Another Racial Barrier Bites the Dust: Black Man Named Head of Predominantly White Preparatory School

Over the past quarter century we have seen a number of barriers fall where African Americans have achieved positions of influence that previously had gone only to whites. We have seen the arrival of black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, blacks in important cabinet positions, and blacks elected governor. Most important, a black woman was named president of an Ivy League university and a black man was elected president of the United States.

Yet there are some racial barriers that remain. For example, there has never been a black vice president, a black speaker of the House, a black secretary of defense. Despite the preponderance of black athletes, no African American has been commissioner of a major professional sports league.

But recently another important racial barrier has fallen. Mark Reed was hired as headmaster of the predominantly white Charlotte Country Day School, a private preparatory school in North Carolina. He is the first African American to be named as head of a predominantly white, private preparatory school in North Carolina. Reed was the assistant headmaster at St. John’s School in Houston, Texas.

A native of Montana, Reed is a graduate of the University of Houston. He holds a master’s degree in education from Columbia University.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.