A Troubled Dream

Stephen J. Caldas, Carl L. Bankston

Description

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, the United States still has a long way to go to attain true integration of our educational system.

Using extensive interviews and a wealth of statistical information, Bankston and Caldas examine the failed desegregation efforts in Louisiana as a case study to show how desegregation has followed the same unsuccessful pattern across the United States. Strong supporters of the dream of integration, Bankston and Caldas show that the practical difficulty with desegregation is that academic environments are created by all the students in a school from the backgrounds that all the students bring with them. Unfortunately, the disadvantages that minority children have to overcome affect schools more than schools can help remedy these disadvantages.

Sujets

• Black Studies
• Civil Rights
• 20th Century
• Histoire
• Africana studies
• Civil and political rights
• Education
• United States
• History
• Race

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 27 février 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826591487
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Carl L. Bankston III and Stephen J. Caldas

A TROUBLED

The Promise and Failure of School Desegregation in Louisiana

A Troubled Dream

A Troubled Dream

The Promise and Failure of School Desegregation in Louisiana

Carl L. Bankston III and Stephen J. Caldas

Vanderbilt University Press N A S H V I L L E

© 2002 Vanderbilt University Press All rights reserved First Edition 2002

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bankston, Carl L. (Carl Leon), 1952– A troubled dream : the promise and failure of school desegrega- tion in Louisiana / Carl L. Bankston III and Stephen J. Caldas. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8265-1388-3 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 0-8265-1389-1 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. School integration—Louisiana—History. 2. Segregation—Louisiana—History. I. Caldas, Stephen J., 1957– II. Title.

LC214.22.L8 B35 2001 379.2’63’09763—dc21

2001006528

To Cynthia and Suzanne,

both public school teachers

1

2

3

4

Contents

Figures

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction The Problem of Writing about Race

Louisiana’s Schools Prior to Desegregation: The Roots of a Racially Divided Society

The Struggle to Desegregate the Schools: Overcoming Injustice through the Schools

New Orleans: The Beginning and the End of a Process

East Baton Rouge: School Desegregation and Unintended Consequences

ix

xi

xv

1

21

37

54

83

viii

5

6

7

8

A Troubled Dream

School Desegregation and White Flight in Lafayette Parish

Louisiana and the Dilemma of Desegregation

The Academic Consequences of Desegregation and Resegregation: Revisiting the Harm and Benefit Thesis

Recommendations

Appendix A: Single-Parent Families and Educational Environment

Appendix B: Multilevel Statistical Examination of the Harm and Benefit Thesis

Notes

Index

106

140

186

205

223

231

247

263

I.1

3.1

3.2 3.3 4.1

4.2 5.1 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8

6.9 7.1

Figures

Orleans, East Baton Rouge, and Lafayette Parishes and School Districts

Orleans School District and Surrounding White Flight Districts

Racial Shifts in Orleans Parish, 1965–2000

Trends in Orleans Parish Black Enrollment, 1965–2000

East Baton Rouge Parish and Principal White Flight Districts

Racial Shifts in East Baton Rouge Parish, 1965–2000

Racial Shifts in Lafayette Parish, 1965–2000

Racial Composition of Louisiana School Districts, 1999

Black and White Students in Jefferson Parish, 1965–2000

Racial Shifts in Jefferson Parish, 1965–2000

Black and White Students in St. John Parish, 1965–2000

Racial Shifts in Rapides Parish, 1965–2000

White and Black Students in Caddo Parish, 1965–2000

Racial Shifts in Caddo and Bossier Parishes, 1965–2000

White and Black Students in Monroe Public Schools, 1965–2000

Racial Shifts in Ouachita and Monroe Districts, 1965–2000

Average Percent Correct on GEE

18

55 62 67

88 89 112 143 152 153 164 169 174 175

181 183 194

ix