Customer Reviews

Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown V. Board of Education

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I like many have long felt a sense of pride in our country's apparent commitment to ideals when we annually commemorate Brown v. Board of Education. However, I've been wondering why, after Brown and the years of social turmoil we endured to integrate our schools, that our schools are racially segregated? The authors of "Dismantling..." seem to suggest that we have basically abandoned one of the most cherished ideals of the Republic, equality. That we did this is apparent. Determining the answer to the question why we resegregated our schools to the reader. Though some helpful information on reaching this determination is presented

"Dismantling..." focuses on how we've abandoned the Brown (1954) principle "separate is inherently unequal" and have steadily moved back to Plessy v Ferguson (1896) "separate but equal". The book provides significant amounts of historical perspective and traces the reversing trend through Supreme Court decisions from Brown to 1995. The authors provide a large amount of detail on the effects of these decisions on our schools and at-risk children.

Make no mistake. This book is decidedly one-side. However, this fact does not necessarily invalidate the information presented or the conclusions drawn. I would have appreciated inclusion of more material on the integration successes, however small they may be, and where these successes are occurring.

A pleasant surprising inclusion was the following paragraph which I believe is the most succinctly stated argument that desegregating our schools is desirable and probably necessary. "There is never enough money to satisfy all needs in any school district. All school districts face strong competition for funds, desirable programs, facilities, and the best teachers. Normal politics produces budgets and administrative decisions slanted in favor of the communities with the most power. Administrators and boards tend to reward communities with resources, skills, and access because it this constituency that can most damage the reputation and community support of school officials by using communication skills and their ability to mobilize the electorate. In the long run the weakest communities almost always lose. Resources flow toward power like water flows downhill. Money, good teachers and administrations, and special programs are always scarce and there is always competition for these resources. Assuming that the most powerless communities with the most disadvantaged students and families will receive equal priority over the long run is like assuming that water will flow uphill."

"Dismantling Desegregation" is a dense book. It was apparently written for educational professionals rather than general readers such as myself, who are not directly involved in school desegregation issues and who do not have children in school. For the professional I'm sure it is a valuable information resource. For the rest of us, this book offers interesting information, often valuable, but it is not an easy or pleasant read.

This is an excellent book that I sat down to read for a class and it turned out to be actually compelling in many parts. The case studies (most of them) were excellent and persuasive. The book would have been better from more of this style all around, and maybe some connections -- some of the chapters were dull, but overall, a really complete overview that gets you thinking.

This is a fabulous overview of our nation's wholescale abandonment of policies and practices that had created desegregated schools in many cities and regions. The book, while scholarly, is really useful for activists, parents and other groups wanting to hang onto racial integration. I recommend it to anyone who cares about this topic.

The case studies in this book were cogent and beautifully written. (Not common in case studies!!) The stories remind you that real people are involved in these decisions -- are important. However, the book, overall, doesn't hold together. I wish the case study author had written the entire book because some of the rest of it seems off point. I'd love to see an update in what's happening in districts like Norfolk and Montgomery County. A good book for any student of race relations or the judiciary.

finally, here is a book that shows with real people and real places the effects of the us of a's (the land of equality?? not) throwing out of the desegregation ideal. i happened to grow up in two places, Montgomery County Maryland (the chapter on this is right on) and also, a suburb right outside of Detroit, Michigan (the chapter on this is right on, too) and it's true that Montgomery County was this place that was pretty integrated but forgot about the importance of that when achievement became the big issue. the only problem with this book was the last chapter, it was on a topic which i really wanted to read about but could not stay awake. all in all, a good book that any good progressive needs to have on his or her bookshelf. C.

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court decided Brown vs. Board of Education, probably the Supreme Court decision which has had the most far ranging impact on America since marburry v. Madison.

There have been a rash of books lately by conservatives, claiming that school desegregation has been an abject failure. Orfield, et al, ably rebut this criticism.

School desegregation was never given a chance to work. From 1954 until 1968, school desegregation consisted almost entirely of symbolic gestures in a few isolated communities, set against a broad southern strategy of northern resistance.

From 1968 until 1974--a short 6 years, school desegregation was accomplished throughout the south. Then the courts turned their gaze north, and the Supreme Court quickly retrenched--abandoning busing, and ruling that housing segregatioin had nothing to do with school desegregation--rather, housing segregation was a matter of "choice". Once that fateful decision was made, the North did not have to desegregate, and many southern cities were free to resegregate.

Since true, wide spread desegregation, even in the South, only lasted a few short years, it is no surprise that there were few results to show. Orfield et al, however, make an excellent case that the criticism and statistics purporting to show that desegregation accomplished nothing are wrong. Where there is data, it shows that desegregation did exactly what it was supposed to do--even out the playing field for Black and White students.

The problem with the book ios that it is not so much a book as a series of academic studies, with the technical jargon (mostly) removed, and then grouped together in a single volume. This approach leads to needless duplication, and a complete failure to draw some conclusions which only become apparent by chance.

The authors of Dismantling Segregation make no attempt to connect the dots between the different stories. Taken together, the case tudies included in this volume strongly suggest that there was an organized effort among a relatively small group of lawyers, politicians, and educators to dismantle segregation. Who the players were, and what interests they represented, however, wil have to await another book.