The Tragedy of School Desegregation

Abstract The Crucible of Desegregation: the Uncertain Search for Educational Equality details the legal, social, and political history of school desegregation over the last century and half. The author describes the creation of the civil rights state at the state and federal level, the continuing ambiguity of the term desegregation, the lack of support for mandatory reassignment by Black parents, the reluctance of school officials to apply for a termination of their court order, the effect of terminating school desegregation orders on racial balance and interracial exposure, and the failure of school desegregation to achieve the lofty goals its supporters pursued, of which eliminating the Black-white achievement gap was the most important.