This indispensable reference is a comprehensive guide to significant issues, policies, historical events, laws, theories, and persons related to the education of African-Americans in the United States. Through several hundred alphabetically arranged entries, the volume chronicles the history of African-American education from the systematic, long-term denial of schooling to blacks before the Civil War, to the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau and the era of Reconstruction, to Brown v. Board of Education and the civil rights reforms of the last few decades. Entries are written by expert contributors and contain valuable bibliographies, while a selected bibliography of general sources concludes the volume. The African-American population is unique in that its educational history includes as law and public policy the systematic, long-term denial of the acquisition of knowledge. In the 18th century, African-Americans were initially legally forbidden to be taught academic subjects in the South, where most African-Americans lived. This period, which ended around 1865 with the conclusion of the Civil War and the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, was followed by the introduction of laws, policies, and practices providing for rudimentary education for 69 years under the dual-school, separate-but-equal policies established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). These policies did not end until the Brown v. Board of Education decisions of 1954 and 1955 were reinforced by the passage of civil rights and equal opportunity legislation in the mid-1960s. The education of African-Americans has been a continuing moral, political, legal, economic, and psychological issue throughout this country's history. It continues to consume time and attention, and it remains an unresolved dilemma for the nation. Through several hundred alphabetically arranged entries, this indispensable reference offers a comprehensive overview of significant issues, policies, historical events, laws, persons, and theories related to African-American education from the early years of this country to the present day. The entries are written by expert contributors, and each entry includes a bibliography of works for further reading. A selected, general bibliography concludes the volume.

In the study of multicultural education, there are key names, places, concepts, and legal actions which provide a foundation for the field. This reference includes more than 400 entries from a broad range of topics related to multicultural education, which the authors define as education geared toward reducing bias, ensuring equity, and promoting understanding of the self and others. Each item in the encyclopedia has been chosen for its value in illuminating one or more particular concerns in the field. Each entry not only helps to identify and place in an historical perspective a concept, place, person, event, or legal action, but also links that topic to an important aspect of multicultural education. While the encyclopedia provides coverage of numerous terms from the social sciences and discusses various court decisions and historical events, it also includes entries for notable persons from a wide range of cultural groups. These persons exemplify the achievements and diversity of America's many cultures and are often discussed within a multicultural curriculum. In addition, the volume provides entries for cultural and ethnic groups. These entries discuss the educational needs and experiences of the group. Thus there are entries for such groups as African-Americans, Anglo-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Jewish-Americans; for organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith; for several Native American people; for persons, such as George Washington Carver, Geronimo, and Jesse Jackson; and for numerous terms and concepts, such as busing, institutional racism, gender equity, quota systems, and reverse discrimination. Entries provide bibliographic information, and the volume concludes with a selected, general bibliography.