First Footprints

History should be written to inform the present and honour the past. In order to successfully meet this criteria history needs to be retold, above all else, truthfully. This truthfulness requires a brazen acknowledgement of past actions and events no matter how they reflect on the nation. In the case of Australian history, and any other colonizing nation, that truth contains harmful realities of oppression. Because of this, history is often reconstructed in a form that is easier to swallow or in a way that benefits those leading the nation. Because records are largely made by white people, they have far too often become subjective retellings of history used to justify actions made by white administrators and political leaders of the past and present.

Talking Loud and Saying Nothing

The road a predominantly white institution (PWI) takes to maximize diversity, inclusion, and equity can be fraught with challenges. One midsize institution learned through an assessment of its campus climate that its institutional practices and arrangements impeded diversity, inclusion, and equity despite white administrators' beliefs to the contrary. To help quell systemic racism habits, monthly campus-wide workshops focused on several key racial injustice habits and hurtful microaggressions generated from white privilege. A faux social justice allure to white allies who considered themselves advocates of nondominant people is one that should ultimately call into question the genuineness and true nature of their support. This semi-autoethnographic essay is a plaintive call to white colleagues in the academy to earnestly acknowledge white privilege and to use it to actively fight the destructive force of racial battle fatigue and institutional racism.

The Fearless Firsts

This chapter documents the first years of school desegregation at Westminster. By 1967, Westminster was a nationally known school whose alumni attended colleges and universities across the nation, but black students like Michael McBay and Dawn Clark endured overt racial harassment. Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968, the pivotal and tumultuous decade concluded with increased protest in the nation at the same time that NAIS further advanced its recruitment efforts of black students. At Westminster, Malcolm Ryder, Ron McBay (Michael’s younger brother), Joia Johnson, and others enrolled also experienced racial harassment. The first black students, however, began to find their niches inside and outside the classroom. The school culture included increased volunteer efforts in black neighborhoods, celebrations of black workers in the yearbooks and newspapers, and visits by notable black individuals. Nevertheless, some school traditions reflecting racial subordination continued. The fearless firsts found their way by largely relying on their skills and talents, the support of their families, and the dedication of black workers and select white administrators and teachers.

Race of Experimenter in Racial Attitude Measurement

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of race of examiner who administers the Situational Attitude Scale (SAS). One group of white Ss ( N = 115) was administered the SAS by blacks and a comparable group by white administrators ( N = 204). Questionnaires were completed anonymously. Results of two-way analyses of variance (fixed model, p = .05) indicated that there were no measurable effects attributable to the race of the person administering the SAS, and whites generally responded negatively to blacks in personal or social situations.