Description
Book SynopsisCombines legal and historical analysis to address the implications of Brown v. Board of Education , showing that the resolution of racial segregation in schools transformed the lives of ordinary citizens in broader ways than has previously been assumed.
Trade Review“
From the Grassroots to the Supreme Court combines well-crafted accounts that are both top-down and bottom-up (sometimes within the same essay). This intellectually stimulating approach generates unanticipated synergies, new ways of understanding the persisting struggle for racial justice.”—David L. Kirp, author of
Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education“This book does a wonderful job of bringing history to life by revealing the human stories behind the Supreme Court’s famous decision. Each contribution offers a rich and textured picture of how
Brown touched individual lives, prompting hope, fear, courage, and despair.”—Rachel F. Moran, author of
Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and RomanceTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction / Peter F. Lau 1
Part I: Historical Contexts: Views from the Grassroots
Plessy and Early Challenges to the Doctrine of “Separate, but Equal” / Blair L. M. Kelley 19
Tapestries of Resistance: Episodes of School Segregation and Desegregation in the Western United States / Vicki L. Ruiz 44
Within the Shadow of Jim Crow: Black Struggles for Education and Liberation in North Carolina / Raymond Gavins 68
“Liberating Lifescripts”: Price Edward County, Virginia, and the Roots of Brown v. Board of Education / Kara Miles Turner 88
From the Periphery to the Center: Clarendon County, South Carolina, Brown, and the Struggle for Democracy and Equality in America / Peter F. Lau 105
Part II: Advocates, Judges, and the Making of Brown
A Civil Rights Vanguard: Black Attorneys and the NAACP in Virginia / Larissa M. Smith 129
Prelude to Brown: Education and the Struggle for Racial Justice during the NAACP’s Formative Decades, 1909-1934 / Patricia Sullivan 154
J. Waties Waring and the Making of Liberal Jurisprudence in Postwar America / Christopher W. Schmidt 173
Brown v. Board of Education: Law of Politics? / Michael J. Klarman 198
Part III: Historical Impact: Views from the Grassroots
The Impact of Lawyer-Client Disengagement on the NAACP’s Campaign to Implement Brown v. Board of Education in Atlanta / Tomiko Brown-Nagin 227
“The New Negro Ain’t Scared No More!”: Black Women’s Activism in North Carolina and the Meaning of Brown / Christina Greene 245
The Rural-Urban Matrix in the 1950s South: Rethinking Racial Struggles in Memphis / Laurie B. Green 270
New York, Puerto Ricans, and the Dilemmas of Integration / Madeleine E. Lopez 300
Part IV: Life, Law, and Culture in Post-Brown America
“Stretching Out”: Living and Remembering Brown , 1945-1970 / Waldo E. Martin Jr. 321
The Supreme Court’s Two Principles of Equality, From Brown to 2003 / Mark V. Tushnet 340
Brown v. Board of Education and its Impact on Black Education in America / Davison M. Douglas 361
Conclusion: Brown and Historical Memory / Peter F. Lau 383
Bibliography 387
Notes on the Contributors 391
Index 395
