Both Sides Now: The Story of School Desegregation's Graduates » (1st Edition)

Amy Stuart Wells is Professor of Sociology and Education,Teachers' College, Columbia University. Jennifer Jellison Holme is Assistant Professor of Educational Policy, University of Texas, Austin. Anita Tijerina Revilla is Assistant Professor of Women's Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Awo Korantemaa Atanda is Survey Specialist, Mathematica Policy Research,
Inc.

This is the untold story of a generation that experienced one of the most extraordinary chapters in our nation's history—school desegregation. Many have attempted to define desegregation, which peaked in the late 1970s, as either a success or a failure; surprisingly few have examined the experiences of the students who lived though it. Featuring the voices of blacks, whites, and Latinos who graduated in 1980 from racially diverse schools, Both Sides Now offers a powerful firsthand account of how desegregation affected students—during high school and later in life. Their stories, set in a rich social and historical context, underscore the manifold benefits of school desegregation while providing an essential perspective on the current backlash against it.

Foreword Vanessa Siddle Walker xi

Acknowledgments xix

1 The Class of 1980 1

2 Six Desegregated High Schools 39

3 Racially Mixed Schools in a Separate and Unequal Society 77

4 We're All the Same-Aren't We? 115

5 Close Together but Still Apart: Friendships across Race Only Went So Far 155

6 Why It Was Worth It 199

7 More Diverse Than My Current Life 236

8 But That Was a Different Time 264

9 The Souls of Desegregated Folk 292

Notes 321

Index 339