A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's Schools

Devlin (history, Rutgers Univ.; Relative Intimacy) reveals how the dawn of the civil rights era was led by young women, who were often portrayed by the media as young, naive, and inexperienced, or humble and knowledgeable. However, young black women were the root to social change during the civil rights movement, as they questioned American society's norms and racial discrimination. Before Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, were Ada Lois Sipuel, Esther Brown, and Lucille Bluford. These women and many others found their voice and changed the course of history as they broke through unchartered territory and set legal battles in motion. Each person profiled here brought an unusual set of skills that sparked societal change, laid the groundwork for Supreme Court cases, and paved the way for many of the women we currently admire.