Fictions of Integration: American Children’s Literature and the Legacies of Brown v. Board of Education by Naomi Lesley (review)

Naomi Lesley’s new study is meticulously researched and wide ranging. Even a cursory look at the bibliography reveals the depth of exploration that went into this project, delving into the fields of education history and philosophy, education practice, literary history, legal history, gender studies, disability studies, politics and racial justice, American and African American studies, the school publication market, and more. Lesley references nonfiction, journalism, scholarly research, Web sites, and blogs, but most importantly, the heart of the inquiry is American children’s fiction in the context of the complicated fallout from the Brown decision.

Lesley’s introduction is professional and simultaneously very personal in a way that invites her readers to participate in an honest discussion. She reflects upon her early days as a young, white, middle-class, female teacher working in a Washington, DC, charter school serving African American and Latino students. Interestingly, although the school “explicitly encourage[d] teachers and students to connect curricular learning to everyday public policy concerns” (2), this did not happen. Thus Lesley frames the book as an opening up of the conversations that were not shared in that time and place, and by extension all over this country, across the years since the Brown decision.

One of Lesley’s virtues is that she is explicit about the scope of her book, acknowledging (and even admitting that it might be problematic) that she does not examine powerful books such as those written by authors including Sherman Alexie, Gene Yang, and Thanhha Lai, and that she doesn’t address some of the attendant issues—language, homogenization, and imperialism. But then she explains why this decision is not problematic at all; there is plenty of material for other scholars to explore. It is useful, in any case, to know before leaving the introduction what the scope of the book is. It includes books by both African American and non–African American writers, books in and out of print. It addresses which books are given to children to read and which books are not. Lesley comments upon which books are awarded prizes and which are not, as well as how the publishing industry regulates which books ever get into print and into the hands of the education establishment. How are they used and discussed and tested on? This is perhaps one of the most valuable and revealing discussions for those immersed in the world of children’s literature.

In the first chapter, “Scripting History and the Genre of Desegregation Stories,” Lesley meticulously maps out the landscapes of these texts, guiding her readers through the twists and turns of the genre and noting how various texts both fulfill and depart from the dominant generic patterns. She offers plenty of historical context, noting that books in this category existed even before the Brown decision, beginning as early as Jesse Jackson’s 1945 Call Me Charley. This chapter is valuable because it not only examines novels about desegregation but also places them within the history of American school stories.

In “Counternarratives and the Persistence of White Privilege,” Lesley problematizes the notion that integration was an uncontested goal. She notes that “desegregation stories” frequently end with “a hopeful scene of interracial friendship” (55). But her research and the research of the historians she cites indicate that the reality is sometimes far different from what is depicted in fiction. The demise of beloved black schools and the job losses suffered by beloved black teachers that resulted from desegregation were real. Mourning of, and celebration of, these cherished black institutions and teachers is evident in literature written in every decade since that era. Lesley looks at texts written by Mildred Pitts Walter, Sharon Draper, and Jaqueline Woodson to explore some of the ways in which their narratives critique the idea of desegregation, sometimes through creating in their fiction “loving, predominantly black classrooms” that “replace the competitive, individualistic pedagogical methods the...