"Rowing, not drifting" : Black organizational reform before World War II -- Citizens action : managerial racism & reform politics -- The suburban oasis : the origins of segregated space -- The mustache saga : the rise of Black youth protest -- A Black child's burden : busing to achieve racial balance -- Where do we go from here : setting the course for racial reconciliation -- Conclusion : secondary cities & the Black urban experience
Summary
This book examines the civil rights movement in the North by concentrating on the struggles for equality in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The author, a historian, studies the issues surrounding school integration and bureaucratic reforms as well as the role of Black youth activism to detail the diversity of Black resistance. The author focuses on respectability within the African American community as a way of understanding how the movement was formed and held together, and elucidates the oppositional role of northern conservatives regarding racial progress
