This is the moving true story of school desegregation, about which many of us learn little more than the name of the Supreme Court Case. Information from this book can make this part of history more "real" for students.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an impartial review.

Reading a book like A Girl Stands at the Door can only be described as humbling. Little girls, pre-adolescents, teens and young adults displayed a courage that far outweighed their years. Covering the time period from the 1930s through the present, Devlin manages to humanize the struggle for desegregation prior to the Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, as well as the aftermath of that decision.

There was some disagreement in the African American community and among its community, legal, and political leaders whether desegregation or equalization was the appropriate attack. Many felt that equalizing the educational system in black schools would achieve far greater benefits than true desegregation. Such equalization, however, usually only began after white schools were threatened with black enrollment. The disparity between black schools and white schools, especially in the South, was so great that equalization was absolutely impractical.

The first court cases were focused on higher education - access to graduate schools and law schools. Here it was very clear that there simply were no viable alternatives to what traditionally had been whites only education. Despite the somewhat obvious nature of the inequities, there were some hurried attempts to set up black law schools and graduate schools. Their effectiveness and quality were so lacking that such attempts were unsuccessful.

Civil rights lawyers like Thurgood Marshall traveled the country selecting cases and arguing them in state and federal courts. At times, cases were selected based on a community's ability to support the legal maneuvers long term. The steadfastness of the plaintiff(s) and their families was a major factor since physical harassment, job loss, and violence were inevitable results. The length of the fight sometimes exceeded a particular plaintiff's educational experience. Sometimes, a younger sibling was then substituted for the original.

Many of the "firsts," the first children to attempt enrolling in a white school, were female. The girls were raised to be polite, gracious, quiet, and well-spoken. Academically, they were stellar students who entered the white school well-prepared for the imagined rigors of the experience. For many, however, the pervasive loneliness of being a black student in a white school far outweighed the daily insults and threats they encountered. These youngsters had no one to talk to, and many could not confide in family members since they did not want to worry or disappoint parents and a hopeful community. Sadly, many educators allowed their personal prejudices to surpass their professional ethics and responsibilities. Their failure to protect and nurture all their students created a caustic environment where children paid a heavy price.

I read this book while protests are ongoing across the country that demand more funding for public education and its teachers. The inequities in public education have not been erased but have been exacerbated by white flight and uneven public financing. As a nation, we still have far to go to achieve a true equal and exemplary education system for all children.