As African American female Professors in the academy representing different socioeconomic backgrounds the authors explore the intersections of race and class in two Kansas City, Missouri schools from 1954-1974. They situate their stories within a brief description of the historical context of Kansas City and its struggle to integrate schools from…

This essay explores factors creating Missouri's minimum attendance laws for black students from the end of the Civil War to the enactment of compulsory education in the state in 1905. It argues that, although blacks made notable efforts at educational advancement, they were caught in a crossfire of opposing forces stemming from wartime…

This study details the enactment of attendance laws for black pupils in Missouri and describes their effect by citing examples from two counties: St. Louis County and Polk County. The study is based on a review of primary sources yielding quantitative and qualitative data reported during the first 40 years of the attendance laws. A study of…