Learning from the Calfee Training School: Exploring One Nonprofit’s Efforts to Reimagine a Historically Black School While Iterating Democratic Norms

Democratic norms and practices have proven most resilient in social terms in past crises when they have extended beyond the state into what Habermas (1989) has called the “public sphere.” Benhabib (2006, 60) has highlighted the social significance of this sphere, “How else can moral and political learning take place, except through...encounters in civil society?” Such discovery is integral to the process of “democratic iteration,” which Benhabib has argued is essential for the resilience of such norms and practice. It follows from this view that civil society entities can function to reinforce and reshape social norms, extend individual authorship, and expand how their constituents and allies think about civil rights amidst racial, ethnic, and political pluralism and polarization. To understand better both the possibilities and limitations experienced by civil society entities seeking to play such roles during the present period of social disunity in the United States, we will investigate the formation, structure, and activities of one such organization, the Calfee Community and Cultural Center (CCCC) in Pulaski, Virginia. CCCC leaders are currently reimagining the public good uses of a historically significant Black elementary school building (closed since desegregation in 1966) and seeking self-consciously to embody and exemplify egalitarian practices and valorize pluralism as they do so. We will employ key informant interviews to examine how CCCC’s principal stakeholders (N=10) are presently pursuing these ends. We will ground our inquiry in Benhabib’s (2006) concept of democratic iterations to investigate whether and how, in reimagining the school’s physical space, the group has reiterated historical claims of democracy in their community (cosmopolitanism, pluralism, authorship/agency, and civil rights). Our analysis will allow us to reflect on how civil society organizations can contribute to society’s collective capacity to operationalize and iterate democratic norms and practices.