Anderson Lecture Enthusiastically Received

Released: 4/3/07

[Other School of Education News]

Dr. James Anderson was the featured speaker for the second annual Tommy G. Thompson Educational Reform Lecture Series on Wednesday, March 28, at Marquette University. This lecture series is jointly sponsored by Marquette’s School of Education and the Tommy G. Thompson Center at Marquette, which houses four decades of the former Wisconsin governor’s papers, including extensive documentation of Thompson's role in the educational reform movement.

Dr. Anderson, author of the award-winning book "The Education of Blacks in the South: 1860-1935," is a nationally known expert on the history of African American education. Dr. Anderson is professor of history and of educational policy studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He also serves as the chairman of the Educational Policy Studies Department at UIUC. 

During his visit, Dr. Anderson spent the day on the Marquette campus, meeting with undergraduate classes, and conversing with graduate students, faculty and administrators. He fielded questions all day long, providing thoughtful insights into the current educational experience of African American students in US schools. 

Dr. Anderson's public address, "How African Americans Reduced the Opportunity and Achievement Gap: Lessons for Educators, Community Activists, and Policy-Makers," gave a historical context for the current "crisis" over the achievement gap between students of color and white students.  He described the many gaps that have been closed by the African American community, beginning with the literacy gap experienced by slaves who were legally barred from learning to read and write.  He went on to describe the sacrificial efforts of African American communities to build elementary schools for their children, when the White-governed states resisted investing money and personnel for African American children.  Though he described the current schooling experiences for many African American children as grossly inequitable in funding, resources, curriculum, and qualified teachers, Dr. Anderson painted a hopeful picture of the history of communities of African Americans who have always highly valued education and are continuing to move forward in gaining higher levels of academic achievement.

The audience attending his public address included over 270 people from all over the community, representing Marquette students, faculty, and administrators, public schools teachers and administrators, and neighboring institutions of higher education. Having a scholar of the caliber of Dr. Anderson spend the day on the Marquette campus was a tremendous honor and enormously educative. Everyone who attended came away with new insights and great admiration for this historian and teacher.