Desegregating Chicago’s Public Schools

Highlighting the processes and missteps involved in creating and carrying out school desegregation policies in Chicago, Dionne Danns discusses the challenges of using the 1964 Civil Rights Act to implement school desegregation and the resultant limitations and effectiveness of government legislative power in bringing about social change.

“This is an important study that quite effectively chronicles the politics of school desegregation in a major city during the course of the black freedom struggle. … This is a wonderful book for students and scholars exploring sources on the history of education after the brown decision. It is also a helpful resource for understanding the challenges facing African American and Latino communities seeking to assure a quality education for their children.” (Gerald L. Smith, Ohio Valley History, Vol. 15, 2015). . . Desegregating Chicago's Public Schools . . . is solidly researched and accessibly written . . . No book covers this topic . . . That attention alone makes it invaluable and worthy of publication. The research itself is thorough; the author has uncovered sources that no one else has used in the past to tell a new story.' Amanda Seligman, Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA

Dionne Danns is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and Adjunct in African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.