2019 Annual Conference

Military Education

Shared Concurrent Session (Approx. 12 or 20 minutes)

My dissertation research subject is the education and training of adult African American male civilians into junior officers while attending the U.S. Army Infantry and Medical Officer Training Camps at Fort Des Moines, Iowa from June - November 1917. They later fought in Europe and for Civil Rights in America.

Adult educators, especially those who teach minority students

1. Describe segregation in America in 1917
2. Explain the creation of both Officer Training Camps
3. Describe the education and training conducted at both Officer Training Camps
4. Describe how the new Army officers used their training in combat and after the war
5. Discuss how Critical Race Theory revisionist history applies to this historical period
6. Discuss how Self Determination theory applies to this historical period
7. Discuss how Transformative Learning applies to this historical period

The purpose of my research is to explore the historical narrative and the applicable adult education theories associated with this period. The importance of my research is to describe how adult educational theories like Critical Race Theory revisionist history applies to this historical period and is necessary to give the minority perspective on the events at Fort Des Moines at the beginning of WWI. One of the biggest impacts of my narrative is the eventual desegregation of American schools through the efforts of Charles Houston a cadet at Fort Des Moines. The innovation of my research is to fill in the blank of this historical period through an exhaustive analysis of primary sources located throughout the United States and not available on the internet. My research will illuminate the adult education and training that occurred in these camps beyond the well known racial situation. The timeliness of my research became apparent after the recent celebration of the end of WWI exposed the limited amount of information available about this period. The National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City recognized the timeliness of my research and allowed me to present my initial research last spring to the general public: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LZtLZnTk_k&t=135s

I will have a discussion with my roundtable participants and have handouts with questions. If a concurrent session, I will give a power point presentation like my WWI briefing. I will have updated information from a pre-conference research trip.