America in Black and White One Nation, Indivisible [Paperback]

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on education, earnings, and housing, they argue that the perception of serious racial divisions in this country is outdated -- and dangerous.Stephan Thernstrom,the Winthrop Professor of History at Harvard University, is the editor ofThe Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groupsand the author of several other books.Contents
Preface
Introduction
PART ONE
History
CHAPTER ONE Jim Crow
CHAPTER TWO The Promised Land
CHAPTER THREE Remarkable Change
CHAPTER FOUR Amazing Patience
CHAPTER FIVE We Shall Overcome
CHAPTER SIX Coming Together -- and Apart
PART TWO
Out of the Sixties: Recent Social, Economic, and Political Trends
CHAPTER SEVEN The Rise of the Black Middle Class
CHAPTER EIGHT Cities and Suburbs
CHAPTER NINE Poverty
CHAPTER TEN Crime
CHAPTER ELEVEN Politics
PART THREE
Equality and Preferences: The Changing Racial Climate
CHAPTER TWELVE With All Deliberate Speed
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Skills, Tests, and Diversity
CHAPTER FOURTEEN The Higher Learning
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Jobs and Contracts
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Voting Rights
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Racial Climate
CONCLUSION: One Nation, Indivisible
Notes
List of Tables
IndexIntroduction
An American Dilemma, Gunnar Myrdal called the problem of race in his classic 1944 book. He saw a painful choice between American ideals and American racial practices. But in 1944, ten years beforeBrown v. Board of Education,most white Americans were not actually in much pain. Indeed, when asked in a survey that same year whether Negroes should have as good achanceas white peoplls"