Scientists of the Mind: Intellectual Founders of Modern Psychology

Pedagogical Progressivism and Black Education: A Historiographical Review, 1880–1957

“…Some significant White scholars who contributed to the ideas of pedagogical progressivism during its formative years were William James, Marietta Johnson, Edward Thorndike, William C. Bagley, G. Stanley Hall, and John Dewey (Cremin, 1961;Kliebard, 1995). Historians have identified Thorndike as an administrative progressive and linked his segregationist thinking to his advocacy for intelligence testing and eugenics (Karier et al, 1973;Karier, 1986), but historians have paid relatively little attention to the racial views of James, Bagley, and Johnson. In contrast, numerous historians have explored the racial views of pedagogical progressives Hall and Dewey, who were not only two of the most influential pedagogical progressives but also two of the most impactful intellectuals of their respective generations.…”

“…196-197). Following Tyack's lead, historians have firmly established the racism of administrative progressives and have outlined their segregationist links to eugenics, intelligence testing, and segregationist thinking (Chapman, 1988;Fass, 1980;Karier et al, 1973;Karier, 1986;Kevles, 1995;Selden, 1999;Ravitch, 2000;Skiba, 2012;Thomas, 1982;Valencia, 2010;Winfield, 2007). Our analysis primarily addresses the racial views and curricula of pedagogical progressives because, we argue, this group addressed race in a variety of contradictory ways, whereas we accept that administrative progressives were relatively consistent in their segregationist focus on social control, at least through the 1920s.…”