Still Separate And Unequal

Racially separate schools cannot be equal even if funding levels are the same as wealthy White school districts, according to Barry A. Gold in his provocative new book. By documenting the effects that the New Jersey Supreme Court Abbott V decision had on schools and classrooms, Gold argues that Abbott V, along with NCLB, actually widened the educational gap between middle-class White students and minority students by creating a new but less effective type of urban education. This in-depth examination describes and analyzes the actual behavior of administrators and teachers to understand how and why these educational reforms failed. The book features include: reports on the two most important reforms of urban education in U.S. history - the New Jersey Supreme Court Abbott V ruling and NCLB; rich case studies of 7 years of urban elementary reform; why reform efforts failed to achieve their intended outcomes is explained; and ways to improve future urban education reforms are identified.

This is a revealing study of the crucial period in the educational development of the South as it involved the separate but equal" doctrine. It is based on extensive research in newspapers, public documents, official reports, and manuscripts, and it provi

Since the early 1980s, when the federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, segregation of black children has reverted to its highest level since 1968. In many inner-city schools, a stick-and-carrot method of behavioral control traditionally used in prisons is now used with students. Meanwhile, as high-stakes testing takes on pathological and punitive dimensions, liberal education has been increasingly replaced by culturally barren and robotic methods of instruction that would be rejected out of hand by schools that serve the mainstream of society. Filled with the passionate voices of children, principals, and teachers, and some of the most revered leaders in the black community, The Shame of the Nation pays tribute to those undefeated educators who persist against the odds, but directly challenges the chilling practices now being forced upon our urban systems. In their place, Kozol offers a humane, dramatic challenge to our nation to fulfill at last the promise made some 50 years ago to all our youngest citizens.

In this critique of the liberal perspective on desegregation, Samuels leads readers from the Brown decision to Green v. School Board of New Kent County and on to United States v. Fordice to show how the future of public black universities has been left uncertain at best. For Samuels, economic equality, not segregation, remains the primary obstacle to fully realized citizenship for African Americans. He argues that African Americans' pursuit of equality in higher education can be achieved without defunding programs at these schools and that their funding should be increased in recognition of their role in preserving African American culture.

In this groundbreaking study, Andrew Hacker offers a fresh and disturbing examination of the divisions of color and class in present-day America, analyzing the conditions that keep black and white Americans dangerously far apart in their ability to achieve the American dream. Why, despite continued efforts to increase understanding and expand opportunities, do black and white Americans still lead separate lives, continually marked by tension and hostility? In his much-lauded classic and updated version reflecting the changing realities of race in our nation, Andrew Hacker explains the origins and meaning of racism and clarifies the conflicting theories of equality and inferiority. He paints a stark picture of racial inequality in America—focusing on family life, education, income, and employment—and explores the controversies over politics, crime, and the causes of the gap between the races. Reasoned, accurate, and devastating, Two Nations demonstrates how this great and dividing issue has defined America's history and the pivotal role it will play in the future.

On June 7, 1892, Homer A. Plessy, a New Orleans shoemaker, white in appearance but Negro according to the "one drop" rule that discriminated against anyone with even a small fraction of African blood by that injurious label, boarded a "Whites Only" railroad coach. He then volunteered his lineage to the conductor, who ordered that he move to a car set aside by state law for Negroes—and so began the legal crusade that culminated in one of the most tragic and dishonorable decisions in Supreme Court history. Here, acclaimed historian Professor Harvey Fireside presents a powerful account of Plessy v. Ferguson, the famously unlawful ruling that institutionalized racism and helped inspire the civil rights movement. Separate and Unequal combines judicial records and historic photographs with a richly evocative portrait of Jim Crow–era Louisiana and a tale of the personal heroism of Homer Plessy; lawyer Albion Tourgée, who argued his case pro bono; and Justice John Marshall Harlan, the decision's sole dissenter, who argued fervently against the Court majority opinion that "separate but equal" accommodations were not unjust and demeaning. With sophistication and passion, Fireside shares a history less renowned but every bit as explosively influential as that of Rosa Parks.

This vivid behind-the-scenes account of Israeli rule in Jerusalem details for the first time the Jewish state's attempt to lay claim to all of Jerusalem, even when that meant implementing harsh policies toward the city's Arab population. The authors, Jerusalemites from the spheres of politics, journalism, and the military, have themselves been players in the drama that has unfolded in east Jerusalem in recent years and appears now to be at a climax. They have also had access to a wide range of official documents that reveal the making and implementation of Israeli policy toward Jerusalem. Their book discloses the details of Israel's discriminatory policies toward Jerusalem Arabs and shows how Israeli leaders mishandled everything from security and housing to schools and sanitation services, to the detriment of not only the Palestinian residents but also Israel's own agenda. Separate and Unequal is a history of lost opportunities to unite the peoples of Jerusalem. A central focus of the book is Teddy Kollek, the city's outspoken mayor for nearly three decades, whose failures have gone largely unreported until now. But Kollek is only one character in a cast that includes prime ministers, generals, terrorists, European and American leaders, Arab shopkeepers, Israeli policemen, and Palestinian schoolchildren. The story the authors tell is as dramatic and poignant as the mosaic of religious and ethnic groups that call Jerusalem home. And coming at a time of renewed crisis, it offers a startling perspective on past mistakes that can point the way toward more equitable treatment of all Jerusalemites.

This book is a powerful portrayal of class inequalities in the United States. It contains insightful analysis of the processes through which inequality is reproduced, and it frankly engages with methodological and analytic dilemmas usually glossed over in academic texts.