ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2487-6250
Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Education (Ed.D.)
Department
Administrative and Instructional Leadership
First Advisor
Barbara Cozza
Second Advisor
Richard Bernato
Third Advisor
Stephen Kotok
Abstract
The purpose of this historical qualitative study was to identify the historical consequences of segregation, racism, and poverty on African Americans residents of Hempstead Long Island, and how these phenomena shaped contemporary Black students’ academic self-concepts. Among the issues that purportedly afflict American public education are the low academic achievements of African-American students in what might be termed “inner suburban” schools. The history of how Black communities and school were created and sustained was examined through a historical review of Black education in America, and a comparative analysis of the oral histories of fourteen graduates of Hempstead High school between 1949 and 2003 that experienced changes in the quality of their education as the population became majority Black. This study identifies factors that lead to the segregation, hyper segregation (segregation by race and class), and the establishment of racialized ordinances and practices that facilitated the isolation of Black citizens geographically, socio-economically and educationally in the northern suburban community of Hempstead, New York. This study utilized an intersectional approach to identify and deconstruct racialized processes of marginalization and exclusion within the White suburban community constructs that remains an obstacle to Black citizens fundamental rights and efforts for social and intellectual parity. The knowledge gained from this investigation about the relationship of sustained segregation, poverty, and shifting perspectives of Black learners, who attended Hempstead high school will provide a deeper understanding of how intergenerational disadvantaged shaped their academic self-concept. This qualitative study will also provide future students of Hempstead schools, scholars, and Long Islanders, a more vivid description and critical analysis of the human tool of racial segregation, both historically and contemporaneously.
Recommended Citation
Byer-Tyre, David, "HYPER SEGREGATION AND POVERTY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE HISTORICAL FORCES THAT SHAPE THE ACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 1900 TO 2000" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 980.
https://scholar.stjohns.edu/theses_dissertations/980