Annotated Bibliography

Primary Research

Bond, Guy L., Marie C. Cuddy, and Leo C. Fay, ed. Days of Adventure Classical Edition.

Chicago: Lyons and Carnahan, 1962. This is a textbook apparently in circulation in the

late sixties and early seventies in Commerce, Texas. It was designed as part of a

developmental reading series, and it attempts to familiarize elementary age students with

basic narration and literature.

DeLancey, Floy Winks, and William J. Iverson, ed. Across The Blue Bridge. Syracuse: The L.

W. Singer Company, 1960. Across The Blue Bridge is an introduction to literature reader

for grades school aged students. It offers selections from such canonized authors as Emily

Dickinson, Kenneth Grahame, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Hans Christian Andersen,

but also contains a number of relatively unknown authors. Since the student circulation

section of the textbook has not been filled out, it is difficult to tell exactly when this text

was in circulation in the Norris School; however, it was likely in circulation in the mid to

late sixties.

Keedy, Mervin L, Leslie A. Dewight, and Charles W. Nelson et al, ed. Exploring Elementary

Mathematics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. As with Across The Blue

Bridge, Exploring Elementary Mathematics’ circulation date is relatively unknown, but it

is clear that this text is hailing from a transitional period in textbook publishing, a period

that seems to have made greater strides to rectify the depictions of African Americans in

public school textbooks. The textbook presents African Americans through less

stereotypical depictions. African Americans are often depicted working side-by-side with

white men and women and are generally working in more prestigious positions (such as a
 bank teller)..

Leavell, Ullin W., Mary Louise Friebele, and Tracie Cushman. Frontiers to Explore. New York:

American Book Company, 1965. This is another textbook discovered within the Norris

School. It is a reader and historical guide for grade school students. It offers short stories

and brief historical explanations.

Pearson, T. Gilbert. Birds of America. Garden City: Garden City Books, 1936. A library book

found in the Norris School, presumably left their after the closing. It features various

birds from across the United States. Given that it was published in the 1930s, it also

offers interesting scientific explanations for phenomena like bird migration.

Russell, David H., Cretchen Wulfing, and Odille Ousley, ed. Finding New Neighbors Revised

Edition. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1957. This textbook appears to have been in

circulation in the early sixties and late seventies. It offers a broad array of simple stories

and historical narratives. Many of these stories attempt to reinforce extreme examples of

American patriotism.

Sheppard, Sue. Personal Interview. 18 April 2010. Mrs. Sue Sheppard is the former principal at

the Norris School. She also taught there briefly in the early 1970s. In her interview, she

helped me to understand how my textbooks were used and how long they were in

circulation.

Witty, Paul A. and Alma Moore Freeland. Treasure Gold. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company,

1964. Treasure Gold is a teaching edition of a children’s textbook. It offers both stories

and instructional notes, prompts, and quizzes for teachers and students’ use in the

classroom. This editions use in the Norris school is ambiguous due to a lack of properly

recorded circulation information on the inside cover.

 Secondary Research

Callary, Jean. “A Glimpse into One 1970s Textbook.” Tech Trends 52.5 (September 2008): 15.

This is a brief, one page article about textbooks in the 1970s. It mostly covers historical

reception and directs researchers to topics and scholars. It was instrumental in finding

other sources.

De Leon Mendiola, Annalisa. “Traditionalist versus Multiculturalists: Discourses from the 2003

U. S. History Textbook Adoptions in Texas.” Dissertation. This is a dissertation dealing

with textbook adoption in text. It primarily focuses on the multicultural issues, or lack

thereof, involved in the process. While I did not use anything directly from the

dissertation, it did help me find other sources.

Douglas, Helen M. and Raymond B. Cameron, ed. History of East Texas State Teachers College

TRAINING SCHOOL: 1917-1948. Commerce: East Texas State Teachers College, 1972.

This is one of the textbooks Sue Sheppard provided in our interview. The text did not

really offer much insight into textbooks or textbook selection, but it did provide a

glimpse into the way teachers in Commerce were trained. It also revealed some the

archival problems the school and district were suffering from in the 40s.

Gold, David. “The Accidental Archivist: Embracing Chance and Confusion in Historical

Scholarship.” Beyond The Archives: Research As a Lived Process. Ed. Gesa E. Kirsch

and Liz Rohan. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008. 13-19. David Gold

discusses his early days as a budding rhetorician and archivist. He talks about what led

him to the profession and his first real archival project. This is a great essay for learning

the importance of archival research.

---. Rhetoric at the Margins: Revising the History of Writing Instruction in American Colleges,
 1873-1947. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008. In this book, David

Gold discuss the transitions in writing instruction theory, particularly from large and Ivy

League universities to smaller, state universities. He seems to be particularly interested in

the misconceptions about how many of the literacy practices used in classrooms today

actually started. He emphasizes how small schools played a bigger role than previously

thought.

Heath, Shirley Brice. Ways with Words: Language, Life, and Work in Communities and

Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. This book examines and

urban and rural communities literacy practices. Heath is particularly interested in African

American language use and cultural practices. She discusses how these practices vary

from community to community.

Hughes, Richard L. "A Hint of Whiteness: History Textbooks and Social Construction of Race in

the Wake of the Sixties." Social Studies 98.5 (2007): 201-207. Hughes attempts to study

the way race was constructed in textbooks during the sixties, particularly their depictions

of African Americans during the civil rights movement. He argues that these “textbooks

increasingly strove to include the experiences of African Americans and racial

stereotypes” (201). Hughes also discusses the perception or absents of racial depictions

before the sixties.

Hyatt, Frances. “History.” A. L. Day 1885-1985: A Centennial Cookbook. 1985. 1-8. This is one

of the books belonging to Mrs. Sheppard. It is an anniversary cookbook used to raise

money for a historical plaque at the A. L. Day School. Frances Hyatt, one of the former

teachers, wrote a brief history of schooling in commerce as an introduction to the book. It

did not contain much at all about the Norris School,

Jones, Rhett. “Not Even a Blue Box: Afro-Indian Relations in Black History Textbooks.”

Western Journal of Black Studies 32.2 (Summer, 2008): 13-17. Jones focuses his article

on the peculiar way modern textbooks have dealt with broadening the historical

perception of race and gender issues. “Not Even a Blue Box” is a reference to the boxes

placed alongside the text in most modern textbooks. He argues that these boxes attempt

to add information about women’s rights and African American history to text largely

concerned with the achievements of white males; however, he has noted that Afro-Indian

relations in black history is not even covered by the blue boxes in contemporary public

school textbooks.

King, Martin Luther Jr. “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Patterns for College Writing: A

Rhetorical Reader and Guide 11ed. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 588-601. This is Martin Luther King’s famous essay

written while he was imprisoned in Birmingham for civil disobedience. His essay

discusses the need to move forward with civil rights, and it provides part of the

foundation for my claim on the subconscious influences of distorted narratives. I focus

particularly on his discussion of children being influenced by negative television ads.

Kirchler, Leslie. “Architecture and Landscapes of Segregation: An Historical Look at the Built

Environment of Educational Facilities in the United States.” Berkeley Planning

Journal 18 (2005): 79-99. This article focuses on the engineering aspects of segregated

schools. I was originally hoping to use it if I discussed how the Norris School was built in

according to its blueprints. However, I decided not to discuss this aspect of the school in

my paper.

Kirsch, Gesa E. “Being on Location: Serendipity, Place, and Archival Resarch.” Beyond The
 Archives: Research As a Lived Process. Ed. Gesa E. Kirsch and Liz Rohan. Carbondale:

Southern Illinois University Press, 2008. 20-27. This article focuses on archival research

and the importance of working on location, particularly when working with texts or

artifacts that attached to the site. This essay reminded me of Gold’s research, and I

originally planned to use it along with Gold in my essay.

Morris, Jerome E. "Forgotten Voices of Black Educators: Critical Race Perspectives on the

Implementation of a Desegregation Plan." Educational Policy 15.4 (2001): 575-600. The

article looks at the implications of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas and

the emergence of critical race theory (RCT) in St. Luis. The author argues that the

decision was implemented in way “that primarily protected the interests and the superior

status of Whites in St. Louis” (576). He suggests that school boards and administrators

pay greater attention to black educations when implementing policies of this nature, and

he stresses that such policies are still being abused today.

Salvucci, L.K. “Mexico, Mexicans, and Mexican-Americans in Secondary-school

United States History Textbooks” The History Teacher 24.2 (1991): 203-222. Salvucci

discusses the modern textbook market and its impact on contemporary perceptions of

Mexico and Mexican-Americans. She focuses her study on ten textbooks published for

Texas public schools. While she is mostly concerned with contemporary textbooks

issues, she does offer a brief history of the presentation of Mexico and Mexican

Americans within textbooks in the United States.

Sitton, Thad and James H. Conrad. Freedom Colonies: independent Black Texans in the Tim of

Jim Crow. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008. I was particularly interested in using

the “School Days” chapter in this book. It offered interesting information about early
 African American school, and the hardships the students endured in order to reach them

on a daily basis. It also offered intriguing pictures from early part of 20th century

Street, Brian V. and Adam Lefstein. Literacy: an advanced resource book. Ed. Christopher N.

Candlin and Ronald Carter. New York: Routledge, 2007. This is one of the textbooks

assigned in class. I plan to make use of “Section B: Extension,” but I ended up not using

any of the keywords. However, the textbook was useful in familiarizing me with literacy

terms for class.

Zimmerman, Jonathan. “Brown-ing the American Textbook: History, Psychology, and the

Origins of Modern Multiculturalism.” History of Education Quarterly 44. 1, (Spring

2004): 46-69. Zimmerman examines textbook reception by African Americans during the

early and mid parts of the twentieth-century. He attempts to explain the long fought

struggle of the African American community to rectify the racist sentiments portrayed

about their culture within American textbooks. He asserts that textbooks continued to

display racist images and messages up until late 1960s.