Two Sides of the Same Token: An Examination of Segregation, Memory, and White Supremacy In Contemporary Church Schools

A Thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of The College of William & Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts

This thesis is a portfolio containing two essays about private Christian church schools with an introductory essay to connect both projects. The first essay, “A Convergence of Purpose: Segregation and White Supremacy in Contemporary Church Schools,” is a comprehensive examination of the development and creation of church schools that first looks at the distinction between church schools and segregation academies, and then assesses the relevance that the distinction, or the lack thereof, plays in maintaining white supremacy in contemporary church schools. The second essay, “The Trauma of Tokenism: Desegregation, Memory, and White Supremacy in Contemporary Church Schools,” considers the modern impact that church schools have on their Black students, using memory to extend Kanter’s theory of tokenism.