Keeping the Struggle Alive

When students in a New Jersey public middle school decided to learn about their community’s history of desegregation through a unique language arts and social studies project, no one imagined how powerful the experience would be for everyone involved. In addition to digging up newspaper articles and historical documents, the students conducted lively interviews with townspeople who participated in the struggle to desegregate schools up North. They soon learned how everyday people became activists, how a bus could symbolize political struggle, and how the fight for full integration is never over. This hands-on volume:

• Offers a curriculum guide for teaching oral history that can be adapted to any classroom or community.
• Shows teachers how to perform social action projects that involve youth in the complex issues concerning race relations and integration.
• Demonstrates the kind of real learning that takes place when school projects are designed by, with, and for young people.

Bernadette Anand serves on the faculty of Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Michelle Fine is Professor of Social Psychology at CUNY, The Graduate Center. Tiffany Perkins is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Social-Personality Psychology program at the City University of New York Graduate School. David S. Surrey is Professor of Urban Studies and Sociology at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, NJ.

“This is a very important and useful book….it leads the way into community history, anti-racism activism, and democratic teaching and learning. I recommend it highly for teachers and students at all levels.”
—Jean Anyon, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

“A fascinating, important, and engaging account…. Keeping the Struggle Alive illustrates how the concepts of democracy, participation, community, and the struggle for social justice can animate the classroom and engage learners.”
—Michèle Foster, Claremont Graduate University

“Critical reading for policymakers, educators, youth workers, and youth themselves. The authors of Keeping the Struggle Alive accompany us into an academic space where students learn to read their immediate world through a series of interviews with community champions of social justice.”
—Augusta Sousa Kappner, President, Bank Street College

"A wonderful example of exemplary teaching and learning. Their implicit conclusion in Keeping the Struggle Alive is that excellence without equity is not excellence; it is privilege."
—Adam Urbanski, President, Rochester (NY) Teachers Association/AFT