| The Political Use of Racial Narratives: School Desegregation in Mobile, Alabama, 1954-97 Contributor(s): Pride, Richard A. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0252075943 ISBN-13: 9780252075940 Publisher: University of Illinois Press OUR PRICE: $27.72 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: July 2008 Annotation: Exploring who benefits and who pays when different narratives of race compete for acceptance |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Education | History - Education | Administration - General - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies |
| Dewey: 379.263 |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.5" W x 8.3" (1.00 lbs) 328 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Cultural Region - Southeast U.S. - Cultural Region - South - Geographic Orientation - Alabama - Topical - Black History |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Arguing that politics is essentially a contest for meaning and that telling a story is an elemental political act, Richard A. Pride lays bare the history of school desegregation in Mobile, Alabama, to demonstrate the power of narrative in cultural and political change. This book describes the public, personal, and meta-narratives of racial inequality that have competed for dominance in Mobile. Pride begins with a white liberal's quest to desegregate the city's public schools in 1955 and traces which narratives--those of biological inferiority, white oppression, the behavior and values of blacks, and others--came to influence public policy and opinion over four decades. Drawing on contemporaneous sources, he reconstructs the stories of demonstrations, civic forums, court cases, and school board meetings as citizens of Mobile would have experienced them, inviting readers to trace the story of desegregation in Mobile through the voices of politicians, protestors, and journalists and to determine which narratives were indeed most powerful. More than a retelling of Mobile's story of desegregation, The Political Use of Racial Narratives promotes the value of rhetorical and narrative analysis in the social sciences and history. |