Separate But Not Equal: the Dream and the Struggle

This book covers the struggle of African Americans for a right to an education from the colonial period to the contemporary period. Though this book is mostly chronological, it opens with a dramatic encounter in 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas, when the state of Arkansas was resistant to the efforts of

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segregation. Then the author tracks back to the colonial period and the efforts of slaves to learn to read and to teach each other, though it was forbidden. The book then follows the story of black education, from the founding of black schools, to the legal victories lead by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP to challenge the "Separate but Equal" doctrine. Then the story comes full circle; the author follows up on the children from Arkansas, as they recount their experiences.
The author sprinkles in inspirational anecdotes of individuals throughout who overcame the odds to get an education and make a name for themselves; these examples prevent the history from being too dull or dry. The reader is introduced to important leaders in the movement, names the may have heard and will surely hear from again. The book traces the history from era to era, demonstrating how the actions and decisions made in one set up the struggles and triumphs in the next, up to and ending with the challenges of the modern era of public schools.

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