William Frantz Public School (History of Schools and Schooling)

Learning about the role New Orleans and this school played in desegregation was lost on me until I read this book. How brave Lucille Bridges was to send her daughter Ruby to a school where racism was on full display! 60 years later, there’s more to be done but glad to see black mothers telling their children the sky’s the limit. Lucille was a great example as being a part of the solution, push those boundaries, push that door. This book is full of factual information that is well worth the read.

The intersectionality of public education, history, and institutional racism all are major themes of the new book William Franz Public School: A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans. The authors meticulously researched and carefully told a story of a historic school building in New Orleans that saw profound change over the last 60 years. That school building, William Franz Public School (WFPS), an elementary school located in Orleans Parish, will be the setting for this book. Originally a model school for white children when segregation was the norm in New Orleans, WFPS became the site of intense racial conflict when the infamous Ruby Bridges became the first Black student to attend a now desegregated WFPS in November 1960. This book chronicles the events that took place at WFPS, and the greater Orleans Parish Public Schools, after that famous event with Ms. Bridges. It explores themes regarding white flight, growing socio-economic inequalities throughout New Orleans, an emerging segregated public-school system following 1960, mismanagement of the local school district, natural disasters that seized national attention, and how charter schools, once hailed as the answer to the public-school question in New Orleans, crippled the public-school institution and its mission.This book is a fascinating read. This book is easy to follow and is jammed packed with amazing footnotes that highlight the author’s exhaustive efforts to tell this important story. This book can be included into any discussion of the civil rights movements of the 1960’s and the efforts to desegregate public spaces, systematic racism and its continued perpetuation in American institutions, as well as public-school histories alike. In light of current social unrest and modern social justice movements, many Americans around the country are asking, how did we get here as a country? What were the seeds that now bloom vibrantly in a new social campaign that has captured the national conscientiousness? Though these questions have complex answers, William Franz Public School: A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans adds to the historiography and study of these complex questions. By understanding these roots of social unrest, our society learns that we “can and must do better.”The authors of this book ask a simple question, “Why should it matter to you what happened to William Frantz Public School? When you give up on one public school, one school district, one city—it becomes easier to give up on the next and the next and the next.” This book is just not a story of one school, one district, or one city; but rather, of our entire nation. William Franz Public School is not just about the city of New Orleans, it is a microcosm of the United States. To understand what occurred in this school, is to understand us as Americans and where we are as a nation today. I enthusiastically recommend this book.

I received an advance proof thanks to Dr. Schaffer. I found the story to be incredibly eye opening and made my mind search for so many answers to the questions raised. How could I as a teacher be contributing to racial inequality in schools? How does white flight impact the neighborhoods and schools left behind.I also happened to be listening to “Nice White Parents” podcast as I read this and it reinforced ideas about unequal access to education and the subsequent power differential experienced by minority students and families.This story is not merely the story of William Frantz Public School- it is the story of my school, of so many schools around the United States. The onus is on all of us to change the future. Do not pass this book up and do not let the research be on vein.

Beginning with background on Jim Crow South, the authors take the readers on a journey using a Civil Rights Historical Landmark, William Frantz Public School, as a metaphor for race relations in New Orleans from the 1960’s to the present. The well documented story provides an in-depth narrative of the struggle between proponents of desegregation and the intrenched segregationists that try to use force, verbal insults, state regulations and legislation to block one six-year-old African American girl, Ruby Bridges, from attending the all-White William Frantz Public School. The narrative utilizes thousands of primary sources to drill down and tell the complicated story of many of the individuals impacted by the event.The book does not stop with the 1960’s but continues through time to see the impacts of racism in the following decades. The interconnected impacts of systematic racism, redlining, racism, White flight, deindistrialization, White privilege, poverty, school funding, stereotypes, housing, corruption, high stakes testing, charter schools and educational leadership are revealed to create a comprehensive insight to the past as well as the present educational system in New Orleans which is a mirror of many cities across the country.The book is noteworthy in how well it describes the intricate factors and forces that shape the city of New Orleans. The personal narratives are sometimes hard to read but reveal the accurate struggles of the time. The book quotes the racial slurs that were shouted by White segregationists which are shocking and disgusting but reveal the atmosphere faced by those that wanted change. The book constantly describes the changing places and geography of the city. It only has one map in the beginning, but the narrative does an excellent job of creating a mental map of events.There are many excellent books that capture events in the Civil Rights movement, but this book connects those past struggles to present day realities. It is highly recommended for anyone trying to understand context and issues facing educators, parents, policy makers, and citizens in American cities today. Race relations in America are a major topic and the book gives one great insights to them.