Class Action: Desegregation and Diversity in San Francisco Schools

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Description

A compelling history of school desegregation and activism in San Francisco.

Class Action tells the story of San Francisco's long struggle over school desegregation in the wake of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. San Francisco's story provides a critical chapter in the history of American school discrimination and the complicated racial politics that emerged. It was among the first large cities outside the South to face court-ordered desegregation following the Brown rulings, and it experienced the same demographic shifts that transformed other cities throughout the urban West. Class Action is the first book to present a comprehensive political history of post-Brown school desegregation in San Francisco. Quinn illuminates the evolving relationship between jurisprudence and community-based activism and brings a deeper understanding to the multiracial politics of urban education reform. He responds to recent calls by scholars to address the connections between ideas and policy change, and ultimately provides a fascinating look at race and educational opportunity, school choice, and neighbourhood schools in the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education.

Reviews

"Class Action offers a rigorous and well-written account of school desegregation in one of Americas most important cities. Crucially, Rand Quinn traces the long trajectory of school desegregation from 1971 to 2005, revealing a nuanced portrait of how courts and multiracial communities fought for and against policy changes. This is an important and much needed book."Matthew Delmont, author of Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation

Author Bio

Rand Quinn is associate professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania.