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Death of a Suburban Dream : Race and Schools in Compton, California / Emily E. Straus.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Politics and Culture in Modern AmericaPublisher: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2014]Copyright date: ©2014Description: 1 online resource (328 p.) : 17 illusContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780812245981
  • 9780812209587
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 371.010979494 23
LOC classification:
  • LA245.C66
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. On Shaky Ground -- Chapter 2. The Fastest Growing Town -- Chapter 3. Separate and Unequal -- Chapter 4. Becoming Urban -- Chapter 5. Unyielding Problems -- Chapter 6. A Rapidly Changing City -- Chapter 7. Enter the State -- Epilogue: Out from Compton's Past -- List of Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index -- Acknowledgments
Summary: Compton, California, is often associated in the public mind with urban America's toughest problems, including economic disinvestment, gang violence, and failing public schools. Before it became synonymous with inner-city decay, however, Compton's affordability, proximity to manufacturing jobs, and location ten miles outside downtown Los Angeles made it attractive to aspiring suburbanites seeking single-family homes and quality schools. As Compton faced challenges in the twentieth century, and as the majority population shifted from white to African American and then to Latino, the battle for control over the school district became symbolic of Compton's economic, social, and political crises.Death of a Suburban Dream explores the history of Compton from its founding in the late nineteenth century to the present, taking on three critical issues-the history of race and educational equity, the relationship between schools and place, and the complicated intersection of schooling and municipal economies-as they shaped a Los Angeles suburb experiencing economic and demographic transformation. Emily E. Straus carefully traces the roots of antagonism between two historically disenfranchised populations, blacks and Latinos, as these groups resisted municipal power sharing within a context of scarcity. Using archival research and oral histories, this complex narrative reveals how increasingly racialized poverty and violence made Compton, like other inner-ring suburbs, resemble a troubled urban center. Ultimately, the book argues that Compton's school crisis is not, at heart, a crisis of education; it is a long-term crisis of development.Avoiding simplistic dichotomies between urban and suburban, Death of a Suburban Dream broadens our understanding of the dynamics connecting residents and institutions of the suburbs, as well as the changing ethnic and political landscape in metropolitan America.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780812209587

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. On Shaky Ground -- Chapter 2. The Fastest Growing Town -- Chapter 3. Separate and Unequal -- Chapter 4. Becoming Urban -- Chapter 5. Unyielding Problems -- Chapter 6. A Rapidly Changing City -- Chapter 7. Enter the State -- Epilogue: Out from Compton's Past -- List of Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index -- Acknowledgments

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Compton, California, is often associated in the public mind with urban America's toughest problems, including economic disinvestment, gang violence, and failing public schools. Before it became synonymous with inner-city decay, however, Compton's affordability, proximity to manufacturing jobs, and location ten miles outside downtown Los Angeles made it attractive to aspiring suburbanites seeking single-family homes and quality schools. As Compton faced challenges in the twentieth century, and as the majority population shifted from white to African American and then to Latino, the battle for control over the school district became symbolic of Compton's economic, social, and political crises.Death of a Suburban Dream explores the history of Compton from its founding in the late nineteenth century to the present, taking on three critical issues-the history of race and educational equity, the relationship between schools and place, and the complicated intersection of schooling and municipal economies-as they shaped a Los Angeles suburb experiencing economic and demographic transformation. Emily E. Straus carefully traces the roots of antagonism between two historically disenfranchised populations, blacks and Latinos, as these groups resisted municipal power sharing within a context of scarcity. Using archival research and oral histories, this complex narrative reveals how increasingly racialized poverty and violence made Compton, like other inner-ring suburbs, resemble a troubled urban center. Ultimately, the book argues that Compton's school crisis is not, at heart, a crisis of education; it is a long-term crisis of development.Avoiding simplistic dichotomies between urban and suburban, Death of a Suburban Dream broadens our understanding of the dynamics connecting residents and institutions of the suburbs, as well as the changing ethnic and political landscape in metropolitan America.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)