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The Devil Has Slippery Shoes: A Biased Biography of the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM), A Story of Maximum Feasible Poor Parent Participation
Book about child development in mississippi
825 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1969
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April 5, 2012
Long, sometimes tedious, but very enlightening. The book is more of a memoir than a historical account. In my opinion, "biased" means interesting when referring to historical non-fiction.
I read this book when writing a paper on the CDGM for my undergrad class, History of Families and Children. I was interested in the early career of Marian Wright Edelman,founder of the Children's Defense Fund. After reading through the Sovereignty Commission's files (can be found online) I learned of the CDGM and the horrific actions of Mississippi government to maintain racial boundaries. Polly Greenberg's 800 page book on the subject was a goldmine.
Events recorded in the book align with files kept by the Sovereignty Commission, and, if you need a purely historical account of the CDGM, removing Greenberg's "biased" perspective is an easy task.
As a lesson in early childhood education, Greenberg uses a humanist perspective with references to philosophers such as Erich Fromm. She also gives a "biased" account of the first director's attempt to educate parents by letting them solve their own problems. (Similar to the Highland School in East Tennessee, which was also watched by the Sovereignty Commission). Many disagreed with his process, including Edelman, and he was eventually replaced. The anecdotes relating the difficult process of grass-roots organization, especially when dealing with both the racism of Mississippi government and the bureaucracy in Washington, were especially interesting.
I have an interest in early childhood education and social justice and would not recommend this book to anyone who does not share those interests.
I read this book when writing a paper on the CDGM for my undergrad class, History of Families and Children. I was interested in the early career of Marian Wright Edelman,founder of the Children's Defense Fund. After reading through the Sovereignty Commission's files (can be found online) I learned of the CDGM and the horrific actions of Mississippi government to maintain racial boundaries. Polly Greenberg's 800 page book on the subject was a goldmine.
Events recorded in the book align with files kept by the Sovereignty Commission, and, if you need a purely historical account of the CDGM, removing Greenberg's "biased" perspective is an easy task.
As a lesson in early childhood education, Greenberg uses a humanist perspective with references to philosophers such as Erich Fromm. She also gives a "biased" account of the first director's attempt to educate parents by letting them solve their own problems. (Similar to the Highland School in East Tennessee, which was also watched by the Sovereignty Commission). Many disagreed with his process, including Edelman, and he was eventually replaced. The anecdotes relating the difficult process of grass-roots organization, especially when dealing with both the racism of Mississippi government and the bureaucracy in Washington, were especially interesting.
I have an interest in early childhood education and social justice and would not recommend this book to anyone who does not share those interests.
Displaying 1 of 1 review