SEPARATE BUT NOT EQUAL

For those interested in a fuller picture of the fight for educational integration in the US, Haskins (Bayard Rustin, 1997, etc.) attempts to fill in some gaps. He recalls many of the unsung heroic actions of people who tried to make educational opportunities fair, beginning in colonial times and invoking the achievements of Benjamin Banneker and Phillis Wheatley. He covers the effects of the Civil War, and how Reconstruction promised— but never delivered—education to freed slaves. Through two world wars, Thurgood Marshall's court battles, and into the present, questions remain: Is there such a thing as true integration, and if there is, can it bring equality? The coverage is comprehensive, if dry, making this informative book more useful to researchers than browsers. (b&w photos, chronology, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 9-13)