Dream of Justice

The Story of Keyes v. Denver Public Schools

Pat Pascoe

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781646424931
  9781646422890
• eBook ISBN:
  9781646422906
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

A Dream of Justice is Colorado state senator and former teacher Pat Pascoe's firsthand account of the decades-long fight to desegregate Denver's public schools. Drawing on oral histories and interviews with members of the legal community, parents, and students, as well as extensive institutional records, Pascoe offers a compelling social history of Keyes v. School District No. 1 (Denver).
 
Pascoe details Denver's desegregation battle, beginning with the citizen studies that exposed the inequities of segregated schools and Rachel Noel's resolution to integrate the system, followed by the momentous pro-integration Benton-Pascoe campaign of Ed Benton and Monte Pascoe for the school board in 1969. When segregationists won that election and reversed the integration plan for northeast Denver, Black, white, and Latino parents filed Keyes v. School District No. 1. This book follows the arguments in the case through briefs, transcripts, and decisions from district court to the Supreme Court of the United States and back, to its ultimate order to desegregate all Denver schools "root and branch." It was the first northern city desegregation suit to be brought before the Supreme Court. However, with the end of court-ordered busing in 1995, schools quickly resegregated and are now more segregated than before Keyes was filed.
 
Pascoe asserts that school integration is a necessary step toward eliminating systemic racism in our country and should be the objective of every school board. A Dream of Justice will appeal to students, scholars, and readers interested in the history of civil rights in America, Denver history, and the history of US education.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Separate and Unequal
• 2. The Noel Resolution
• 3. The Benton-Pascoe Campaign
• 4. The New Board Moves to Resegregate
• 5. The Keyes Case Is Filed
• 6. The First Court Hearing
• 7. The United States Supreme Court
• 8. Desegregation Begins
• 9. The Trial on the Merits: The Plaintiffs’ Case
• 10. The Trial on the Merits: The Defendants’ Case
• 11. Judge Doyle’s Decision and the Remedy Plans
• 12. The Court of Appeals
• 13. The Supreme Court Rules
• 14. The Finger Plan
• 15. Desegregating Denver “Root and Branch”
• 16. The Tenth Circuit Court Rules Again
• 17. Effects of Desegregation
• 18. The End of Court Supervision
• Afterword
• Appendix A: Supporting Materials
• Appendix B: Interviews of Students and Parents
• Notes
• Index