University of Massachusetts Press Remember Little Rock (Public History in Historical Perspective)

In Remember Little Rock Erin Krutko Devlin explores public memories surrounding the iconic Arkansas school desegregation crisis of 1957 and shows how these memories were vigorously contested and sometimes deployed against the cause. Delving into a wide variety of sources, from memoirs to televised docudramas, commemoration ceremonies, and the creation of Little Rock High museums, Devlin reveals how many white moderates proclaimed Little Rock a victory for civil rights and educational equality even as segregation persisted. At the same time, African American activists, students, and their families asserted their own stories in the ongoing fight for racial justice. Devlin also demonstrates that public memory directly bears on law and policy. She argues that the triumphal narrative of civil rights has been used to stall school desegregation, support tokenism, and to roll back federal court oversight of school desegregation, voter registration, and efforts to promote diversity in public institutions. Remember Little Rock examines the chasm between the rhetoric of the “post– civil rights” era and the reality of enduring racial inequality. Review “This study documents how much of the commemoration of the Little Rock crisis has been fashioned to advance a narrative of passive progress and racial reconciliation while diverting judicial, parental, local, and civic attention away from continuing racial segregation and discrimination. Devlin also devotes significant attention to the efforts of civil rights leaders and members of the local black community to construct alternative narratives of the crisis . . . and combat injustice.” - Jill Ogline Titus, author of Brown’s Battleground: Students, Segregationists, and the Struggle for Justice in Prince Edward County, Virginia About the Author Erin Krutko Devlin is assistant professor of history and American studies at University of Mary Washington.