In the heart of America’s industrial north, a battle for racial justice unfolded in the classrooms of Detroit, Michigan. This struggle, chronicled in Michelle Adams’s compelling new book, “The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North,” reveals the complex web of policies and practices that thwarted efforts to integrate the city’s schools.

Despite Michigan’s early prohibition of segregation in public education, Detroit’s schools remained starkly divided along racial lines, even twenty years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Adams’s book explores how this segregation was not the result of explicit laws but rather a byproduct of the city’s neighborhood school model, where racial boundaries were drawn by longstanding policies of containment.

These containment strategies included racially restrictive covenants, redlining, and segregated public housing, which confined Black residents to certain areas, perpetuating a cycle of educational inequity. As Adams eloquently argues, these policies were not just about housing but were deeply intertwined with the educational opportunities available to Black children.

The book also delves into the legal battle initiated by the N.A.A.C.P. in 1970, aiming to desegregate Detroit’s schools. This lawsuit brought together unlikely allies, including the Citizens Committee for Better Education (C.C.B.E.), which initially opposed the N.A.A.C.P.’s efforts. However, as the case progressed, the C.C.B.E. shifted its stance, arguing that the burden of integration should not fall solely on Detroit’s white residents who couldn’t afford to move to the suburbs.

Adams’s narrative captures the complexity of this struggle, highlighting how issues of class and race intersected in the fight for civil rights. Her work draws comparisons to J. Anthony Lukas’s celebrated “Common Ground”, which examined similar themes in Boston.

This poignant examination of Detroit’s history is not just a story of the past but a reflection on the ongoing challenges of racial integration in American schools today. The book’s insights resonate with current debates over educational equity and civil rights, making it a crucial read for understanding the persistent divides in U.S. society.

For those interested in exploring this topic further, the original article by Jeffrey Toobin in The New York Times provides a detailed review of Adams’s work, capturing the essence of this significant historical account.