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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the processes of integration, desegregation, and resegregation on middle and high school music education programs in Columbia and Richmond Counties from 1950 to 2000. The focus of the research was on the participants experiences during the period of desegregating and resegregating schools. Of particular interest were factors influencing the end quality of music education for both Black and White students, and the ironies which may have occurred as a consequence of the processes. This study used a qualitative interview research design as well as a questionnaire specifically designed to construct a profile of the school systems music programs and to augment and validate the findings of the interviews. Using a guided process, 34 former and current music teachers who taught between 1950 and 2000, as well as seven subjects who were students at the time of desegregation, were interviewed. The sampling procedure involved identifying every living and locatable music teacher who had taught in the two school systems from 1950 through 2000, and contacting them for the purpose of inviting them to participate in the study. Five primary factors were identified by the participants as affecting the quality of music education in Richmond and Columbia Counties during the processes of desegregation and resegregation: ethnocentric behaviors and effects, the teacher and surrounding effects, socioeconomic effects, philosophy of music education and curriculum, and school rezoning and busing. The following conclusions are evident from the findings: a) there were positive gains for all music education students in Richmond and Columbia Counties as a consequence of desegregated schools, particularly for Black students who had increased access to better instruments and music libraries, improved teaching, and increased participation rates in GMEA events; b) there were losses for some public school music education students and teachers, including teaching reassignments and white flight from the public schools; c) the quality of the teacher played an important role in determining the quality of the music education experience for students following desegregation; d) statistically significant inequalities of resources and results still persist in the music education of public school students, especially between school systems and in some cases within; e) there are a number of students of all races but primarily minorities who still are not receiving the same music education in the public schools had they been born into more fortunate socioeconomic circumstances.INDEX WORDS: Music education; desegregation; resegregation; ethnocentricism; socioeconomics; philosophy of education; parental support; the teacher