Strategies of Segregation: Race, Residence, and the Struggle for Educational Equality

by David G. García

Overview

Strategies of Segregation unearths the ideological and structural architecture of enduring racial inequality within and beyond schools in Oxnard, California. In this meticulously researched narrative spanning 1903 to 1974, David G. García excavates an extensive array of archival sources to expose a separate and unequal school system and its purposeful links with racially restrictive housing covenants. He recovers powerful oral accounts of Mexican Americans and African Americans who endured disparate treatment and protested discrimination. His analysis is skillfully woven into a compelling narrative that culminates in an examination of one of the nation’s first desegregation cases filed jointly by Mexican American and Black plaintiffs. This transdisciplinary history advances our understanding of racism and community resistance across time and place.



 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520296862
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	01/05/2018
Series:	American Crossroads , #47
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

David G. García is Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1 • The White Architects of Mexican American Education 12
2 • Pernicious Deeds: Restrictive Covenants and Schools 39
3 • “Obsessed” with Segregating Mexican Students 55
4 • Ramona School and the Undereducation of Children in La Colonia 79
5 • A Common Cause Emerges for Mexican American and Black Organizers 100
6 • Challenging “a Systematic Scheme of Racial Segregation”: Soria v. Oxnard School Board of Trustees 129
Epilogue 162
Appendix: List of Interviews Conducted and Consulted 167
Notes 169
Bibliography 247

Editorial Reviews

"Wherever this historiography [of education] moves next, scholars will do well to engage with the work of García."

History of Education

"Provides a meticulous, nuanced, and brilliant study of the complex layers behind the historical connections of educational and residential segregation."

Latino Studies

"Delves into political tensions within Oxnard, California, and illustrates the board of education’s decisions enacting segregation and thereby shaping the education of Mexicans and blacks . . . The work uncovers hidden histories of Mexican American and black struggles to end segregation, and it results in a very rich study."

The American Historical Review

"Amid the racial reckoning and protests that have swept this country, Strategies of Segregation is a timely and invaluable contribution to California history, Chicano/a studies, and ethnic studies."

 

California History

"Delves into political tensions within Oxnard, California, and illustrates the board of education’s decisions enacting segregation and thereby shaping the education of Mexicans and blacks . . . The work uncovers hidden histories of Mexican American and black struggles to end segregation, and it results in a very rich study."

American Historical Review