Portland Public Library

Lessons from the heartland, a turbulent half-century of public education in an iconic American city, Barbara J. Miner

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-294) and index

index present

non fiction

Lessons from the heartland

bibliography

778419522

Barbara J. Miner

a turbulent half-century of public education in an iconic American city

"In a magisterial work of narrative nonfiction that weaves together the racially fraught history of public education in Milwaukee and the broader story of hypersegregation in the rust belt, Lessons from the Heartland tells of an iconic city's fall from grace-and of its chance for redemption in the twenty first century. In the early months of 2011, Wisconsin became central to the fight to save America's middle class and its public institutions, in particular public education. Across America, progressives embraced the slogan 'We Are Wisconsin.' All politics are local, but with unending repercussions the Milwaukee story is the Wisconsin story, which is the nation's story. This book tells that story. Lessons from the Heartland focuses on public education reforms--from vouchers and charter schools to desegregation and choice-to explore larger issues of race and class in our democracy. Miner (whose daughters went through the Milwaukee public school system and who is a former Milwaukee Journal reporter) brings a journalist's eye and a parent's heart to exploring the intricate ways that jobs, housing, and schools intersect, underscoring the intrinsic link between the future of public education and the dreams and hopes of democracy in a multicultural society. This book will change the way we think about the possibility and promise of public education"--, Provided by publisher

I. Segregation, prosperity, and protests: 1950s and 1960s -- The Glory Days of 1957 -- The 1950s: Milwaukee's Black Community Comes of Age -- 1964: Freedom Schools Come to Milwaukee -- Milwaukee Loves George Wallace -- Milwaukee's Great Migration #1: Blacks Move from the South to the Inner Core -- 1965: Direct Action Targets "Intact Busing" -- 1967-68: Open Housing Moves to Center Stage -- II. Desegregation, deindustrialization, and backlash: 1970s and 1980s -- Brown and Milliken: The U.S. Supreme Court Advances and Retreats -- January 19, 1976: The Court Rules--Milwaukee's Schools Are Segregated -- September 7, 1976: The Buses Roll and Desegregation Begins -- 1981: Police Brutality Moves to Center Stage -- Milwaukee's Great Migration #2: Whites Move to the Suburbs -- The 1980s: The Rust Belt and Reaganomics -- Desegregation: Forward and Backward in the 1980s -- Latino Students: Moving Beyond Black and White -- Money: The Root of All Solutions -- III. Resegregation, abandonment, and a new era of protest: 1990s and 2000s -- 1990: Vouchers Pass, Abandonment Begins -- Voucher Crossfire: Fighting for the Soul of Public Education -- Multicultural Crossfire: Redefining the Public School Curriculum -- 1993-95: White Voters Reject New Schools for Black Children, and Things Fall Apart -- 1995: Vouchers for Religious Schools, Abandonment Advances -- 1999: (Re)Segregation Déjà Vu--Neighborhood Schools and Open Enrollment -- Milwaukee's Great Migration #3: Global Immigrants Make Milwaukee Their Home -- 2002-10: No Child Left Behind. Really? -- 2011: The Heartland Rises Up, and a New Era of Protest Begins