America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible
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In a book destined to become a classic, Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom present important new information about the positive changes that have been achieved and the measurable improvement in the lives of the majority of African-Americans. Supporting their conclusions with statistics on education, earnings, and housing, they argue that the perception of serious racial divisions in this country is outdated — and dangerous.Publishers WeeklyThis weighty book, contextualizing some complex racial history and limning current controversial issues, serves as a good backdrop to future arguments about race. After discussing history (e.g., the Jim Crow laws, Northern segregation), the authors emphasize that national economic expansion in the 1940s and 1950sbefore the civil rights erahelped blacks rise economically. They offer a nuanced take on the difficulty of neighborhood integration, and their analyses of black single motherhood and crime challenge conventional liberal explanations. The meat of the book is a careful attack on race-based policies; even blacks now oppose school busing and Afrocentrism. Although the authors emphasize the rise of the black middle class, they acknowledge that black wealth lags behind that of whites. However, they don't stress how public policy has shaped this developmentwhich diminishes their argument for U.S. color-blind policies. Though the Thernstroms note usefully that black leaders tend to be more negative about American progress than ordinary citizens, their one chapter on public attitudes cannot fully explore why our nation has not moved further toward becoming "indivisible." Stephan Thernstrom is the editor of The Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups; Abigail Thernstrom wrote Whose Votes Count: Affirmative Action and Minority Voting Rights. (Sept.)
Introduction13Pt. 1HistoryCh. 1Jim Crow25Ch. 2The Promised Land53Ch. 3Remarkable Change69Ch. 4Amazing Patience97Ch. 5We Shall Overcome122Ch. 6Coming Together - and Apart149Pt. 2Out of the Sixties: Recent Social, Economic, and Political TrendsCh. 7The Rise of the Black Middle Class183Ch. 8Cities and Suburbs203Ch. 9Poverty232Ch. 10Crime258Ch. 11Politics286Pt. 3Equality and Preferences: The Changing Racial ClimateCh. 12With All Deliberate Speed315Ch. 13Skills, Tests, and Diversity348Ch. 14The Higher Learning386Ch. 15Jobs and Contracts423Ch. 16Voting Rights462Ch. 17The Racial Climate493Conclusion: One Nation, Indivisible530Notes547List of Tables672Index678
