“African American Girls, Devlin suggests, had as much physical courage as boys, but more maturity, patience and social finesse, essential qualities for desegregation’s ‘hire wire act.’ […] A Girl Stands at the Door also demonstrates that school desegregation was a grassroots movement.”
Read More“Devlin tells the stories of young women who were adept at the “high-wire act” required to endure a long and perilous process.”
Read More“…I think the resilience that these young women had is hard to imagine. One would think that it would have been a crippling experience, but they sensed from a very early age the weight and enormity of what they were doing. They came to understand the notion of sacrifice for social justice. The stamina that it took to survive was fed and reinforced by the magnitude of what they were accomplishing.”
Read More“Devlin, a Rutgers University historian, spent ten years tracking down and interviewing dozens of women who endured harassment and abuse to desegregate schools, whether or not their lawsuits prevailed […] Finding these girls, now women in their 60s, 70s and 80s, required some sleuthing.…Devlin’s chronicle […] promises to reignite public conversation and debate about racial disparities in public education.”
Read More"This is essential American history—it’s the history of how we got where we are, it’s a history of how student activism changed the world by fighting against powerful forces. It’s your history. Those girls share a lineage with every student activist: #MeToo, gun violence, Black Lives Matter, abortion rights. The book is about knowing the past and knowing your power."
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