ABSTRACT
Desegregation stories commonly end with a successful event that ends the school year, featuring a hopeful scene of interracial friendship as a signal of the direction American schooling is headed. This common literary structure, however, projects an optimism that is not supported by actual historical events. This chapter discusses novels that are relatively unusual, because their protagonists actively choose predominantly black schools over desegregated schools. It involves white students entering predominantly black schools rather than the other way around. The counter-narratives rely upon school story plots and tropes in order to comment upon how the pedagogical practices of desegregation are crucial to the success or failure of education for racial justice. Loving, predominantly black classrooms replace the competitive, individualist pedagogical methods that the novels' contemporary readers may be experiencing. These novels also reinforce the idea that the quality of a school, and the achievement of the students are the truly crucial in the citizenship rights and abilities of voting adults.
