The African American struggle for secondary schooling, 1940-1980 : closing the graduation gap

cover image

Where to find it

Davis Library (6th floor)

Call Number
LC2717 .R87 2012
Status
Available

Stone Center Library

Call Number
LC2717 .R87 2012
Status
Available

Summary

This is the first comprehensive account of African American secondary education in the postwar era. Drawing on quantitative datasets, as well as oral history, this compelling narrative examines how African Americans narrowed the racial gap in high school completion. The authors explore regional variations in high school attendance across the United States and how intraracial factors affected attendance within racial groups. They also examine the larger social historical context, such as the national high school revolution, the civil rights movement, campaigns to expand schooling and urging youth to stay in school, and Black migration northward. Closing chapters focus on desegregation and the "urban crisis" of the 1960s and 1970s that accelerated "White flight" and funding problems for urban school systems. The conclusion summarizes these developments and briefly looks at the period since 1980, when secondary attainment levels stopped advancing for Blacks and Whites alike.

Book Highlights:

A comprehensive history, drawing on statistical analysis, archival research, and interviews with African Americans who attended school in the 1940s and 1950s. Lessons from the past, showing how parents and local communities played the most direct and dynamic role in the fight for access to education. Today's major challenges, including the growth of inner-city poverty and changing family structures.

Contents

  • Acknowledgments p. vii
  • Introduction p. 1
  • Racial Convergence in Secondary School Attainment p. 3
  • Setting Attainment in Context p. 6
  • Improving Black Secondary Education p. 10
  • Moving to Opportunity, and to Crisis p. 14
  • Building Toward the Future p. 16
  • Plan of the Book p. 18
  • Part I Expanding Access
  • 1 The South in the 1940s p. 25
  • Stark Inequity: The Rural Countryside p. 26
  • A Shaky Foundation: Elementary Education p. 31
  • Making the Best of Hard Times p. 34
  • City Schools p. 38
  • Accreditation Struggles p. 45
  • Conclusion: Struggling Against a Legacy of Inequity p. 50
  • 2 Sea Change: "Equalization" and Secondary Schooling p. 52
  • Race, Education, and Regional Development p. 52
  • Mounting Restiveness p. 55
  • Shifting Social and Political Conditions p. 57
  • A New Day for High Schools p. 60
  • Rising Levels of Attainment p. 63
  • A Grassroots Movement p. 67
  • The Good Black High School p. 71
  • White Resistance and Black Skepticism: The Limits of Reform p. 76
  • Conclusion: Building a Foundation for the Future p. 81
  • 3 Inequity, Discrimination, and Growth Outside the South, 1940-1960 p. 83
  • Blacks and Secondary School Attainment in 1940 p. 85
  • Going to High School in the North and West, 1940 p. 88
  • Racial Conflict in High Schools p. 91
  • In Search of Tolerance p. 95
  • Segregated Secondary Schooling, North and West p. 98
  • Parsing the Academic Layer Cake p. 104
  • Black Secondary School Attainment in 1960 p. 108
  • Conclusion: Growing Attainment and Persistent Inequality p. 111
  • Part II Fighting for Equality
  • 4 Black Youth and the Urban Crisis p. 115
  • A Changing Urban Scene p. 117
  • Discovery of the "Dropout" p. 119
  • Continuing Progress in Attainment p. 122
  • Learning Under Difficult Circumstances p. 127
  • Serving the "Disadvantaged" p. 132
  • An Era of Conflict and Protest p. 136
  • Conclusion: Coming of Age in the 1960s and 1970s p. 143
  • 5 Battling Segregation p. 145
  • Integration in the 1940s and 1950s p. 146
  • Changing High Schools in Kansas City p. 151
  • Desegregation and Protest Across the North p. 157
  • Pyrrhic Victory in the South p. 162
  • Integration and Student Conflict p. 168
  • Inequity Within the Schools p. 171
  • Conclusion: Trial by Fire p. 174
  • Conclusion: The African American High School Experience in Perspective p. 176
  • The High School in the History of Black Education p. 177
  • High Schools and Social Status p. 180
  • Dilemmas of Integration p. 183
  • A Legacy of Protest p. 188
  • The Elusive Goal of Equality p. 191
  • The Imperative of Educational Change p. 197
  • Appendix A Oral History Interviews and Other Sources of Information p. 200
  • Appendix B Logistic Regression Analysis of Secondary School Attainment p. 204
  • Notes p. 208
  • Index p. 251
  • About the Authors p. 262

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