White Girl: A Story of School Desegregation

For the most part, I loved that this read tells a tale that has been forgotten in the limelight of that which is the story of desegregation. Yes, Black Americans had a tough time of it. But yes, there was (and is) another side to that. White Girl reminds us that there were white kids in the failed busing experiment of the '70s that were sent far into black neighborhoods and experienced their share of ridicule, altercations, and racism. It just doesn't make for exciting news.The only reason I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 is the occasional whining feel I noticed. Better to report the facts than create them. Clara Silverstein has my deep respect for her choices, but as a journalist, she knows better.

In 1971, Clara Silverstein, white and Jewish and a brand new 6th-grader, was one of the first public school students to be bused to her mostly-black middle school in the forced desegregation of Richmond, VA. Silverstein’s first-hand account of a rarely-publicized aspect of school integration is an important addition to the ongoing dialog on race in the US. Shunned and bullied because of the color of her skin, and accused of being a “Jesus-killer” because of her religion, Silverstein sheds light on the messiness, the mishandling by adults in charge, the brutal growing pains—on the backs of children—of integration in the South. White Girl is an honest and courageous work that should figure prominently in the complex narrative of the Civil Rights Movement and its aftermath.

Well written and accurate

WHITE GIRL: A Story of School Desegregation is a stirring and poignantaccount of the upheaval surrounding court-ordered busing in the early1970s. Like many students at the vanguard of this inevitable movementto achieve school integration, sixth-grader Clara Silverstein facedhumiliation on a daily basis. She was spit on, tripped, and shoved byher new schoolmates. This was a typical reaction to the majority ofthe Black (the term of that era), children who were subject to thislaw. But this fast-paced memoir inverts our understanding ofdesegregation. Clara was white, one of the few white students in herentire school. This is her story, a vivid description of acontroversial social experiment and an intimate chronicle of a younggirl's turbulent journey through adolescence.Clara lived in Chicago and was very familiar with racial mixing. Butwhen the family relocated to Richmond, Virginia, after the death ofher father, her racial education escalated. She wonders how shelived through several agitated situations: her first crush on a Black classmate, naively wearing a jacket with a Confederate flag sewn onto class, and surviving alone, when the other white classmates switchedto private schools.Clara remained in the public schools and contends that if she learnednothing else, she did come to understand the scourge of racism. Herstory is one that is usually lost in the historical accounts of busing,and this fact motivated her to share her experience. Her story is wovenwith in-depth historical details and several personal photographs. Somethirty years later there are those who question the use of the schoolsystem to create social change. This is a different view of thisracially motivated issue.Reviewed by aNNof The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers