Danielle Hill 
University of Rhode Island
Major: Communications/Sociology
Mentor: Dr. Clifford Wirth, Associate Professor of Political Science
Educators' Knowlege and Attitudes Concerning the Immigration Patterns of African Americans
This study examines public educators' knowledge of the history of immigration patterns of African Americans (American slavery). My research will also investigate how teachers acquire their knowledge through the media and how this knowledge influences attitudes towards race.
African American and white school teachers from a sample of U.S. cities will be surveyed through a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaires will be anonymously administered at teachers' meetings in cooperation with public high school superintendents and principals. Questions from the National Opinion Research (NORC) and the Survey Research Center (SRC) will be employed.
Before assessing public high school teachers' knowledge and attitudes concerning the immigration patterns of African Americans, I conducted an anonymous pilot survey. The pilot study was conducted with education students at the University of New Hampshire. This preliminary study will provide a pretest for the questionnaire. The final survey of public high school teachers will be conducted this fall. The significance of this study is that public high school teachers are elites who are educating future generations about race issues. It is, therefore, important to determine what knowledge teachers have on this subject and how this relates to their attitudes on race.
