Nothing Less Than Equality

About the Book

A critical analysis of African Americans' collective efforts to obtain educational equality before Brown v. Board of Education.

The landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, which barred racial segregation in American public schools, wasn't the only path for Black parents, teachers, and activists who sought equality of educational opportunity. Some believed that the solution to inequality lay in pressing the federal government to live up to the Jim Crow doctrine of "separate but equal" by providing more resources to Black schools. And for a time, this seemed true in Washington, DC, where Black activists leveraged their status as residents of the nation's capital to advocate on behalf of Black education. However, disappointments with the "separate but equal" strategy and a sea change in activism led to an embrace of integration.

In Nothing Less Than Equality, Tikia K. Hamilton reveals the rich and complex history of educational activism in Washington prior to Brown v. Board of Education, illuminating complex dynamics that provide a counterpoint and backdrop to the landmark Supreme Court case. Hamilton thoroughly examines the multipronged strategies employed by parents, teachers, attorneys, and activists to democratize education, demonstrating that there was no linear path to Brown.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: A “Model” System
1. “Optimal Autonomy”: African American Education in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Washington
2. “Jim Crow Capital”: Washington’s Dual System During the Depression
3. “A Blessing in Disguise”: The Marian Anderson Campaign for Equal School Facilities
4. “Make DC Mean Democracy’s Capital”: Desegregating School Facilities and Playgrounds
5. “100 Percent Cooperation!”: The Browne Parents’ Boycott
6. “People Can Never Lose When They’re United”: The Central for Cardozo Campaign
7. “Give the Child a Fair Chance!”: Bolling v. Sharpe and the Road to Brown
Epilogue

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Notes
Index

About the Author :
Tikia K. Hamilton is assistant professor of history at Loyola University Chicago. 

Review :
"In an extraordinary analysis of differing Black strategies for educational equality in Washington DC, Tikia Hamilton shines light on questions that continue to vex our unequal educational landscape. This pioneering work reveals the long afterlife of decades-old debates about equity, inclusion, and rights."


  "Hamilton’s work is an act of remembrance and resistance—a testament to love as method, to scholarship as devotion, and to the enduring power of Black educators who dared to believe in nothing less than equality. I know the labor of love this book represents. Nothing Less Than Equality is the culmination of years of refining, shaping, sharing, and loving a story into being—a story rooted in recognition and gratitude for those whose courage built the foundation of Black educational excellence. As Hamilton reminds us, the fight for educational equality demands approaches that are as radical and multilayered as those who came before us. This book teaches, inspires, and insists that the past has something vital to teach us still: that where injustice exists, citizens must demand what is theirs by right of birth as human beings."