The promise of a free, high-quality public education is supposed to
guarantee every child a shot at the American dream. But our widely
segregated schools mean that many children of color do not have access
to educational opportunities equal to those of their white peers. In
Integrations, historian Zoë Burkholder and philosopher Lawrence Blum
investigate what this country's long history of school segregation means
for achieving just and equitable educational opportunities in the United
States.
Integrations focuses on multiple marginalized groups in American
schooling: African Americans, Native Americans, Latinxs, and Asian
Americans. The authors show that in order to grapple with integration in
a meaningful way, we must think of integration in the plural, both in
its multiple histories and in the many possible definitions of and
courses of action for integration. Ultimately, the authors show,
integration cannot guarantee educational equality and justice, but it is
an essential component of civic education that prepares students for
life in our multiracial democracy.