The careers Wilson considers include many of the most brilliant of their eras. She sheds new light on the interplay of the professional and political commitments of W.E.B. Du Bois, Abram L. Harris, Robert C. Weaver, Carter G. Woodson, George E. Haynes, Charles H. Wesley, R.R. Wright Jr. - a succession of scholars bent on replacing myths and stereotypes regarding black labor with rigorous research and analysis.

In Segregated Scholars Francille Rusan Wilson explores the lives and work of fifteen black labor historians and social scientists as seen through the prisms of gender, class, and time. This collective biography offers complex and vital portraits of these seminal figures, many of whom knew and worked with each other, following them through their educations, their often groundbreaking work in economic and labor studies, and their invaluable public advocacy. The careers Wilson considers include many of the most brilliant of their eras. She sheds new light on the interplay of the professional and political commitments of W. E. B. Du Bois, Abram L. Harris, Robert C. Weaver, Carter G. Woodson, George E. Haynes, Charles H. Wesley, R. R. Wright Jr.--a succession of scholars bent on replacing myths and stereotypes regarding black labor with rigorous research and analysis. Equally important is the special emphasis Wilson places on little-known female social scientists such as Gertrude McDougald, Emma Shields Penn, and Elizabeth Haynes. The result is more than simply a balanced picture; it is an act of recovery. Many of Wilson's portraits are the most extensive available. Their extraordinary lives are an opportunity to examine the ways in which labor history--and, more broadly, women's and black intellectual history--have developed as separate and parallel discourses and disciplines. Segregated Scholars makes a crucial and unprecedented contribution to our understanding of the black intellectual heritage, as well as the history of the social sciences, and of many of the practices and policies with which we now live and work.

African American schools in the segregated South faced enormous obstacles in educating their students. But some of these schools succeeded in providing nurturing educational environments in spite of the injustices of segregation. Vanessa Siddle Walker tells the story of one such school in rural North Carolina, the Caswell County Training School, which operated from 1934 to 1969. She focuses especially on the importance of dedicated teachers and the principal, who believed their jobs extended well beyond the classroom, and on the community's parents, who worked hard to support the school. According to Walker, the relationship between school and community was mutually dependent. Parents sacrificed financially to meet the school's needs, and teachers and administrators put in extra time for professional development, specialized student assistance, and home visits. The result was a school that placed the needs of African American students at the center of its mission, which was in turn shared by the community. Walker concludes that the experience of CCTS captures a segment of the history of African Americans in segregated schools that has been overlooked and that provides important context for the ongoing debate about how best to educate African American children. African American History/Education/North Carolina

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlawed housing discrimination by race and provided an important tool for dismantling legal segregation. But almost fifty years later, residential segregation remains virtually unchanged in many metropolitan areas, particularly where large groups of racial and ethnic minorities live. Why does segregation persist at such high rates and what makes it so difficult to combat? In Cycle of Segregation, sociologists Maria Krysan and Kyle Crowder examine how everyday social processes shape residential stratification. Past neighborhood experiences, social networks, and daily activities all affect the mobility patterns of different racial groups in ways that have cemented segregation as a self-perpetuating cycle in the twenty-first century. Through original analyses of national-level surveys and in-depth interviews with residents of Chicago, Krysan and Crowder find that residential stratification is reinforced through the biases and blind spots that individuals exhibit in their searches for housing. People rely heavily on information from friends, family, and coworkers when choosing where to live. Because these social networks tend to be racially homogenous, people are likely to receive information primarily from members of their own racial group and move to neighborhoods that are also dominated by their group. Similarly, home-seekers who report wanting to stay close to family members can end up in segregated destinations because their relatives live in those neighborhoods. The authors suggest that even absent of family ties, people gravitate toward neighborhoods that are familiar to them through their past experiences, including where they have previously lived, and where they work, shop, and spend time. Because historical segregation has shaped so many of these experiences, even these seemingly race-neutral decisions help reinforce the cycle of residential stratification. As a result, segregation has declined much more slowly than many social scientists have expected. To overcome this cycle, Krysan and Crowder advocate multi-level policy solutions that pair inclusionary zoning and affordable housing with education and public relations campaigns that emphasize neighborhood diversity and high-opportunity areas. They argue that together, such programs can expand the number of destinations available to low-income residents and help offset the negative images many people hold about certain neighborhoods or help introduce them to places they had never considered. Cycle of Segregation demonstrates why a nuanced understanding of everyday social processes is critical for interrupting entrenched patterns of residential segregation.

Segregation by Design draws on more than 100 years of quantitative and qualitative data from thousands of American cities to explore how local governments generate race and class segregation. Starting in the early twentieth century, cities have used their power of land use control to determine the location and availability of housing, amenities (such as parks), and negative land uses (such as garbage dumps). The result has been segregation - first within cities and more recently between them. Documenting changing patterns of segregation and their political mechanisms, Trounstine argues that city governments have pursued these policies to enhance the wealth and resources of white property owners at the expense of people of color and the poor. Contrary to leading theories of urban politics, local democracy has not functioned to represent all residents. The result is unequal access to fundamental local services - from schools, to safe neighborhoods, to clean water.

The relationship between welfare and racial inequality has long been understood as a fight between liberal and conservative forces. In The Segregated Origins of Social Security, Mary Poole challenges that basic assumption. Meticulously reconstructing the behind-the-scenes politicking that gave birth to the 1935 Social Security Act, Poole demonstrates that segregation was built into the very foundation of the welfare state because white policy makers--both liberal and conservative--shared an interest in preserving white race privilege. Although northern white liberals were theoretically sympathetic to the plight of African Americans, Poole says, their primary aim was to save the American economy by salvaging the pride of America's "essential" white male industrial workers. The liberal framers of the Social Security Act elevated the status of Unemployment Insurance and Social Security--and the white workers they were designed to serve--by differentiating them from welfare programs, which served black workers. Revising the standard story of the racialized politics of Roosevelt's New Deal, Poole's arguments also reshape our understanding of the role of public policy in race relations in the twentieth century, laying bare the assumptions that must be challenged if we hope to put an end to racial inequality in the twenty-first.

This book examines the history of 20th century racial segregation in Kentucky higher education, the last state in the South to enact legislation banning interracial education in private schools and the first to remove it. In five chapters and an epilogue, the book traces the growth of racism, the period of acceptance of racism, the black community's efforts for reform, the stresses of "separate and unequal," and the unrelenting pressure to desegregate Kentucky schools. Different tactics, ranging from community and religious organization support to legislative and legal measures, that were used for specific campaigns are described in detail. The final chapters of the book describe the struggles of college presidents faced with student turmoil, persistent societal resistance from whites (both locally and legislatively), and changing expectations, after the 1954 Supreme Court decision in "Brown V. Board of Education" broadened desegregation to all public schools and the responsibility for desegregation shifted from politically driven state legislators or governors to college governing boards. Appendices contain tabular data on demographics, state appropriations, and admissions to public and private colleges and universities in Kentucky. (Contains approximately 550 notes and bibliographic references.) (Bf).