ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am deeply grateful to everyone who spoke with me for this book. Their accounts of their experiences as students, educators, parents, and community leaders were vital to my understanding of the last fifty years. Several sat for more than one interview, pointed me toward other sources, or provided documents. My sincere thanks to Anne Micheaux Akwari, Arkee Allen, David Anderson, Dave Balter, Ruth Balter, Jeanette Banker, James Beard, John Bliss, Carlton Brown, Luis Burgos, William Cala, Velverly Caldwell, Terry Carbone, Marlene Caroselli, Musette Castle, Ed Cavalier, Yalawn Christian, Frank Ciaccia, Walter Cooper, Jeff Crane, Archie Curry, Mark Allan Davis, Patricia DeCaro, Tate DeCaro, Susan deFay, Bob Duffy, Malik Evans, Mark Faegre, Jonathan Feldman, Anna Ferro, Deborah Gitomer, Mary Halpin, Bryan Hetherington, Kirk Holmes, Joan Coles Howard, Jasper Huffman, Kennedy Jackson, Bill Johnson, Wayne Johnson, Suzanne Johnston, Nellie King, Roy Lane, Jessica Lewis, Charles Marshall, Sereena Martin, Peter McWalters, Dana Miller, Joe Morelle, Nicole Morris, Idonia Owens, Nydia Padilla-Rodriguez, Amber Paynter, Dorothy Pecoraro, Jonathan Perkins, Don Pryor, Andrew Ray, Vera Richardson and her niece, Vera Richardson, Faust Rossi, Bob Sagan, Djinga St. Louis, Yvette Singletary, Lynette Sparks, Danny Speer, Bob Stevenson, Adam Urbanski, Thomas Warfield, Lovely Warren, Gloria Winston Al-Sarag, Lillie Winston, John Woods, and Alice Young.

There is hardly a page in this book that does not contain at least one endnote pointing to a newspaper article. In Rochester as elsewhere, the unheralded daily work of journalists has been crucial in preserving local history. I thank and appreciate the many reporters, editors, photographers, and news assistants at the Democrat and Chronicle, the Times-Union, and other daily and weekly newspapers whose work is referenced in this book. Particular recognition is due to Frederick Douglass’s North Star, Howard Coles’s Voice, and James and Carolyn Blount’s about . . . time magazine for preserving news about Rochester’s Black community that white-owned newspapers failed to capture.

I include my current colleagues at the Democrat and Chronicle in my gratitude and appreciation. They have been a source of support and encouragement in writing this book and an inspiration as we strive to fulfill our journalistic mission in trying times. Matthew Leonard was an early and trusted advocate. Executive Editor Michael Kilian has been a tireless champion of journalism that reveals, explains, and combats structural racism in Rochester, past and present. He granted me leave to work on this book and has encouraged me in myriad ways, including by publishing an early version of chapter 2 in the February 9, 2020, edition of the newspaper.

The Rochester city historian, Christine Ridarsky, and her staff of Jay Osborne, Emily Morry, Brandon Fess, Dan Cody, and Gabe Pellegrino cumulatively walked many miles fetching stacks of books and clip folders for me. They offered, only half joking, to arrange a private office and sleeping quarters for me in the Local History and Genealogy Division reading room of the Rochester Public Library; I declined, but regardless am deeply thankful for their help and hospitality over several years. A version of chapter 1 appeared in the Rochester Public Library’s journal: “Racial Segregation in Rochester Schools: 1818–1856,” Rochester History 78, no. 2 (January 2020).

Thank you to Jessica Lacher-Feldman, Melinda Wallington, and Autumn Haag, among others, for their repeated assistance at the University of Rochester Rare Books and Special Collections division at Rush Rhees Library, and to Stephanie Ball at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Thanks as well to the staff who helped me at other institutions: the Rochester Municipal Archives; the Rose Archives at SUNY Brockport; the Project UNIQUE Papers at Nazareth College; the Big Springs Historical Society in Caledonia, New York; the New York State Archives in Albany; the Jerome and Ruth Balter Papers at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA; and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Joan Coles Howard, Conor Dwyer Reynolds, Mitch Gruber, Emily Morry, Idonia Owens, Christine Ridarsky, Chris Widmaier, and Shane Wiegand all read portions of the book and offered valuable feedback; so, too, did the anonymous but appreciated peer reviewers who volunteered their time for Cornell University Press. Alana Kornaker cheerfully and skillfully drew the East High School enrollment boundary maps in chapter 3. Special thanks to Banke Awopetu for her feedback as well as her constant support and encouragement through the writing process.

At Cornell University Press, Michael McGandy had a ready answer for every question. His keen edits made for a more concise and more powerful book. Thanks as well to Mary Kate Murphy and others at the press.

My parents, Dave and Ginny Murphy, helped me in the writing of this book as they have throughout my life: generously, naturally, and invaluably.

To Kat, my wife, who made this book happen in a thousand ways: thank you, and I love you.

The book is dedicated to my children, Millie and Woody, in the faith that they will be both the builders and beneficiaries of a more just future.