Ben Keppel. Brown V. Board and the Transformation of American Culture
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878 Reviews of Books BEN KEPPEL.Brownv.Boardand the Transformation of Sesame Street, is a fictional location in New York City. American Culture: Education and the South in the Age of Prior to Sesame Street, storybooks and other instructional Desegregation. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University materials presented white children in idealized, suburban Press, 2016. Pp. xi, 225. $45.00. settings. Sesame Street was the first child-oriented, posi- tive presentation of characters in an urban environment. In Brown v. Board and the Transformation of American Keppel explains how Sesame Street employs the Mup- Culture: Education and the South in the Age of Desegrega- pets, humorous stories, and other depictions in ways that tion, Ben Keppel examines the contributions of three cul- contribute to the educational development of viewers. tural figures who promoted egalitarian values in the years The value of Sesame Street, according to Keppel, is partic- following that historic 1954 decision. Robert Coles stud- ularly weighty for African Americans, Latinos, and other ied the effects of school desegregation on children. His children who grow up in low-income inner-city neighbor- research helped Americans to appreciate the value of di- hoods. The program provides an effective counter-narra- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/122/3/878/3862874 by guest on 01 October 2021 versity and inclusion in public schools. Bill Cosby created tive to the negative stereotypes about urban communities a television program that used humor and positive depic- perpetuated by movies, television, and other media out- tions to combat African American stereotypes. Joan lets. Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street, a groundbreaking Mass media is a ubiquitous presence in American cul- educational program that provided a fresh perspective on ture. Exposure to music, information, and stories by the urban communities. media has a profound influence on the lives of Ameri- Two years after Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka cans. This provides ample justification for Keppel’s exam- was decided, nineteen senators and seventy-seven mem- ination of the influence of three cultural figures on Amer- bers of Congress signed a resolution condemning the de- ican race relations. cision. The document called the judgment “a clear abuse The narrative occasionally meanders from one point to of judicial power” and encouraged states to resist imple- another. It is nevertheless an informative examination of menting its mandate. This led to the era of massive resis- the evolution of racial attitudes in America in the decades tance when the southern states actively defied the Brown following the Brown decision. American culture was decision. transformed after Brown, but the process is incomplete; During the tense years that followed Brown,Coles “80% of Latino students and 74% of black students at- studied African American children involved in desegre- tend schools that are ‘majority nonwhite,’” and “the aver- gation efforts. Keppel describes how Coles counseled age white student attends a school that is nearly 75% Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old who desegregated an ele- white” (https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-abo mentary school in New Orleans. Bridges endured threats, ut-racial-segregation-american-schools). School desegre- harassment, and other pressures. Norman Rockwell’s gation and racial equality are still works in progress. iconic illustration, originally published in a 1964 issue of LELAND WARE Look magazine, shows her being escorted to school by University of Delaware four U.S. marshals. Coles was impressed by the resil- ience, morality, and psychological stability of children LAURA VISSER-MAESSEN. Robert Parris Moses: A Life in who endured the threats and violence inflicted by angry Civil Rights and Leadership at the Grassroots.Chapel mobs. He documented the ways in which children coura- Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Pp. xvii, geously endured confrontations fueled by unvarnished 432. $35.00. hate. After the discussion of Coles’s work, Keppel moves on Over the past several decades, scholars of the civil rights to an examination of the influence of The Cosby Show on movement have shifted their focus from a top-down study racial attitudes. The popular sitcom, which aired from of national events, leaders, and organizations to a bot- September 1984 until April 1992, featured an affluent Af- tom-up study of various local grassroots community-orga- rican American family residing in Brooklyn, New York. nizing campaigns that, these scholars contend, formed The show revolved around a father, Cliff Huxtable, who the bedrock of civil rights struggles. In Robert Parris Mo- was a physician; a mother, Clair, who was an attorney; ses: A Life in Civil Rights and Leadership at the Grassroots, and their four daughters and a son. It presented an up- Laura Visser-Maessen cautions them against what Stu- scale version of African American family life. dent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) As Keppel explains, the images presented on The worker James Forman referred to in the 1960s as “‘Local Cosby Show were a dramatic departure from the stereo- people-itis,’ the idea that ‘local people could do no types perpetuated by media depictions of African Ameri- wrong,’ and that ‘no-one, especially somebody from out- cans. It was the highest-rated television show for five side the community, should initiate any kind of action or years and remained in the top twenty until it ended. The assume any kind of leadership’” (214–215). She makes program had a positive influence on the ways in which Af- the case for more critically interrogating the dynamics of rican Americans were perceived. local struggles, and in particular for more carefully exam- Brown v. Board and the Transformation of American ining the importance of leaders who formed a vital bridge Culture concludes with an examination of Sesame Street,a between local communities and wider outside influences. popular children’s program created by Cooney and Lloyd Robert Parris Moses is the perfect vehicle for doing this. Morrisett. The series premiered in 1969. The setting, 123 As Visser-Maessen puts it, Moses is a “legendary figure” AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW JUNE 2017.