This research sought to extend the historical record of advocacy for Black education by exploring the role of Black educators in the decades before the Brown v. Board of Education decision. It addressed (a) the ways the educators were involved in advocating for Black schools and (b) the relationship of the activities to the more visible accounts of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Answers to the research questions relied on historical ethnography as a methodological tool to analyze the records of the Georgia Teachers and Education Association and the NAACP. Each of these collections was also supplemented by other archival sources and interviews. Results indicate three identifiable periods of advocacy in the years before Brown. In each period, Black educators through their organizations were locally and nationally visible in advocating for education. The results reveal a co-dependent relationship with the NAACP and amplify the importance of a “connector” in establishing congruent national and local advocacy.
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