Caring and Uncaring Teacher Practices: Examples From Past Offer Guidance for Present and Hope for Future

This article employs narrative inquiry to illuminate how teachers’ embodied culture of care, or lack thereof, effects African American students. The majority teacher (young, White, female) often struggles to counter the cultural mismatch and connect with her diverse student population. This study highlights narratives of African American students who attended both segregated and newly integrated schools during the 1950s to 1970s, and offers an exemplar of teacher practices and behaviors that lead to a culture of care, which is possible, regardless of race and laws, when educators engage in the act of caring for the overall growth and development of their students.