Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on the NAACP's twentieth-century attempt to overturn the separate but equal doctrine through school desegregation cases, Desegregation and the Rhetorical Fight for African American Citizenship Rights analyzes the rhetorical/legal dynamics inherent in the struggle to determine African American citizenship rights. This book begins by identifying the fundamental dialectical tension existing within all American citizenship rights between the Declaration of Independence's guarantee of ideal equality to all citizens as opposed to the Constitution's privileging of local, practical decision-making through Article IV Sect. 2, the privileges and immunities clause. It contends that as a consequence of that dynamic, American citizenship rights are rhetorical concepts produced through argument grounded in all the available means of persuasion, including logical, emotional, and ethical appeals. Ultimately, this book demonstrates that the school desegregation issue came down to a question of
Trade ReviewDesegregation and the Rhetorical Fight for African American Citizenship Rights offers a fresh take on longstanding questions about the legal and rhetorical nature of citizenship rights. Sally F. Paulson’s thoughtful, accessible study is a welcome addition to the growing rhetorical scholarship on school desegregation in the United States. -- Melody Lehn, Sewanee: The University of the South
Table of ContentsChapter I. The Situation Chapter II. The Road to “Separate but Equal” Chapter III. The Graduate School “Equality” Cases of the 1930’s Chapter IV. McLaurin v. Oklahoma: “Separate Cannot Be Equal” Chapter V. Public School Desegregation Chapter VI. Brown II: “With All Deliberate Speed” Chapter VII. “White Flight” Bibliography Index About the Author
