Death of a Suburban Dream: Race and Schools in Compton, California

Acknowledgments

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s I have lived with this project for a very long time. While I am responsible for any mistakes, the book is a product of much collaboration. Though I fear that I will not be able to thank all who have touched it, I am pleased to have the opportunity to try. I am indebted to the people of Compton who have aided me in understanding their town and its history. I would first like to thank the students, parents, and educators at Willowbrook Middle School, who first introduced me to Compton and its schools, when I was a teacher there in the mid-1990s. During the course of my research I had the opportunity to interview several people who lived or worked in Compton. These people opened their lives to me, giving me their time, trusting me with their life stories, and offering perspectives I could not have gotten through my other sources. Thank you to Gilda Acosta-Gonzalez, Frank Allen, Linda Allen, Stan Bosch, Juan Carrillo, Lorraine Cervantes, Savannah Chalifoux, Fred Cressel, Charles Davis, Kelvin Filer, Maxcy Filer, Ron Finger, Pamela Grimm, Jane Harris, Shirley Knopf, Dennis Kroll, Sydney Morrison, Katherine Nelson, Pamela Samuels-Young, Charles Self, and Otis Skinner. After five years of teaching both in Compton Unified and in Los Angeles Unified, I received a Rose and Irving Crown Fellowship from Brandeis University . I am grateful for this fellowship, along with those from the Spencer Foundation and the Brandeis University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences . A two-year fellowship at Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research allowed me to complete this book. At various stages, grants funded my research. At SUNY Fredonia, I received a Scholarly Incentive Research Grant and the Amy Elizabeth Everett Memorial Award. I also received funding from the Southwest Oral History Association, the Historical Society of Southern California, and the Haynes Foundation, as well as the Brandeis history department and provost’s office. 310 Acknowledgments At Brandeis I had the honor of working with several wonderful scholars. The amazing Jacqueline Jones taught me to think broadly about history but also supported me as an individual. She has been my greatest cheerleader while remaining an insightful critic. She is beyond generous with her time, advice, and support. Jackie has been a role model and I cannot thank her enough for her dedication to me and my work. Michael Willrich and I have worked together for many years. He became a part of the early stages of this book, and his tough questions were instrumental in helping me shape my own. David Engerman has provided much insight into our profession. Jane Kamensky served as a model researcher, writer, and colleague. I thank her for her advice and friendship. As a member of the Brandeis Spencer program, I had the opportunity to learn from education scholars across disciplinary boundaries, including Joyce Antler, Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Marya Levenson, and the late Ted Sizer. At Brandeis, I was also fortunate to be a part of a remarkable group of colleagues who have become lifelong friends. I especially want to thank Lindsay Silver Cohen, who has been a phenomenal friend and ally for over a decade . She has read more drafts of this work than I can count, and her careful and insightful comments have made it much stronger. Rob Heinrich has always been available in a moment’s notice to work through an idea, edit a draft, or talk baseball, all of which I am extremely thankful for. Since my arrival at Brandeis, Hilary Moss encouraged me to pursue the history of education and her enthusiasm has never waned, including when she invited me to share my manuscript with her seminar on race and education at Amherst College. I thank her and her amazing students for their close reads and suggestions . I also want to thank David Soll, William Walker, Eric Schlereth, Gabriel Loiacono, Jessica Lepler, Lynda Yankaskas, Denise Damico, Ju Zhang, and Paul Ringel for their help and friendship. SUNY Fredonia has offered a supportive working environment, including , but not limited to, my colleagues in the history department. Amy CuhelSchuckers worked with me to best articulate what my project was about, as did the members of the Professional Development Center’s multidisciplinary research colloquium, who read and commented on a draft of my introduction . Dave Kinkela, Steve Fabian, Zhao Ma, and Emily VanDette all went well beyond the bounds...