Dream and Reality

The Modern Black Struggle for Freedom and Equality

Jeannine Swift

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 1991
• Print ISBN: 9780313277580
• eBook ISBN: 9780313064616
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The struggles of the 1960s brought about far-reaching changes, not only an end to legalized segregation and discrimination nationwide, but a change in the consciousness of both whites and blacks. After nearly three decades, however, black hopes for equality, particularly in the economic realm, are frustrated by political reaction and economic pressures. This collection of essays looks at the history of the black struggle and at the policies and political and economic realities that have brought progress to a near standstill. In an introductory chapter, Julian Bond reviews two and a half decades of black struggle, giving particular attention to the shifting fortunes of the movement for black freedom and equality and the recent worsening of black poverty relative to the condition of the affluent majority. Several authors focus on the leadership of the civil rights movement, including neglected women leaders, and the history of the movement as a whole. Others analyze the experience of desegregation as it has affected both whites and blacks. Additional areas explored are the continuing problem of de facto segregation in schools, the condition of blacks in the workplace, and attempts to improve the situation of inner-city black youth. The volume concludes with an examination of options and strategies for reanimating the black agenda in the coming decades. The work of a distinguished group of scholars in the field, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned with race relations, policy issues, the civil rights movement, and U.S. political and social history.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• 1. A Tale of Two and One-Half Decades
• 2. A Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.
• 3. Rediscovering Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement
• 4. The Civil Rights Movement: Upheaval and Organization
• 5. Blacks and the New South: Civil Rights in the Eighties
• 6. Improving the Plight of Black, Inner-City Youths: Whose Responsibility?
• 7. Racial Attitudes of Black and White Adolescents Before and After Desegregation
• 8. The Ills of Integration: A Black Perspective
• 9. A Dream Deferred for Quality Education: Civil Rights Legislation and De Facto Segregation in the Cincinnati Schools, 1954-1986
• 10. The Housing Conditions of Black Americans: 1960s-1980s
• 11. The Collapse of the Employment Policy Agenda: 1964-1981
• 12. Black Workers at Risk: Jobs for Life or Death
• 13. “Where Do We Go from Here”
• Index
• About the Editor and the Contributors