Bringing Desegregation Home: Memories of the Struggle toward School Integration in Rural North Carolina (Palgrave Studies in Oral History)

In l954, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered states to eliminate racial segregation in public schools with "all deliberate speed." Nonetheless, many all-white school boards in "progressive" North Carolina delayed de jure segregation for decades and condoned elements of de facto segregation that persist today. This intimate study exposes the turmoil that the Court's decision unleashed in the quiet rural community of Camden County. Here brave students, parents, teachers, and principals all tell their fascinating stories, filled with pride, disappointment, humor, and terror. It uncovers a striking gap between black and white memories and raises questions about how we can progress toward an integrated society today. Map 1: Camden Region -- Map 2: Camden County -- Learn 'em To Work -- Wait A Minute...i'm A White -- From Social And Cultural Capital To Social Change -- The Ghost Of Whittier Crockett Witherspoon -- The Gentle Rebel -- Pedagogy And Social Change -- You Forget This Is A Democracy -- Working Toward Integration: White-school Cafeteria Worker By Day A Black Mom For Integration By Night -- Memory Pedagogy And Social Change -- Conclusion: Moving On Kate Willink. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This study collects the oral histories of residents of a single county in North Carolina who lived through the consequences of desegregation, examining the complex social and historical constructions of racial difference in education.