Examines why school desegregation, despite its success in
closing the achievement gap, was never embraced wholeheartedly
in the black community as a remedy for racial inequality In
2007, a court case originally filed in Louisville, Kentucky, was
argued before the Supreme Court and officially ended the era of
school desegregation— both changing how schools across America
handle race and undermining the most important civil rights
cases of the last century. Of course, this wasn’t the first
federal lawsuit to challenge school desegregation. But it was
the first—and only—one brought by African Americans. In Divided
We Fail, journalist Sarah Garland deftly and sensitively tells
the stories of the families and individuals who fought for and
against desegregation. By reframing how we commonly understand
race, education, and the history of desegregation, this timely
and deeply relevant book will be an important contribution to
the continued struggle toward true racial equality. From the
Hardcover edition.