Product Description

In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court sounded the death knell for school segregation with its decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. So goes the conventional wisdom. Weaving together vivid portraits of lawyers and such judges as Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren, sketches of numerous black children throughout history whose parents joined lawsuits against Jim Crow schools, and gripping courtroom drama scenes, Irons shows how the erosion of the Brown decision—especially by the Court’s rulings over the past three decades—has led to the "resegregation" of public education in America.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #665779 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-31
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that mandated the desegregation of U.S. schools, is popularly seen as a hallmark of American justice. But Irons, author of May It Please the Court: Courts, Kids, and the Constitution and professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, surveys recent U.S. history to reveal a quite different picture: many states have found ways to delay implementation of, or totally evade, the ruling. Further, in response to the often violent battles around school busing and a clear rise of conservatism in the country, Irons argues that in 1991 the court began "judicial burial" of Brown by setting precedents that continued to allow segregated schools. Irons supplies fascinating and vital contexts for his narrative, beginning with examples of how slave literacy was clearly connected to slave revolts and other demands for freedom. He looks in detail at how the politics of nominating Supreme Court justices have affected the ongoing battle for desegregation; he also provides a detailed analysis of how, in 1948, Thurgood Marshall worked to secure legal access for African-Americans to graduate schools in states that bordered the South, then built upon those decisions toward Brown. Gripping stories of internecine Supreme Court battles as well as the "war against the constitution" waged by Southern politicians who defied Brown punctuate this account, which ends with a cogent overview of recent studies indicating the win-win benefits of integration.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
For this work, yet another excellent study by Irons (political science, Univ. of California, San Diego; A People's History of the Supreme Court), the moral is the message in the title. Irons does celebrate the nearly revolutionary work of the Warren Court in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation ruling of May 17, 1954. However, he also convincingly cautions us that if Brown wrought a revolution, it produced a partial one at best, for now we find ourselves in what he sees as the throes of resegregation. Other recent works have explored the legacy of Brown and its progeny. But Irons, a sage veteran of Supreme Court analysis, including its disappointing rulings concerning Japanese internment during World War II, vividly illustrates the promise of the past and the perils of the present in his cogent commentary concerning a revolution unfulfilled. This engaging, insightful work covers the 150-year struggle to realize the ideal of equality in public education and demonstrates that the struggle continues. Highly recommended.
Stephen K. Shaw, Northwest Nazarene Univ., Nampa, ID
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The famous 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education decision, outlawing segregation in public schools, was thought to be the turning point in the modern civil rights era. Irons, a political science professor and award-winning author of A People's History of the Supreme Court (1999), takes the reader on an enlightening journey through the preconditions of segregation from slavery through the Civil War on into the so-called Jim Crow era, when the South sought to re-impose its cultural dominance on racial issues. Irons examines the Supreme Court ruling and its cultural context--including jurist personalities and interests leading up to and subsequent to the Brown decision. But he is particularly acute at analyzing the consequences of the decision, including the broken promises of equality of opportunity through education. Since the early 1990s, the Court's ruling has clearly sanctioned re-segregation, allowing for schools where segregation stems from causes beyond legal remedy, such as white flight. In later chapters, Irons notes the interconnection of poverty and race, indicating not only the unfulfilled promises of the Court now but also into the future. Irons brilliantly exposes the gaping divide between our ideals, laws, and social realities. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Very well done though I had two qualms
This book is clearly the result of a great deal of thought and effortand I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. It really causes one to question the commonly held assumption (at least perhaps among whites) that all of the issues involving forced segregation and the negative consequences that flowed therefrom more or less evaporated in 1954 or shortly thereafter. Quite to the contrary, the book shows how, in may ways (though obviously not in all), there are almost more similarities between the state of American education and race relations between, say, 1953 and today than there are dissimilarities. In that sense, the Brown case may have accomplished a whole lot less than is commonly imagined. For this reason alone, the book is valuable.

I did have two qualms with the book however. The more trivial one is that I thought that the numerous statistics were confusingly presented, perhaps because the author tried to summarize them in prose rather than in charts. There were repeated times that I had to re-read those portions of the book and I feel that that was mostly because the author did not do a good job of clearly summarizing the statistical information for his readers. I feel that the use of charts would have been more helpful (and perhaps more dramatic as well in terms of proving the author's points).

My other complaint goes to the issue of the remedy to the problem. It seems to me (and I think that the author concedes as much) that a good portion of the reason for the problems that exist today relate to changes in demographics, culture and societal forces which are beyond the power of the courts or the legislature to change--just as some judges and commentators have stated. To be sure, these changes include white flight to the suburbs, but nevertheless people live where they live and little can be done about that. Thus, in that sense, to the extent that most children attend schools in which their own race predominates (as in the pre-Brown days), I'm not sure that I would call that a "failure" or a "broken promise" of the Brown decision. The author seems to take this point as a given, but then proceeds to say that we should not give up; that we should keep trying to fulfill the promises of the Brown case notwithstanding that; that we should search for the harder solution.

One possibility for that solution is of course a modified "separate but equal" solution in which separation still exists (though for societal reasons and not due to legally sanctioned segregation) but this time with true equality in terms of funding, teachers, facilities, etc. In other words, make the black schools just as good as the white schools.

Irons seems to disapprove of this solution on a number of grounds, and I tend to agree with him. As Thurgood Marshall stated, the idea and the ideal is true integration between the races and NOT separate but equal, even if there were true "equality" in the senses I have stated.

But, if we rule out this possibility, doesn't this leave only one other possibility, that being busing? Irons never comes right out and advocates a return to the days of busing (perhaps because it remains a political hot button issue), but it seems to me that there is no other alternative which he leaves open to us. With that in mind, I would have preferred him to come out more directly and specifically with his own solution to the problem which he lays out so well. I believe that the only solution he leaves us with is busing, but he seems reluctant to come out and say that in so many words. If that his solution however, I think that the book would have benefitted from a discussion as to how busing might work today and how it might overcome the problems it faced in the 1970's. On the other hand, if he has in mind some other solution, I would have liked him to say what that is.

Good History, So-so Social Analysis
In high school, college and to some extent in law school, the Brown decision was presented as some sort of cultural epiphany during which our nation woke up and realized that racial classifications were wrong. Although the Brown decision certainly marks a turning point in race relations as well as constitutional jurisprudence, it is less national self-realization than the culmination of concentrated efforts of numerous brave individuals.

The book is accessible to lawyers and laypersons alike. Irons does an excellent job of avoiding "legalese." Where legal terms are necessary, he explains them. His writing is clear and to the point.

Irons opens by discussing the concentrated efforts to prohibit black slaves from receiving an education. He shows how depriving education was a powerful and effective weapon in the racist arsenal. He touches briefly on the Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson decisions to set the stage. More importantly, however, he introduces the readers that are not overly familiar with legal education to Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents. These two decisions addressed integrating post-secondary education and were decided before Brown. They also show that Brown was a gradual progression and that Plessy was eroded slowly.

His insight in to 19th Century attempts at school integration is enlightening. Brown and its companion cases were not cases of first impression (the first time a court decides an issue). When the NAACP tried to integrate schools, it had numerous judicial opinions against it. The NAACP legal team, headed by Thurgood Marshall, made calculated attacks on school segregation to set the issue up for review by the Supreme Court.

Irons penetrates the secrecy of the Supreme Court to give us a glimpse of how Brown was decided. Of particular interest is how Earl Warren worked to achieve a unanimous court. Some readers will no doubt be surprised to learn that school integration was not the foregone conclusion we think of it as today.

The real value of the book comes when Irons moves in to the post-Brown era. He examines the battle between the federal courts and state governments to implement the Brown decision. His discussion of the busing cases is excellent. For those who think that the battle over school integration ended, his analysis of the current court's resegregation cases will be eye opening.

The main critique of other reviewers appears to concentrate on his conclusion that integrated education is the magic bullet of race relations. I agree with his conclusion that integrated education will assist in that area, but the support he cites is not adequate to get to there. In other words, he bit off more than he can chew. It is a tough job to write a generally accessible book making social conclusions based on in depth academic studies. When he cites statistics, it gets a bit confusing. I think the general reader's attention will wander which hurts his point.

Rather than end the book by referring quickly to studies and statistics to make a conclusion, it may have been better to put the information in an afterward with a suggested reading list. His suggested readings are good, but would benefit from being topically arranged. By allowing readers to follow-up and verify the validity of Irons' opinion, school integration could actually become the epiphany as which we idealize the Brown decision.

Poignant Book Report
BOOK SUMMARY - this paragon is a compilation of court cases, impact and results, of: segregation, integration, desegregation, federal vs. state powers, black vs. white imbalance, and urban vs. rural education with respect to race. This is a powerful book, which will encourage you to challenge your own educational background and to reminisce about your own upbringing, whether your race is black or white, and to which generation you feel connected - something for everyone at all ages. After reading the book, I think it explains a lot of racism from our parents, grandparents, and forefathers before them, because of the dearth of reference points that we have today with an integrated society. In hindsight, it (racism) doesn't excuse our ancestor's behavior, but it does elucidate the issue.

You will gain an erudite perspective with regards to the impact of Jim Crow schools. "Jim Crow's Children" illuminates a progressive evolution that embarks upon the journey through slavery, to sharecroppers, to `nigras', to Negro's, to Blacks, and to present day African-American socioeconomic plights. Court cases are interspersed throughout this lucid and professionally-researched anthropology throughout the past 150 years. This collection of historic, judicial impact superbly demonstrates the current situation that faces our education system and affirms the book's statistics through Peter Irons's interview with high school students.

PERSONAL REVIEW - Awesome, Thought-provoking, Engaged, Intellectual, Piercing and Educational are words that describe this compilation. I agree with the reader below, who remarks that many of the statistics divulged are extremely confusing in prose, compared to charts. This setback is cumbersome and I believe the only foible of the author.

Education is only one example where the disparity of whites and blacks diverge. Both races are to censure (and laud), our accomplishments, as well as our governmental policies and jurisprudence. I was surprised to learn of the glaring statistic of black, female head-of-household in urban cities and the author's comments of role models for OUR nation's black children (I am Caucasian). Too often, I find the personalities of Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrachan chide white America on the divergence of race relations and blame our society for its woes. Why isn't their rhetoric more solution-based to create alternative methods to mollify the affect of languishing family values (ie: dead beat dads, poverty, safe sex, education, drugs, cultural integration, etc.) for BOTH races?

I highly recommend reading this book, regardless of race, disposition, or creed. In addition, I encourage you to discuss and debate the issues as we strive for racial harmony. For without intellectual dialogue we will continue to have "two cities: one white, one black." Perhaps, Peter Irons will be an expert witness with the University of Michigan admissions policy.