In Pursuit of a Dream Deferred: Linking Housing and Education Policy

Teaching Texts in Law and Politics #5

by John A. Powell (Editor), Gavin Kearney (Editor), Richard Thompson Ford (Contributor)

More than forty years after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education , segregation persists in our schools. In Pursuit of a Dream Deferred turns a critical eye toward this continuing problem and its relationship to housing segregation in the United States. This analysis comes at an important juncture in American history, as policymakers and school officials increasingly talk about the value of colorblind policies, vouchers, and neighborhood schools. The scholarship that currently addresses issues of segregation has focused on either housing or education, but not their interrelationship.

Genres: Education

285 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

John Anthony Powell

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of the book is a reference to a Langston Hughes poem where he provides graphic images of what happens when someone doesn't go after his/her dreams. The authors make the argument that due to housing policies, it is impossible for all people to pursue their dreams. With the current debates in education that include the voucher systems and whether students should be bused to different locations, this book provides a different way of thinking about these issues. The authors argue that integration needs to be an integral part of educational policy, or nothing will change.