The African American Struggle for Secondary Schooling, 1940-1980

by Rury, John L.; Hill, Shirley A.

• ISBN13: 9780807752777
• ISBN10: 0807752770
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-28
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

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.

Author Biography

John L. Rury is professor of education and (by courtesy) history at the University of Kansas. Shirley A. Hill is professor of sociology at the University of Kansas.

Table of 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
Expanding Access
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
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
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
Fighting for Equality
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
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
Oral History Interviews and Other Sources of Information	p. 200
Logistic Regression Analysis of Secondary School Attainment	p. 204
Notes	p. 208
Index	p. 251
About the Authors	p. 262
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