way he conducted his classes.

(Interview 1)

Hugh Martin proved to be one of the strong mentors along

Wade’s life journey that suggested to him that he too could be an

effective educator.

Though the city high schools had organized extracurricular

sports teams, young Archie did not participate on them because

21

383

384

385

386

387

388

389

390

391

392

393

394

395

396

397

398

399

400

401

402

Life History 22

they, at the time, did not include baseball, his first love.

Furthermore, when newly arrived Archie inquired about playing

basketball, the coach informed him “he already had his team.”

Wade found it unjust that he was denied a chance to try out.

Participation in informal sport and organized sport outside the school setting.

Wade remembered playing informal sport with both African American

and Caucasian children near his first home in deplorable

conditions. For example, he played basketball on a “dirt court”

and recalled:

Then in the wintertime when you are playing basketball,

sometimes when we have frozen ground, it’ll thaw out about

halftime. Now that frozen ground becomes mud. It was just a

terrible way to play. . . . Not so much dribbling, mostly

passing. . . . The ninth grade was the first time I played

in a gymnasium. (Interview 1)

Despite these unpromising circumstances, Wade indicated

that, due mainly to his father’s efforts and the influence of

several semi-professional baseball-playing uncles, he still

gained a love for participation in sport at an early age:

22

403

404

405

406

407

408

409

410

411

412

413

414

415

416

417

418

419

420

421

Life History 23

I mean he [i.e., Wade’s father] made sure . . . we had what

we wanted, so if we did not have any balls, he would bring

some . . . from town . . . balls or bats or gloves. We

always had equipment. . . . And, if we wanted a basketball

goal he would make sure we had one. . . . Whatever it was,

he would get that for us, so I don’t remember a time we

didn’t have any of those things. (Interview 1)

Instead of playing organized high school sport, Archie recalled

his father taking him to play tennis and getting up early to play

on the school’s tennis courts with his friends. He also

remembered joining “the Whiz Kids” baseball team. This team was

comprised of high school aged semi-professional baseball players

that competed against other teams of older men in the region.

Most of Wade’s mentors were people he met in everyday life, one,

however, he knew only through the media.

Jackie Robinson. Of major importance to Archie’s developing

interest in sport and physical education during his childhood and

adolescence and to his outlook on life in general was the

breaking of the color barrier by a number of African American

23

422

423

424

425

426

427

428

429

430

431

432

433

434

435

436

437

438

439

440

Life History 24

professional athletes and particularly Jackie Robinson who did so

in the sport of baseball:

For Jackie Robinson to be the first black player to play in

the big leagues, in the major leagues . . . I guess that was

the first time ever, in any kind of way, where I really

wanted to see or hear a baseball game because he was

playing, because he came in 1947, and I guess in 1948. From

then on, I’ve been listening to and watching baseball games.

That was an important moment for me in terms of getting me—

well, I really did enjoy sports. I heard about other things

happening. I had heard about Joe Louis . . . but I guess

that . . . when Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby and some of

those early baseball players, I just didn’t want to miss a

game that the Brooklyn Dodgers was playing and mainly

because of Jackie Robinson, and I think that has carried

over even to today, because I stayed up last night, I wanted

to see if the Dodgers won. I don’t know anyone but a few

players with the Dodgers, but it’s still the Dodgers, and I

still feel loyal to them because of the chance they gave

Jackie Robinson. (Interview 1)

24

441

442

443

444

445

446

447

448

449

450

451

452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

460

Life History 25

In high school, Wade felt slighted because he was denied a chance

to tryout for the basketball team, and he felt that everyone

deserved a chance, but he reveled in the fact that in 1947 Jackie

Robinson got an opportunity to play in the major leagues. Jackie

Robinson would open the door for Wade’s chance to make the big

leagues.

Undergraduate Years

College “choice.” Wade lived in the town in which the University

of Alabama was located. Upon graduation from high school in 1957,

and despite the recent outlawing of segregated schools (Brown v.

Board of Education, 1954), he believed that the university was

not a viable option for him or other young African Americans

mainly because he had witnessed the first efforts to integrate it

in 1956:

I was here [in Tuscaloosa] during the time that Autherine

Lucy attempted to go to school at the university, and my

father owned a business on 27th Avenue, and I know what the

times were like when she made the attempt to enroll at the

university. And of course, actually, she came to the beauty

shop that was next to my father’s place to get egg out of

25

461

462

463

464

465

466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

474

475

476

477

478

479

480

Life History 26

her hair and stuff they had thrown at her [when she

attempted to enroll]. It was terrible, I actually saw people

walking up the street with guns. It was a terrible time. You

just hope that nothing like that would ever come to be, but

that was terrible. Autherine Lucy, that was before James

Hood and Vivian Malone, that was the very first attempt.

(Interview 2)

Although Autherine Lucy did, in fact, technically break the

color barrier at the University of Alabama, she was expelled by

the University’s Board of Trustees four days later and no more

African Americans were admitted to that institution until 1963

(Clark, 2007). Consequently, Wade enrolled at Stillman College, a

HBCU, which was also located close to his home in Tuscaloosa. He

was admitted to the college on an athletic scholarship stating

“the only thing I purchased was my glove and my spikes”

(interview 1). Nevertheless, this did not mean that he was immune

to the civil unrest that was sweeping the Deep South at that

time:

26

481

482

483

484

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

494

495

496

497

498

499

Life History 27

I just remember at Stillman, this is during the time of the

Civil Rights Movement, and we had people who would catch

busses to go across town . . . to demonstrate. . . . Those

were the most difficult times living here, I guess in the

early sixties. . . . Those were the toughest times,

because . . . they would put dogs on [demonstrators]. It was

just a terrible time. Go downtown and they were

demonstrating at a little restaurant or something like that,

and they’d . . . be water-hosed or something would be done

to them. . . . They might have eggs thrown on them or

something. . . . It was not good. . . . It restricted what

you did, where you go, and what time you went. . . . Nothing

like it is now. . . . I always tell people, “the worst times

[were] when you’re not really sure whether you can or

whether you can’t.” See, if I know I can’t stop at this

motel, I’m okay. And if I know I can I’m okay. It’s when I

don’t know whether I should stop or not. . . . So what I end

up doing is driving on. You just keep driving until you got

that feeling that this may be okay. But that, to me, is the

toughest time. (Interview 2)

27

500

501

502

503

504

505

506

507

508

509

510

511

512

513

514

515

516

517

518

519

Life History 28

This response sums up the uncertainty that Wade felt during his

college years. If the cotton picking had been hard physical

labor, the Civil Rights Movement with its sit-ins and other acts

of nonviolent demonstrations led to inner turmoil and was bound

to leave an emotional scar on Wade. African Americans had been

granted legal rights, but the South was slow in adjusting to the

required changes. The history of the Civil Rights Movement

demonstrates how acts of nonviolent resistance risked the

personal lives of those involved, and Wade witnessed this

firsthand. The atmosphere in the South was tense and brought with

it a feeling of uncertainty and even fear for one’s life in the

case of African Americans as expressed here by Wade.

Career choice. Again, heavily influenced by his father, Wade’s

initial career choice was to go into the printing business.

Indeed, throughout his college career, he spent much of his

“spare time” working in his father’s shop. It was not until later

in his college career that he entertained the idea of becoming a

physical education teacher and then got certified to do so in

1962:

28

520

521

522

523

524

525

526

527

528

529

530

531

532

533

534

535

536

537

538

Life History 29

I know I love sports and I like to play [but] I never did

see myself as being a physical education teacher at that

time. As a matter of fact, when I went to college, I majored

in business administration, and mainly the reason I think I

did that was because my father was in business. He was in

the printing business. And I said . . . I know about the

printing business, and I understand how to operate all the

presses . . . and things in the printing shop, and maybe

that’s what I’ll do one day, and so I got a degree in

business administration. Then I decided my senior year that

I really liked physical education, and I decided to go back

[to Stillman College] and take another year [to get

certified to teach physical education]. (Interview 2)

Wade was later provided with the opportunity to teach at his alma

mater. He had not applied for a position there, but his coaches

and professors knew of him and his skill set. He interviewed with

President Hay and his former coach and mentor Joffre Whisenton,

to whom he gives credit for suggesting him as a candidate to the

president. Wade would do what he had been trained: to teach and

to coach athletics.

29

539

540

541

542

543

544

545

546

547

548

549

550

551

552

553

554

555

556

557

558

Life History 30

Sport inside and outside of college. Importantly, Wade attended

Stillman College on an athletic scholarship and played

representative baseball, basketball, and tennis. He honed other

sporting skills by using his elective options to take activity

classes within the college’s basic physical education program. In

addition, he spent many evenings at Tuscaloosa’s African American

YMCA organizing various basketball leagues, and in the summers he

administered the same organization’s “little league” baseball

program.

A key mentor. While enrolled at Stillman College, Wade first

came into contact with his key professional mentor, Joffre

Whisenton, who was on the faculty. As well as coaching him

basketball and baseball, Whisenton was responsible for a good

deal of Wade’s physical education teacher education:

He was my college coach . . . and he’s always meant a lot to

me. . . . I always looked up to him because I think he

always prepared classes. He always wanted to make sure that

at least you always got something out of every class, no

matter what it was. (Interview 2)

30

559

560

561

562

563

564

565

566

567

568

569

570

571

572

573

574

575

576

577

Life History 31

Whisenton went on to work part-time in the University of Alabama

Office of Student Development Services and was the first African

American to receive a doctorate from the University of Alabama in

1968. Although we did not extensively interview Whisenton about

his time as a doctoral student during a discussion with him at

the aforementioned YMCA Hall of Fame induction in November 2010

and during a telephone conversation in December of 2010, he did

explain having difficulties, such as the importance of not being

seen with white female students. He paved the way for others,

including Wade, to similarly pursue a doctorate. Later in his

career, in 1985, Whisenton became President of the Southern

University System in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and spent two years

as special assistant for educational policy to the Secretary of

the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Working at Stillman College

Teaching and coaching. Upon graduation in 1962 and newly married

to Jacqueline who he had met at Stillman College as a freshman,

Wade searched unsuccessfully for a physical education teaching

position in Alabama’s African American public schools. However,

after almost joining the US marine’s officer training school, and

31

578

579

580

581

582

583

584

585

586

587

588

589

590

591

592

593

594

595

596

597

Life History 32

following the recommendation of his undergraduate mentor, Joffre

Whisenton, he was “hired at Stillman as an instructor to teach

activity classes and also to be assistant basketball and baseball

coach:”

I really enjoyed teaching activity classes, teaching tennis,

and teaching softball, and teaching soccer, speedball or

whatever the activity we had to offer. . . . The toughest

thing, I think, sometimes is teaching soccer from nine ‘til

10, and from 10 ‘til 11 you’re teaching volleyball, and 11

‘til 12 you’re teaching tennis. You know what I mean? You’re

going from activity to activity, and setting up and that’s

pretty tough. (Interview 3)

Wade apparently taught a hectic schedule at Stillman College. We

asked Wade about the conditions at the college, and he said, “the

whole time I was at Stillman, all eight years I never had an

overhead projector” (interview 2). After teaching a long schedule

of classes, his grueling day would continue. In the afternoon,

Wade would assist Whisenton as a coach, and in the evenings he

would supervise the college recreational facilities. This

32

598

599

600

601

602

603

604

605

606

607

608

609

610

611

612

613

614

615

616

Life History 33

immersion in the athletic milieu gave him experience that would

serve him later as a teacher educator.

Master’s degree studies. The Stillman College

administration encouraged Wade to study for an advanced

degree. Since it was still very difficult for African

American students to do so at the University of Alabama

following the infamous “stand in the schoolhouse door”

incident in June, 1963, in which Governor George

Wallace had tried to stop a fresh attempt at

integrating the campus, Wade completed his master’s

degree in physical education and business during two

summers and one fall semester at the West Virginia

University (WVU) in Morgantown, 700 miles away. In this

endeavor, he was assisted by a Ford Foundation grant

which was aimed at supporting diversity in academia.

While studying in Morgantown, he lodged both in dorms

and off-campus housing. We asked Wade specifically why

he simply did not attend the nearby University of

Alabama, and he stated: “they weren’t accepting Black

students at that time.” (Interview 1)

33

617

618

619

620

621

622

623

624

625

626

627

628

629

630

631

632

633

634

635

636

Life History 34

Although West Virginia was theoretically more politically

and socially progressive than Alabama in terms of promoting

integration and fighting segregation, Wade still experienced and

perceived racism and discrimination during his time in West

Virginia. For example, he recalled the difficulties he

encountered when initially searching for accommodation:

I called on the phone and the person said, “Oh yes, we live

one block from the campus.” So I said, “That would be

great.” . . . I said, “I’ll be there in probably 5 minutes.”

I got in my car and . . . when I got to the place, and I got

on the front porch . . . the lady evidently could see me.

And . . . when she saw me being Afro-American, she went back

and got her husband, and he came to the door and told me

they didn’t have a room. Boy I just—it just got me. . . . I

said, “I just talked to you!” She said, “Some of my cousins

are coming up and we’re going to let them have it.” But I

knew it was because of me. . . . I don’t guess they could

detect my race or ethnic background [over the phone]. . . .

But anyway, I paid and stayed in the Holiday Inn. (Interview

3)

34

637

638

639

640

641

642

643

644

645

646

647

648

649

650

651

652

653

654

655

656

Life History 35

This incident hurt and frustrated Wade. He came face to face with

racial discrimination. The situation rendered Wade powerless, but

not helpless. Even though the incident set him back, he did not

allow himself to be derailed from his goal of an advanced degree.

Such incidences of blatant racism prepared Wade for the future

when he experienced other cases of discrimination.

Professional sport. While coaching at Stillman College in 1964,

Wade was, by accident, also given the opportunity to play

professional sport:

We didn’t have anybody to take [ground balls] at third base

that day because the third baseman was ill, and I said,

“Well, I’ll just fill in at third base.” And a scout was

there from St. Louis [i.e., the Cardinals Organization], and

he thought I was one of the players, but I was actually

coaching the team. I was just filling in. And at the end of

that [practice] he asked me, did I want a chance to play.

And I told him, “Yes sir.” I’d welcome that opportunity even

though I hadn’t played that much lately but he says that he

thought I had potential. He wanted to give me a shot at it.

I said, “Well, I can’t go right now. I can’t go until

35

657

658

659

660

661

662

663

664

665

666

667

668

669

670

671

672

673

674

675

676

Life History 36

school’s out.” So I had to wait until the end of May, and at

the end of that school term I did get a flight from here and

went down to Sarasota, Florida and played what they called a

rookie league, a rookie professional baseball league. And I

played there for two months . . . and they had a shortstop

get hurt in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and they sent me there to

play shortstop (Interview 3)

Wade went on to play three seasons of minor league baseball aided

by the Stillman administration. His teaching load in the fall

semester was increased so he could leave early for spring

training and compete during the summer break. He played for teams

based in Florida, Iowa, and California, and was managed by the

legendary Sparky Anderson. Wade received several honors including

player of the year and highest batting average of the year. In

addition, on one occasion he played against his younger brother,

Harold, who was with the Red Sox organization and also went on to

complete his doctorate. Due to his relatively advanced age and

the fact that the Cardinals Organization was flush with talent,

making a move to the major leagues was unlikely. He now had small

children that he wanted to see in the summers, and because he

36

677

678

679

680

681

682

683

684

685

686

687

688

689

690

691

692

693

694

695

696

Life History 37

wanted to finish his master’s degree in order to be promoted to

the rank of assistant professor at Stillman, he retired from

baseball in 1967 and completed his studies at WVU in December

1967.

Integrating the football stands at the University of Alabama. Again, as

part of an effort to integrate the campus, in 1964 the President

of the University of Alabama, Dr. Frank Rose, gave three tickets

to Wade’s mentor, Joffre Whisenton, for the Alabama versus

University of Georgia football game. The goal was for Whisenton

and two other African Americans to integrate the stands.

Whisenton asked Wade and another friend, Nathaniel Howard, to

join him. Remembering the incident, Wade explained that:

Afro-American people who attended the game [prior to

integration] had a little bleacher that was in the corner

between the stands and end zone seats. Just a little

bleacher. That’s where they would sit. Come in through that

one gate, pay a dollar or two . . . to sit on that bleacher.

. . . I remember the first game I attended with my wife. We

were on that bleacher. You could see from the 20-yard line

37

697

698

699

700

701

702

703

704

705

706

707

708

709

710

711

712

713

714

715

Life History 38

to the 40. You didn’t see touchdowns. . . . It was just

awful, you had just a tunnel vision. (Interview 3)

Of the day he and his friends integrated the stands, he recalled:

Our seats were actually next to the band. The band is

normally about the middle of the field, pretty good seats

there. . . . And we could hear names being said and things

being said and all that during the time we were sitting

there. But when the band took the field for halftime . . .

we were sort of sitting ducks because now the band has left

us . . . all those seats are now empty. . . . So that’s when

they started throwing ice and cups and bottles and things at

us. I told Joffre and Nathaniel . . . “You know what, I’m

not gonna take this. I’m just gonna go ahead and leave. I

mean, it’s just not worth it. It’s not worth it to be

hit . . . or going through this, just to be out here.” . . .

And so the police escorted us [out] . . . so we only saw one

half. And I guess from that time it just stuck with me so

long that I did not attend a football game for maybe 10

years. (Interview 3)

38

716

717

718

719

720

721

722

723

724

725

726

727

728

729

730

731

732

733

734

Life History 39

Whisenton, Wade, and Howard performed a great service to the

university by being the pioneers to break the color barrier in

the stands in 1964. We also heard Whisenton relate this story at

a YMCA event. However, they also were forced to put themselves in

harm’s way and had to endure verbal and physical abuse–all this 5

years before the first African American player took the field for

The University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide (Hamill, 2009). It is

interesting that the local media never reported the event.

Nevertheless, Wade would not soon forget the manner in which the

crowd mistreated the three men. Later, and ironically, when he

assisted in recruiting African American athletes to play for

Alabama and then was asked by parents of potential players how he

was treated on campus as an African American, such memories

caused him internal conflict.

Working at the University of Alabama

Getting hired. Wade worked at Stillman College until May 1969

when he left because the President of the college, Dr. Harold

Stinson, altered the financial assistance provided to student-

athletes, which Wade believed would hinder recruiting and hurt

the students and their parents. Now that there were more

39

735

736

737

738

739

740

741

742

743

744

745

746

747

748

749

750

751

752

753

754

Life History 40

opportunities for African Americans in the Deep South, and as he

had a business background and qualifications, he decided to move

to Louisville, Kentucky to take a position with General Electric

(GE) working in a “management training program” aimed at “trying

to recruit minorities for managerial positions.” Nine months

later, however, in February 1970, and again following the

suggestion of Joffre Whisenton, University of Alabama’s

president, Dr. David Matthews, offered Wade a position back in

Tuscaloosa. Despite his negative experiences with the university

to that point in his life, Wade accepted. Wade proved to be a

shrewd choice to break the color barrier on the faculty at the

University of Alabama. Indeed, he had many of the same qualities

for which his idol, Jackie Robinson, had been selected to break

the color barrier in major league baseball (Tygiel, 1997).

Specifically, he was strong of character and possessed deep

religious convictions, but was also quietly determined, level,

thoughtful, and somewhat reserved.

Initially hired as an instructor, Wade spent most of his

time teaching activity courses in the Department of Health,

40

755

756

757

758

759

760

761

762

763

764

765

766

767

768

769

770

771

772

773

Life History 41

Physical Education, and Recreation while taking classes towards

his doctoral degree at Alabama in the evenings and summers:

So I was teaching a full load, 12 hours, and then taking

three hours at night, and during the summers taking 12 to

complete my coursework, because I first had decided to get

an Ed.S degree, then I decided, no I’d like to go ahead and

pursue a doctorate, and that’s when I decided to do all my

coursework those first three years, and then start doing the

dissertation. (Interview 3)

Ironically, his office was located in Foster Auditorium, the site

of Wallace’s stand in the schoolhouse door. This was symbolic of

other changes Wade noticed at that time:

It’s that transitional period where . . . [from being]

segregated completely, they now begin to integrate. . . .

Remember now, I wasn’t allowed to go to the university . . .

and seven years later, I’m working there! That’s a big turn

around, you know form ’63 to 1970, but anyway, that’s kind

of the way it was. (Interview 3)

Wade indeed experienced radical, unfathomable changes in his

college town during those years, with his town and its

41

774

775

776

777

778

779

780

781

782

783

784

785

786

787

788

789

790

791

792

793

Life History 42

institutions changing from segregated to theoretically

integrated, and soon he was enlisted to recruit African Americans

to the university.

Recruiting for the football team. After teaching classes for several

months, Wade was asked to spend some of his weekends recruiting

African Americans for the football team. He received compensation

in the form of being released from three hours of teaching. One

possible motivation for this move was the loss of Coach Paul

“Bear” Bryant’s University of Alabama team to the University of

Southern California and their African American star Sam

Cunningham in 1970. Wade recruited for Coach Bryant for two years

before deciding he needed to spend more time with his family. As

indicated in the quote below, another motive for withdrawing from

recruiting activities was the inner conflict Wade suffered about

this part of his job:

I’d actually go talk to other black athletes about coming to

the university. . . . So parents ask me, “Is it true that

Governor Wallace stood in the door?” “Yes it is. It is

absolutely true.” “Do you think my son will get a chance to

play quarterback?” “Ma’am, I really don’t know, that’s up to

42

794

795

796

797

798

799

800

801

802

803

804

805

806

807

808

809

810

811

812

813

Life History 43

the coaching staff, but I think they’ll give you a fair shot

at whatever position.” . . . And they’d asked me, “Are you

being well treated?” “Oh yes, I’m doing fine, but I can’t

speak for the athletic department because I’m not over

there.” . . . I’m trying to be as honest as I can with

them . . . but it’s a conflict. Sometimes you’re battling. .

. . See, I’m trying to talk to him or convince [an African

American player or parent] it’s not a bad place to be. But .

. . I’d only been there [i.e. the University of Alabama] a

few months myself. (Interview 3)

All in all it was not a terrible experience, but it was

trying times, I’ll put it that way. To know what has

happened [previously at the university] and then to persuade

somebody else to come . . . I know I told Coach Bryant a lot

of times, I wouldn’t take anything for it, but I’m glad to

let it go. (Interview 3)

Teaching and service focus. With the recruiting chapter behind

him, Wade concentrated on teaching his classes and completing his

doctorate in order to earn the rank of assistant professor and

43

814

815

816

817

818

819

820

821

822

823

824

825

826

827

828

829

830

831

832

833

Life History 44

tenure which he did in 1974. This meant that he spent the rest of

his career teaching a variety of undergraduate health and

pedagogical classes and supervising student teachers. In

addition, Wade was one of the founding members of the

university’s Black Faculty and Staff Association. He was

particularly proud of forging “the best relationship I think

anybody could have with students” as well as the achievements of

his charges:

I think when I hear from students . . . about the job that I

did, that’s when I think I was successful. If I had students

who would go out and feel like the things that I did—the

advising or teaching—or whatever it might have been, that it

did help them, to me that’s an accomplishment. (Interview 3)

At the time he was hired, like other new faculty Wade was

asked to focus on two of three occupational strands: research,

teaching, and service. Wade chose the latter two strands, and for

the remainder of his career took on a full teaching load and did

a huge amount of committee work both inside and outside the

university. During the mid-1980s, however, the university’s shift

of emphasis towards research restricted Wade’s opportunities for

44

834

835

836

837

838

839

840

841

842

843

844

845

846

847

848

849

850

851

852

853

Life History 45

further promotion as he decided that it was too late in his

career to change emphasis himself:

But I decided, I’d been out here 15 years. . . . At that

point. I’m not gonna redo anything. I don’t care about the

rank; just pay me for what I am doing. I’d been through

enough things. Let me just go on and do what I need to do,

teach my classes, do the best I can. (Interview 3)

While he spoke honestly with parents about his current

experiences on campus, it was hard to forget incidents such as

the disgraceful behavior he witnessed at the football stadium

just six years earlier. He felt conflicted while speaking to

parents and making weekend trips. He longed to spend his fall

weekends with his family. For these combined reasons, he stopped

recruiting and instead resumed teaching a full load.

Pressure to perform. Especially during his first few years at

the University of Alabama Wade admitted that he felt constant

pressure to succeed because he was under continual surveillance.

He perceived this pressure to be greater for him than other

faculty because he was African American. He also explained that

he had high expectations of himself:

45

854

855

856

857

858

859

860

861

862

863

864

865

866

867

868

869

870

871

872

873

Life History 46

I always felt like I was being observed or watched or

evaluated on a daily basis, not just during that end-of-

semester evaluation. I’m talking about every day, and

whether I was or not, I felt that anyway. And sometimes if

it’s not true, and you feel it, it’s just as bad. Because I

do feel it. (Interview 3)

I think that I put a lot of pressure on myself anyway. It’s

not so much other people have to do it, because I think, if

I don’t think it’s right, I’ll continue to do it ‘til it

gets right. (Interview 3)

Back to the pressure, I put it on myself because I . . .

would want to get it right, and therefore that pressure’s

already there with the added pressure of being Afro-American

at a predominant white institution, it puts that much more

pressure on you, and I always felt like [if] I fail, I’ve

let a lot of people down (Interview 3)

Despite all this external and internal pressure, Wade did not

admit to feeling anxious. In fact, it appeared that he coped with

difficult situations extremely well:

46

874

875

876

877

878

879

880

881

882

883

884

885

886

887

888

889

890

891

892

893

Life History 47

I guess, the biggest anxiety I had was standing in front of

the College of Education in a meeting to give a report of

some type. . . . There was some anxiety . . . standing

before 107 colleagues . . . but even after presenting what I

had, there were a couple of people . . . around me [saying

they] just couldn’t do that, the way I did it. . . . It’s

almost like going to take the field or . . . playing the

game. Until a ball is hit to you or . . . you get involved,

you have butterflies. (Interview 3)

Wade used his skills in such situations, when levels of anxiety

heightened emotional response. Although he stated that he felt

scrutinized, mostly it seems that he put the pressure on himself,

because he had high expectations. However, in his interviews he

did state that on several occasions he felt a student was

“planted” in the class to observe him. Wade prepared, he was

adept with numbers because of his business background, and his

speaking skills in part were honed during his management-training

program with GE. He applied lessons learned in baseball to help

him, recognizing before the fact that he would have the

“butterflies until a ball was hit to him.” His peers recognized

47

894

895

896

897

898

899

900

901

902

903

904

905

906

907

908

909

910

911

912

913

Life History 48

and gave him praise for his skills. Such instances provided him

with the self-efficacy to persevere through an extended career in

academia.

Lingering racism. Despite the university making large gains in

terms of integration and racial tolerance, and Wade enjoying a

largely positive and productive relationship with the other

members of his department, he still experienced isolated

incidents of racism while on the faculty. For example, he

remembered:

Walking on the side of University Boulevard next to the

Quad, and I would see a faculty member coming [from the

other direction] and they would go across the street until

after they passed so I’d never meet them. So then they’d

cross back over. I mean, they can say that they didn’t do it

for that reason, but they did. It didn’t happen once, it

happened a lot of times. . . . Little things like that, that

probably made it more difficult than it should have been. I

shouldn’t have had to deal with that. That’s the toughest

part. (Interview 3)

48

914

915

916

917

918

919

920

921

922

923

924

925

926

927

928

929

930

931

932

Life History 49

There were . . . people, I guess couldn’t stand the sight of

seeing you there. . . . You just have to deal with it. And

there were times that I felt like I was doing some things

that I should be doing, not only for my race, but for the

university, and for everybody else. Then there were times I

felt like, I don’t want to go back out there. It’s not worth

it. But every night . . . I’d always think, “Well tomorrow’s

tomorrow, and tomorrow will be a better day.” (Interview 3)

In addition, he also viewed his excessive committee work as a

form of discrimination:

I think the only reason they asked me [to do so much

committee work] is just so they have some representation, to

have an Afro-American on the committee. And so what you end

up doing is being on 8 or 10 committees because . . .

there’s not that many Afro-Americans. . . . That’s the way I

felt. . . . A lot of your time was spent doing committee

work and none of that’s counting toward promotion.

(Interview 3)

49

933

934

935

936

937

938

939

940

941

942

943

944

945

946

947

948

949

950

951

Life History 50

We asked Wade in a subsequent conversation which committees he

had served on. He stated that he served on the following

committees among others: Faculty Senate, Recreation, Bankruptcy,

Student Health, Promotion and Tenure, Dissertation, and

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.

Given this treatment and the absence of many other African

American colleagues to share the burden, perhaps not

surprisingly, Wade did not mix a great deal with his Caucasian

colleagues outside of work and was relieved to retreat, at the

end of each day, to a part of town with which he was more

familiar and in which he was more comfortable:

When we leave . . . it’s like everybody goes a separate

way . . . I live on the west side of town. I mean . . . 98%

or 99% of people I make contact with other than work, they

are African Americans . . . because this is where I live. So

I don’t go to other . . . once you leave the ball field,

people have their own lives to live and they go separate

ways. (Interview 3)

Moreover, his strong sense of loyalty to the largely African

American west side of Tuscaloosa meant that, like his father, he

50

952

953

954

955

956

957

958

959

960

961

962

963

964

965

966

967

968

969

970

971

Life History 51

became a leader in that community. For example, he served on the

boards of the local YMCA and the County Park and Recreation

Authority.

Retirement. Wade retired from the University of Alabama in

2000. The consummate business major, he calculated years earlier

that the system had a respectable retirement program despite the

financial loss that he had suffered due to lack of promotion. He

was also content with all he had achieved:

I accomplished what I needed to, and when I got to 30 years I

just said, “That’s enough, and it’s time for somebody else to do

this.” . . . Because, I feel like I had been blessed to be put in

the situation. I did the best I could, and now it’s time for me

to give up all this pressure and . . . retire. And I haven’t

regretted not one bit of retiring. It’s been great. (Interview 3)

Conclusions

Wade faced all kinds of race-based marginalization in his

life prior to retirement. This included the overt and

institutionalized racism that he was subjected to during his

childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. It also involved the

more subtle and covert forms of racism he encountered during his

51

972

973

974

975

976

977

978

979

980

981

982

983

984

985

986

987

988

989

990

991

Life History 52

later working life as the Deep South began to change. Key to the

various forms of overt marginalization Wade faced was the

political system that had set up, approved of, and encouraged

racial segregation in the Deep South. That Wade faced relatively

covert forms of racism later in his life was due to the

unraveling of this system without the total support of the

populace.

In addition, Wade had to deal with stereotype threat during

his tenure at the University of Alabama. Specifically, due to the

negative connotation attached to his race, particularly in

educational contexts, Wade felt added pressure to perform as an

academic, and, as suggested by Milner and Woolfolk Hoy (2003),

carried an additional emotional and cognitive burden.

Wade’s ability to deal with and persevere in the face of

this marginalization and stereotype threat was mediated by his

strong sense of self-efficacy. This was built on a foundation of

successful sporting, educational, and pedagogical experiences. It

was significantly enhanced by the vicarious experiences Wade

gained observing the successes of other African American men

living and working in similar contexts to his own, including

52

992

993

994

995

996

997

998

999

1000

1001

1002

1003

1004

1005

1006

1007

1008

1009

1010

1011

Life History 53

Jackie Robinson, his father, one of his first physical education

teachers, and his mentor, Joffre Whisenton. These latter three

men also had a significant impact on Wade’s self-efficacy by

providing him with plenty of encouragement and positive feedback.

The fact that Wade was able to conquer any sense of anxiety

despite the pressure he was under as an African American faculty

member in a predominantly white institution also enhanced his

sense of self-efficacy. Consequently, he had a strong belief in

his ability as an educator and, in congruence with Bandura’s

(1977) theory, persisted in his chosen profession when he

encountered fairly extreme difficulties and unfair challenges.

Moreover, in line with Armor et al. (1976) and Milner and

Woolfolk Hoy (2003), it was clear he maintained a passion for

teaching and was highly successful in terms of the influence he

had on his students. Vital to Wade’s success were his high level

of pragmatic optimism, conscious effort to develop an even

temperament, and ability to keep moments of emotional despair

under control through the use of tried and practiced strategies

(e.g., choosing his battles).

53

1012

1013

1014

1015

1016

1017

1018

1019

1020

1021

1022

1023

1024

1025

1026

1027

1028

1029

1030

Life History 54

Rovegno (2003) emphasized that “one of the goals of

qualitative research is to share teachers’ stories in the hope of

opening possibilities of change for other teachers” (p. 305).

Similarly, Shulman (1986) observed “that most individuals find

specific cases more powerful influences on their decisions than

impersonally presented empirical findings” (p. 32). We agree with

both of these assertions as Archie Wade’s story inspired and

changed both of us. We were motivated to work with Wade to record

his story because we thought it would have the same effect on

other physical education teachers and teacher educators as it had

on us, particularly those who were marginalized. In addition, we

believed that stories such as Wade’s reveal the extent to which

life has improved for some African Americans in the Deep South,

particularly those working in higher education, while reminding

us that the region and its system of higher education may not

have made as much progress as it should have. Finally, we

believed that Wade’s story reveals the degree to which

individuals are both products and shapers of their environment.

Following Schempp and Graber’s (1992) dialectical view of

socialization, Wade was both transformed as the old South changed

54

1031

1032

1033

1034

1035

1036

1037

1038

1039

1040

1041

1042

1043

1044

1045

1046

1047

1048

1049

1050

Life History 55

and played a significant part in that transformation. The small

boy who began life going to school on a dilapidated old bus

without windows or seats certainly traveled a long way.

55

1051

1052

1053

Life History 56

What Does This Paper Add?

A small number of life histories of American physical

education teachers have been completed previously. To our

knowledge, however, this is the first published life history of

an American physical education teacher educator. For this reason,

Wade’s story is important within the field of kinesiology and the

subdiscipline of sport pedagogy. Hopefully, it will provoke

others into carrying out similar life history work with other

marginalized individuals with the ultimate goal being to improve

the working lives of university faculty in general, and

kinesiology and sport pedagogy faculty in particular.

In addition, since Wade is African American, and grew up and

worked in the Deep South during the height of the Civil Rights

movement, this study is also of broad historical importance. In

short, Wade’s life story is a reflection of historical change.

Finally, Wade’s life history also has the potential to inspire

others who are marginalized, particularly those working in higher

education.

56

1054

1055

1056

1057

1058

1059

1060

1061

1062

1063

1064

1065

1066

1067

1068

1069

1070

1071

1072

Life History 57

References

Armor, D., Conroy-Oseguera, P. Cox, M., King, N., McDonnell, L.,

& Pascal, A., . . . Zellman, G. (1976). Analysis of the school

preferred reading program in selected Los Angeles minority schools. (ERIC

Document Reproduction Service No. ED130243) Retrieved March

18, 2009, from ERIC database.

Armour, K. M. (1997). Developing a personal philosophy on the

nature and purpose of physical education: Life history

reflections. European Physical Education Review, (3)1, 68-82.

Armour, K. M. (2006). The way to a teacher’s heart: Narrative

research in physical education. In D. Kirk, D., MacDonald, &

M. O'Sullivan (Eds.), The handbook of physical education (pp. 467-

485). London: Sage Publications.

Aronson, E. (2004). The social animal (9th ed.). New York: Worth

Publishers.

Aronson, J., Lustina, M.J., Good C., Keough, K., Steele, C. M., &

Brown, J. (1999). When White men can’t do math: Necessary

and sufficient factors in stereotype threat. Journal of

Experimental Social Psychology 35, 29–46. Retrieved from:

57

1073

1074

1075

1076

1077

1078

1079

1080

1081

1082

1083

1084

1085

1086

1087

1088

1089

1090

1091

Life History 58

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103198

913713

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of

behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.

Bogdan, R. (1974). Being different: The autobiography of Jane Fry. New York:

John Wiley.

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Clark, E. C. (2007). The schoolhouse door: Segregation’s last stand at the

University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama

Press.

Curtner-Smith, M. D. (1997). The impact of biography, teacher

education, and organizational socialization on the

perspectives and practices of first-year physical education

teachers: Case studies of recruits with coaching

orientations. Sport, Education and Society, 2(1), 73-94.

Curtner-Smith, M. D. (1998). Influence of biography, teacher

education, and entry into the workforce on the perspectives

and practices of first-year elementary school physical

education teachers. European Journal of Physical Education, 3(1), 75-

98.

58

1092

1093

1094

1095

1096

1097

1098

1099

1100

1101

1102

1103

1104

1105

1106

1107

1108

1109

1110

1111

Life History 59

Curtner-Smith, M. D. (2001). The occupational socialization of a

first-year physical education teacher with a teaching

orientation. Sport, Education and Society, 6(1), 81-105.

Dollard, J. (1949). Criteria for the life history. New York: Peter Smith.

Earls, N. F. (1981). Distinctive teachers’ personal qualities,

perceptions of teacher education and the realities of

teaching. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 1, 59-70.

Fairclough, A. (2006). The costs of Brown: Black teachers and

school integration. The Journal of American History, 91(1), 43-55.

doi:10.2307/3659612

Goetz, J. P., & LeCompte, M. D. (1984). Ethnography and qualitative

design in educational research. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Goodson, I. (1980). Life histories and the study of schooling.

Interchange, 11(4), 62-76.

Goodson, I. (Ed.) (1992). Studying teachers’ lives. London: Routledge.

Hamill, S.A. (2009, January 23). Football pioneer builds big men

for Steelers. The New York Times. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/

59

1112

1113

1114

1115

1116

1117

1118

1119

1120

1121

1122

1123

1124

1125

1126

1127

Life History 60

Milner, H. R., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. W. (2003). A case study of an

African American teacher’s self-efficacy, stereotype threat,

and persistence. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 263-276.

Mjagkij, N. (1994). Light in the darkness: African Americans and the YMCA,

1852-1946. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.

Pajares, F. (1996). Self-efficacy beliefs in academic settings.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 66, 543-578. Retrieved from:

http://rer.sagepub.com/content/66/4/543.full.pdf

Rovegno, I. (2003). Teachers’ knowledge construction. In S. J.

Silverman and C. D Ennis (Eds.), Student learning in physical

education: Applying research to enhance instruction. (2nd ed., pp. 295-

310). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Schempp P. G. (1993). Constructing professional knowledge: A case

study of an experienced high school teacher. Journal of Teaching

in Physical Education, 13, 2-23.

Schempp, P. G., & Graber, K. C. (1992). Teacher socialization

from a dialectical perspective: Pretraining through induction.

Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 11, 329-348.

Schunk, D. H., & Pajares, F. (2002) Chapter 1 - The development

of academic self-efficacy. In A. Wigfield & J. S. Eccles,

60

1128

1129

1130

1131

1132

1133

1134

1135

1136

1137

1138

1139

1140

1141

1142

1143

1144

1145

1146

1147

Life History 61

(Eds.), Development of achievement motivation, (pp. 15-31),

doi:10.1016/B978-012750053-9/50003-6 

Shulman, L. (1986). Paradigms and research programs in the study

of teaching: A contemporary perspective. In M. Wittrock

(Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 3-36). New

York: Macmillan.

Sparkes, A. C. (1993). Challenging technical rationality in

physical education teacher education: The potential of a

life history approach. Physical Education Review, 16, 107-121.

Sparkes, A. C., Templin, T. J., & Schempp, P. G. (1993).

Exploring dimensions of marginality: Reflecting on the life

histories of physical education teachers, Journal of Teaching in

Physical Education, 12, 386-398.

Squires, S. L., & Sparkes, A. C. (1996). Circles of silence:

Sexual identity in physical education and sport. Sport,

Education and Society, 1(1), 77-101.

Steele, C. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape

intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist,

52(6), 613-29. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.52.6.613

61

1148

1149

1150

1151

1152

1153

1154

1155

1156

1157

1158

1159

1160

1161

1162

1163

1164

1165

1166

Life History 62

stereotype. (n.d). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. Retrieved from

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotype

Stone, J., Sjomeling, M., Lynch, C., & Darley, J. (1999).

Stereotype threat effects on black and white athletic

performance. [Electronic version]. Journal of Personality & Social

Psychology, 77(6), 1213-1227.

Swatos, W. H., Jr. (1998). Encyclopedia of religion and society.

Retrieved from http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/african.htm

Templin, T., Sparkes, A., Grant, B., & Schempp, P. (1994).

Matching the self: The paradoxical case and life history of

a late career teacher/coach. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education,

13, 274-294.

Tschannen-Moran, M. & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy:

Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17,

783-805.

Tygiel, J. (1997). Baseball’s great experiment: Jackie Robinson and

his legacy. New York: Oxford University press.

62

1167

1168

1169

1170

1171

1172

1173

1174

1175

1176

1177

1178

1179

1180

1181

1182

1183

Life History 63

Appendix

Interview Framework: Legacy of a Pioneer African American

Educator

Interview One: Biographic Information Basic biographic background information Early sporting experiences

Influence of family and friends on early sporting experiences

Description of PE programs in elementary, middle, and high school

Extracurricular sporting experiences Influential coaches and teachers in the sporting realm Other pre-PETE influences Discussion of timeline: which events should be added,

deleted from the personal and historic timelines, which events are particularly important to interviewee

Interview Two: College and University Experiences (as a student) General college experience as undergrad College sporting experiences (not including PETE) Description of PE classes, methods classes that you took

during your PETE Description of professors (lecturers) who led PETE Influence of peers Description of field experiences in PE General college experience as a graduate student

Interview Three: Career Experiences (as an educator) Participation in professional athletics Description of schools/universities in which the individual

has taught Description of the influence of co-workers, administrators,

and students Doctoral dissertation process Questions about the ability to persist in the face of

adversity

63

1184

1185

1186

118711881189119011911192119311941195119611971198119912001201120212031204120512061207120812091210121112121213121412151216121712181219

Life History 64

Other influences from the workplace Specific questions about self-efficacy:

Did you have experiences of accomplishment as an educator and can you describe them? (performance accomplishments)

Were there respected colleagues that you remember cheering you on and giving you feedback? How did they encourage you? How well did you relate to this person/ these people? (verbal persuasion)

Do you remember feeling anxiety as you did your job, and if so, did this anxiety help or hinder your work? (emotional arousal)

Did you have models or mentors that you could observe? Could you identify with them? How did you learn vicariously from them and what did you learn?

Specific questions about stereotype threat: Can you name some stereotypes you are aware of

concerning a particular group? Do you recall any pressure as an educator to confirm or

disconfirm any stereotypes

64

12201221122212231224122512261227122812291230123112321233123412351236123712381239