Snapshots of History

Portraits of the 21st Century Pandemic

Edited by:
Shirley Marie McCarther, University of Missouri-Kansas City

A volume in the series: American Educational History Journal. Editor(s): Shirley Marie McCarther, University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Published 2022

2021 Special Edition of the American Educational History Journal
(The official journal of the Organization of Educational Historians)

The American Educational History Journal is a peer-reviewed, national research journal devoted to the examination of educational topics using perspectives from a variety of disciplines. For more information about the Organization of Educational Historians (OEH) and its annual conference, visit the OEH web site at the web address: www.edhistorians.org.

This Special Edition of the American Educational History Journal entitled, Snapshots of Educational History: Portraits of the 21st Century Pandemic, is the first special issue in the history of AEHJ. The word, “unprecedented” has literally been used thousands of times during 2020 by news outlets, in our work environments, and in our daily lives. And indeed, the global pandemic has killed over 600,000 in the United States alone at the time of this writing. The public health crisis shut down everything as we knew it. Captives of sheltering-in-place, scores of incidents displaying horrific police brutality against people of color streamed live on airwaves north, south, east, and west, begetting civil unrest across the country. These are circumstances unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes. As historians, it is critical that we document this time of crisis so that generations to come can bear witness to this time of turmoil and tragedy. With these ideas in mind, the American Educational History Journal sought to hear from historians and other scholars about this unique and devastating time in our country’s history. The Journal honors the traditions of oral history and narrative storytelling as a means to gather the voices of those whose lives have been touched by the COVID-19 crisis, literally everyone around the globe.

This special issue deviates a bit from traditional AEHJ requirements in that we specifically invited narratives, not be full-blown historical research studies. The point of this special issue is for authors themselves to serve as the archival material that will benefit future scholars interested in understanding what it meant to live through this health catastrophe while doing the work of educators. We believe we owe it to the historians of the future to share our voices in real time.

CONTENTS
Dedication—Educational Historians: Past, Present, and Future, Shirley Marie McCarther. Editor’s Introduction, Shirley Marie McCarther. ARTICLES: SECTION I. Riding the Pan(aca)demic Waves: A One Year Portrait of Two Educators’ Experiences Teaching in Higher Education through the 21st Century Pandemic, Andrea Arce-Trigatti and Dorata Silber-Furman. Leading an Antiracist Experiential Learning Program for Preservice Teachers in the Summer of 2020, Aaron Bodle and Emma S. Thacker. Dissertating During a Pandemic: The Importance of Maintaining and Giving Grace, Alicia E. Boyd. The Professor Is the University: A First-Year Assistant Professor’s Pandemic Reflections, Kristen Chmielewski. Teaching Ethnic Studies Remotely Amid Global Pandemic: Rise of Xenophobia, Black Lives Matter, and Pedagogy for Liberation, Ga Young Chung. SECTION II. When the Familiar Became Strange: Face-to-Face Teaching in COVID Times, Beth Clark-Gareca and Laura J. Dull. Coping Through Kinship during COVID-19: Lessons From Women of Color, Jasmine L. Blanks Jones, Jessica P. Cerdeña, Chonika Coleman-King, and Mahauganee D. Shaw Bonds. Living on the Hope that it Will Start... Ahlam Daraghmeh. COVID-19 While Black: The Real Pandemic, Donna M. Davis and Danielle M. Davis. The Desert Flowers Always Bloom Following the Monsoon: Activism, School Boards, and COVID-19, Linsay DeMartino and S. Gavin Weiser. SECTION III. Teaching About Philanthropy in Education in a Time of Twin Pandemics, Andrea Walton. Business as Usual: Reflections on Life as Mothers and Educators During a Pandemic, Jami C. Friedrich, Katherine A. Perrotta, Amberly Evans, and Jennifer Curl. Blurry Memories of the Pandemic, Josć García. Making the Impersonal, Personal: Remote Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Jon Gorgosz and Margaret T. Murphy. A COVID Conversation: Two Academic Mamas Discuss Their Balancing Acts, Edith Gnanadass and Alison Happel-Parkins. SECTION IV. Teaching to a Screen: Is Anyone Out There? Kelli Hamilton. Motherscholars With Disabilities: Surmounting Structural Adversity During COVID-19, Stacey R. Lim, Jessica P. Cerdeña, Katharina A. Azim, and Kathryn Wagner. The Instrument-Less Band Director, Joshua E. Long. I Can’t Breathe: Unmasked Dialogue in the Era of Black Lives Matter — Creating Safe Spaces for Students to Explore Complex Themes, Shirley Marie McCarther. Inside the “Bonkers Bunker”: Reflections on Somehow Making an “Impossible” Situation Possible, Colleen C. Myles-Baltzly. Only Two Weeks: The Lived Experiences of Four Engineering Educators Transitioning to Virtual Learning During the 21st Century Pandemic, Pedro E. Arce, Stephanie Jorgensen, J. Robby Sanders, and Andrea Arce-Trigatti. SECTION V. Hustled Out and Hustled In: A Year of Suburban Schooling in an Era of COVID-19, Cheryl D. Osby. Pandemic Academic Parenting: Finding the Radically Queer Within Our Mundane, Monotonous, and Sometimes Homonormative Experiences, Summer Melody Pennell, Jennifer Greene-Rooks, and Kathryn Wagner. Virtual Solidarity: Digital Education During an Era of Solitude, Matthew Pezold, Amy Patillo, and Douglas Swanson. Schooling in the Time of a Pandemic: One Teacher’s Story, Tanya Reader and Nancy T. Walker. A Tale of Three Teachers: Portraits of Inequity, Education, and Perseverance During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Jean Ferguson Ruffin. SECTION VI. One Mom’s Story of Virtual Schooling Two Young Students With Special Needs, Mindy Spearman. Kung Flu Fighting: Pandemic Life and Schooling Amid the Specter of Yellow Peril, Kenzo K. Sung. “All You Can Say Is That You Plan on Being Finished Soon”: Doctoral Student Mothers During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Jasmine L. Blanks Jones, Ivanna Richardson, Jordan Conley, J. L. A. Donohue, and Caroline Loomis. Toxicity Coupled With Toxicity: I Forgot Why I Was Crying, Deidra C. Thomas-Murray. A COVID Reflection From the Perspective of an ASL/English Interpreter Education Program, Katelyn B. Wilson and Jami J. Hollingsworth. About the Editor.