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Joseph Nichols, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Education

Ph.D., Social Studies Education, Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Studies and Research, University of Georgia
M.A., Public Affairs, Georgia College and State University
B.B.A., Management, Mercer University

Practice Areas

  • History of Education, Civil Rights, and Public Policy
  • School Desegregation and Educational Authority and Governance post-Brown
  • Segregation Academies and Teacher Displacement
  • School District Boundaries, Metropolitan Segregation, and Suburbanization
  • Qualitative and Historical Research Methods

Research Interests

I am an associate professor in the School of Education and an affiliated researcher with the PRiME Center. I am a historian of education, civil rights, and public policy whose work examines how white political actors responded to Brown v. Board of Education by redirecting white educational authority and control within and across school systems, district boundaries, and public-private institutional partnerships. My research traces how these strategies preserved racial hierarchy while diffusing democratic accountability through a process of institutional migration and a purposeful evasion of democratic politics. I pay particular attention to school desegregation, the segregation academies movement, teacher displacement, and educational governance in the post-Brown era.

Publications and Media Placements

Current Projects

My current work includes an article on the rise of segregation academies in the 1960s South currently in sound-round review with History of Education Quarterly, a paper on southern governors and the politics of segregation academies being drafted for the Journal of Southern History, an article in process for the American Journal of Legal History on the Brooks v. Moberly court case and the limits of civil rights jurisprudence, and a book manuscript—This Is Maddox Country: Georgia Governor Lester G. Maddox and the White Backlash in American Politics—which is under contract with the University of South Carolina Press, and an article under review with the Missouri Historical Review about school district boundaries and segregation in St. Louis County. Building on my PRiME Center report on the displacement of Black teachers in Missouri post-Brown, I am developing a follow-up that examines the contemporary status of Black teachers in the state, reviews the capacity of Missouri teacher preparation program to diversify the workforce, and estimates the scale of the teacher-student representation gap. Across these projects, I examine how struggles over desegregation reshaped not only schools but also the institutions that govern educational access, representation, and democratic accountability.

Recent Scholarship and Public Engagement

My recent scholarship includes a primer on the Brooks v. Moberly court case in the Missouri Encyclopedia; an article on the politics of motherhood, white moderates, and school desegregation in Atlanta titled “Help Our Public Education (HOPE), Concerned Motherhood, and Integrating Atlanta’s Public Schools” published in the Georgia Historical Quarterly, and the PRiME Center report examining the displacement of Black teachers in Missouri post-Brown.

My research has informed public conversations and has been featured on St. Louis Public Radio, The Gateway Podcast, KRCG a CBS-affiliated station in Columbia and Jefferson City, the Columbia Missourian, and newspaper coverage across the state. I also write public-facing essays on the history of schooling, segregation, and democracy on my Substack Yesterday’s Classrooms.

Selected Journal Articles

  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Alyssa Ignaczak. “Help Our Public Education (HOPE), Concerned Motherhood, and Integrating Atlanta’s Public Schools.” Georgia Historical Quarterly 109, no. 4 (2025): 352-376.
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “'To Defend and Strengthen Their Heritage’: White Flight from Public Schools and the Rise of Segregation Academies in the 1960s South.” History of Education Quarterly. (revise and resubmit; in revision)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Bailey Hanson. “Us Versus Them: The Rhetoric of Separation in Governor Lester G. Maddox’s Response to School Integration in Georgia, 1967-1971.
  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Rebecca Lauren Miller. “Americanism-Communism: Southern Segregationist Governor Lester G. Maddox, Cold War Fear Mongering, and Conservative Politics.”
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “Brooks v. Moberly, MO, the Black Teacher Workforce Post-Brown, and the Limits of Civil Rights Jurisprudence.”
  • Cuenca, Alex and Joseph R. Nichols. “The Rise and Fall of Missouri’s Performance Assessment of Student Teachers: A Policy Network Analysis of the Missouri Pre-Service Teacher Assessment.” Education Policy Analysis and Archives 30, no. 7 (February 2022): 1-28.
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “Who Is a नागरिक (citizen)? Civic Orientations in Indian Education Policy.” Citizenship, Teaching and Learning 15, no. 2 (June 2020): 239-254.
  • Nichols, Joseph R., Stephanie Hendel, and Natalie Gerke. “For Those Who ‘Love Liberty and the American Way of Life’: Governor Lester Maddox and the Opening of Post-Brown Segregation Academies in Georgia.” History Matters 32, no. 4 (December 2019): 1-9.
  • Cuenca, Alex and Joseph R. Nichols. “Framing Teacher Education: An Analysis of the Comprehensive Educator Equity Plans of Sixteen State Education Agencies.” The New Educator 15, no. 1 (January-March 2019): 1-17.
  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Alex Cuenca. “Two Roadmaps, One Destination: The Economic Progress Paradigm in Teacher Education Accountability in Georgia and Missouri.” Action in Teacher Education 36, no. 5/6 (Winter 2014): 446-459.
  • Cuenca, Alex and Joseph R. Nichols. “Ferguson Is About Us Too: A Call to Explore Our Communities.” Social Education 78, no. 5 (September-October 2014): 248-253.

Selected Book Chapters

  • Nichols, Joseph R. This Is Maddox Country: Georgia Governor Lester G. Maddox and the White Backlash in American Politics. Under contract with the University of South Carolina Press.
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “The Economic Citizen: Civic Education and Its Discontents.” In Teaching in an Age of Economic Disparity, edited by Cory Wright-Maley and Trent Davis (New York, NY: Routledge, 2017), 25-41.

Selected Policy Briefs and Education Reports

  • Nichols, Joseph R., Alex Cuenca, and Andrew Diemer. “Policy Analysis: The Rise and Fall of Missouri’s Performance Assessment of Student Teachers.” PRiME Center Policy Briefs 3, no. 4 (July 15, 2021).
  • Nichols, Joseph R., Stacey Preis, and Evan Rhinesmith. “The Road Back: St. Louis Public School Governance.” PRiME Center Policy Briefs 1, no. 1 (April 19, 2019).

Selected Conference Presentations

  • Nichols, Joseph R. “Brooks v. Moberly, MO, Integrating the Black Teacher Workforce Post-Brown, and the Failure of Civil Rights Jurisprudence. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Educational Law Association, Kansas City, MO, November 5-8, 2025. (paper)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Amy Shelton. “School Consolidation and Racial Segregation: A Legal History of Missouri Senate Bill 307 (1948), School District Boundaries, and the Preservation of Segregation in Suburban St. Louis.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Educational Law Association, Kansas City, MO, November 5-8, 2025. (paper)
  • Miller, Laurn and Joseph R. Nichols. “Americanism-Communism: Southern Segregationist Governor Lester G. Maddox of Georgia, Cold War Fear Mongering, and Conservative Politics.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 3-6, 2025. (paper)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Amy Shelton. “School District Boundaries and the Preservation of Segregation in Suburban St. Louis.” Poster presented at the Missouri Conference on History, March 12-14, 2025, Blue Springs, MO. (poster)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “Brooks v. Moberly, MO, the Black Teacher Workforce Post-Brown, and the Limits of Civil Rights Jurisprudence.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the History of Education Society, Chicago, IL, November 7-10, 2024. (paper)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “Naomi Brooks v. Moberly, MO and the Black Teacher Workforce Post-Brown, 1955-1970. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 3-7, 2024. (paper)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “Help Our Public Education, Integrating Atlanta’s Public Schools, and the Grassroots Pushback Against the Segregationist Conservatism of Georgia’s Political Leadership.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association, Charlotte, NC, November 8-12, 2023. (paper)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “'To Defend and Strengthen Their Heritage’: White Flight from Public Schools and the Rise of Segregation Academies in the 1960s South.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the History of Education Society, Atlanta, GA, November 1-5, 2023. (paper)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “Help Our Public Education, Integrating Atlanta’s Public Schools, and the Grassroots Pushback Against Georgia’s Segregationist Political Elite.” Presentation at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 13-16, 2023. (presentation)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. “‘For Those Who Love Liberty and the American Way of Life’: Georgia Governor Lester Maddox and the Politics of Segregation Academies.” Presentation at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 13-16, 2023. (presentation)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Natalie Gerke. “Help Our Public Education, Integrating Atlanta’s Public Schools, and How Race-Talk Shapes the History of Race and Segregation in American Education." Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Council for History Education, Salt Lake City, UT, March 23-25, 2023. (poster)
  • Nichols, Joseph R. and Natalie Gerke. “‘For Those Who Love Liberty and the American Way of Life’: How the History of Segregation Academies has Shaped the Civic Mission of Schools.” Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Council for History Education, Salt Lake City, UT, March 23-25, 2023. (poster)

Professional Organizations and Associations

  • History of Education Society
  • Midwest Political Science Association
  • Southern Historical Association