It Takes a Village

When people think of segregated schools in America, particularly before the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, cities and towns in the South immediately come to mind. There were, however, segregated schools districts in the North as well.

Hillburn, New York is a quiet little village with approximately one thousand residents, just forty miles northwest of New York City. For decades, it was also a community divided by race with two grammar schools. The two schools were dramatically different in size, construction, and programming. The school for the white children had indoor plumbing, a gymnasium, a library, a nurse, and all of the amenities that students would need to succeed. The school for the children of color, by contrast, was small and cramped. Those students had to use outhouses and their physical education took place in the street in front of the school.

The separate-but-equal treatment of the Hillburn school children might have continued for a long time if it were not for the efforts of two unlikely champions: Thomas Ulysses Alexander and Thurgood Marshall. Although their individual contributions were over a decade apart, they shared a commitment to equal opportunity. This book tells the story of these two men, one famous and one unknown, and how they changed the lives of the children in Hillburn as well as the course of history.