This article uses Chicago public school closings as a case study for the rise of mayoral control and the decline of democratic participation -- two common responses to stiff competition from global markets -- in urban public schools in the United States. In response to the 2013 Chicago decision to close 50 schools and move 30,000 students, this…

One spring afternoon, a group of young black students enter a local eating establishment with one modest desire--to sit with friends and enjoy a cup of coffee. They wait patiently, but are only served dirty looks, cold shoulders, and some choice words. Such an experience was not uncommon in Chicago in the early 1940s. Segregation, though illegal,…

In this article, I describe the process that five graduate students used to collect oral histories about racial desegregation in a community in southern Illinois. Using these stories, I and a project team developed a unique online learning environment that facilitates and assesses the user's abilities to engage in historical thinking as a means…