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

by David G. Garcia

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. Garc�a 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.

Genres: History, Education

296 pages, ebook

Published January 5, 2018

Reviews

[LaKesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strategies of Segregation: Race, Residence, and the Struggle for Educational Equality is a wonderful addition to any library, especially the library of educators and those working toward and for liberation in general, education liberation in particular.
García does a fantastic job of telling the narrative of how legal housing covenants restricting certain areas to only those of European heritage (white folks) woven together with attitudes about non-White peoples and education worked to create segregated schooling in Oxnard, California. The book is well written, well researched, and reads very easy. The author’s passion for the topic is evident, yet does not at any point lean toward seeking to serve any agenda other than highlighting how strategically designed events created space for segregation to take root in the Oxnard community, and to share the impacts and legacies of such work.
This book is important on many levels, some of them being:
1. It highlights that segregation happened outside of the south
2. It brings to light the need to open up our conversations beyond the dualistic Black—White racial history on the soil of the United States of America. Not to supplant, but to widen the conversation and understanding of history, historical harms and traumas, and the impacts and legacies so that we can truly start working to heal and transform them
3. It aids in showing that in order to truly understand where we are, we must understand where we’ve been. Our educational system and its lack of justly serving young scholars of color did not happen overnight.
4. This book brings together the history of the area and the history of housing to begin unpacking the history of education in Oxnard, CA, showing that if we are truly wanting to understand things, we must investigate and interrogate them from many angles as all of our systems impact each other—they do not operate in bubbles/silos.
Overall, a truly fabulous book.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not required, this book was strongly recommended by my Foundations of Bilingual/Bicultural Education professor. One of my research interests is the history of segregation within U.S. schools, and this book includes plenty of archived school board minutes, racially restrictive housing covenants, and oral interviews with Mexican Americans and African Americans who experienced discrimination in Oxnard schools.
As a historian, I loved this. For my non-historian friends: this might be a bit dense, but it provides great insight as to how segregation was not just a “black-and-white” issue.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

For School

I am a graduate student focusing on the history of education and it is books like this one that help demonstrate how public schools in America were created and why they are the way they currently are. However one draw back of the book is how fast the timeline moves due to necessities of publication and thus readers may find that certain topics are rushed and not as detailed as others.

[Michael Calonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting exploration of segregation in schools in Oxnard throughout the first half of the 20th century. Shows solutions to and the effects of mundane and systematic racism. Includes good examples of Black and Mexican community activists working together for the common cause of justice and equality.

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, especially since I recently moved to Oxnard. Getting to know its history, especially the history of its schools, was really fascinating for me. It was a well-written, well-sourced book. I am glad to have had the opportunity to read it!

[Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to read for school, but provides better understanding of unequal education opportunities based on race. Gives examples of how politics is involved.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a class. Was an interesting and informative read.