John P. Spencer is Associate Professor of Education at Ursinus College.

• IntroductionChapter 1. Schooling as Social Reform: Racial Uplift, Liberalism, and the Making of a Black EducatorChapter 2. Combating Cultural Deprivation: Urban Educators and the War on PovertyChapter 3. Victims, Not Hoodlums: Urban Schools and the Crisis of LiberalismChapter 4. Black Power, "People Power": Holding Schools Accountable for Black AchievementChapter 5. Beyond Community Control: Accountability and Achievement in the Oakland Public SchoolsEpilogue: Legacies of the 1960s in American School ReformNotesIndexAcknowledgments

"This is a fascinating look into one of education's more successful but less prominent figures, and will find an audience with educators, historians, and the general public."-Library Journal"This excellent biography of a remarkable educator enriches the history of urban education. By carefully examining Foster's work in Philadelphia and Oakland, California from 1958 to 1973, John Spencer sheds new light on a pivotal era in the evolution of African American schools. . . . This well-written and persuasively argued study should be required reading in courses on the principalship, school-community relations, multiculturalism, and urban education."-Education Review"In the Crossfire does an exemplary job of narrating Foster's educational and occupational trajectory, first as student in the Jim Crow South, then as a teacher and principal in Philadelphia, and finally as an administrator in Oakland. Yet Spencer accomplishes so much more than this. While he grounds his analysis in the singular life of one man, Spencer expertly utilizes Foster to tell a much larger story about the "troubled history" of urban education, equality, and school reform in the postwar period."-Journal of American Studies"In the Crossfire is well researched and the author attentively places the story in the context of social and economic change and national struggles over civil rights and educational equity."-Journal of American History"Can education improve life chances for the least fortunate among us? Or do school reformers ask too much of schools, which will never provide a solvent for American inequality? As Marcus Foster taught us, the answer is both: although schools can surely 'make a difference,' they can't overcome the yawning social and economic differences that continue to haunt us. John Spencer has produced a splendid study of a long-neglected educator, whose life ended in violence and tragedy. But Foster's message lives on, and we would all be wise to listen to it."-Jonathan Zimmerman, New York University"In this timely and important book, John Spencer situates the tragically shortened life of the brilliant African American educator Marcus Foster in multiple contexts: the history of urban education, urban politics, and debates around strategies of school reform. Foster was one of the most dynamic and influential urban educators of the 1960s and early 1970s, and his career coincided with momentous developments in civil rights, the urban violence that rocked American cities, and economic crisis. Given the current prominence of school reform as an issue of national importance, In the Crossfire should have a wide and varied readership."-Michael Katz, University of Pennsylvania

John P. Spencer is Associate Professor of Education at Ursinus College.

• IntroductionChapter 1. Schooling as Social Reform: Racial Uplift, Liberalism, and the Making of a Black EducatorChapter 2. Combating Cultural Deprivation: Urban Educators and the War on PovertyChapter 3. Victims, Not Hoodlums: Urban Schools and the Crisis of LiberalismChapter 4. Black Power, "People Power": Holding Schools Accountable for Black AchievementChapter 5. Beyond Community Control: Accountability and Achievement in the Oakland Public SchoolsEpilogue: Legacies of the 1960s in American School ReformNotesIndexAcknowledgments

"This is a fascinating look into one of education's more successful but less prominent figures, and will find an audience with educators, historians, and the general public."-Library Journal"This excellent biography of a remarkable educator enriches the history of urban education. By carefully examining Foster's work in Philadelphia and Oakland, California from 1958 to 1973, John Spencer sheds new light on a pivotal era in the evolution of African American schools. . . . This well-written and persuasively argued study should be required reading in courses on the principalship, school-community relations, multiculturalism, and urban education."-Education Review"In the Crossfire does an exemplary job of narrating Foster's educational and occupational trajectory, first as student in the Jim Crow South, then as a teacher and principal in Philadelphia, and finally as an administrator in Oakland. Yet Spencer accomplishes so much more than this. While he grounds his analysis in the singular life of one man, Spencer expertly utilizes Foster to tell a much larger story about the "troubled history" of urban education, equality, and school reform in the postwar period."-Journal of American Studies"In the Crossfire is well researched and the author attentively places the story in the context of social and economic change and national struggles over civil rights and educational equity."-Journal of American History"Can education improve life chances for the least fortunate among us? Or do school reformers ask too much of schools, which will never provide a solvent for American inequality? As Marcus Foster taught us, the answer is both: although schools can surely 'make a difference,' they can't overcome the yawning social and economic differences that continue to haunt us. John Spencer has produced a splendid study of a long-neglected educator, whose life ended in violence and tragedy. But Foster's message lives on, and we would all be wise to listen to it."-Jonathan Zimmerman, New York University"In this timely and important book, John Spencer situates the tragically shortened life of the brilliant African American educator Marcus Foster in multiple contexts: the history of urban education, urban politics, and debates around strategies of school reform. Foster was one of the most dynamic and influential urban educators of the 1960s and early 1970s, and his career coincided with momentous developments in civil rights, the urban violence that rocked American cities, and economic crisis. Given the current prominence of school reform as an issue of national importance, In the Crossfire should have a wide and varied readership."-Michael Katz, University of Pennsylvania

John P. Spencer is Associate Professor of Education at Ursinus College.

• IntroductionChapter 1. Schooling as Social Reform: Racial Uplift, Liberalism, and the Making of a Black EducatorChapter 2. Combating Cultural Deprivation: Urban Educators and the War on PovertyChapter 3. Victims, Not Hoodlums: Urban Schools and the Crisis of LiberalismChapter 4. Black Power, "People Power": Holding Schools Accountable for Black AchievementChapter 5. Beyond Community Control: Accountability and Achievement in the Oakland Public SchoolsEpilogue: Legacies of the 1960s in American School ReformNotesIndexAcknowledgments

"This is a fascinating look into one of education's more successful but less prominent figures, and will find an audience with educators, historians, and the general public."-Library Journal"This excellent biography of a remarkable educator enriches the history of urban education. By carefully examining Foster's work in Philadelphia and Oakland, California from 1958 to 1973, John Spencer sheds new light on a pivotal era in the evolution of African American schools. . . . This well-written and persuasively argued study should be required reading in courses on the principalship, school-community relations, multiculturalism, and urban education."-Education Review"In the Crossfire does an exemplary job of narrating Foster's educational and occupational trajectory, first as student in the Jim Crow South, then as a teacher and principal in Philadelphia, and finally as an administrator in Oakland. Yet Spencer accomplishes so much more than this. While he grounds his analysis in the singular life of one man, Spencer expertly utilizes Foster to tell a much larger story about the "troubled history" of urban education, equality, and school reform in the postwar period."-Journal of American Studies"In the Crossfire is well researched and the author attentively places the story in the context of social and economic change and national struggles over civil rights and educational equity."-Journal of American History"Can education improve life chances for the least fortunate among us? Or do school reformers ask too much of schools, which will never provide a solvent for American inequality? As Marcus Foster taught us, the answer is both: although schools can surely 'make a difference,' they can't overcome the yawning social and economic differences that continue to haunt us. John Spencer has produced a splendid study of a long-neglected educator, whose life ended in violence and tragedy. But Foster's message lives on, and we would all be wise to listen to it."-Jonathan Zimmerman, New York University"In this timely and important book, John Spencer situates the tragically shortened life of the brilliant African American educator Marcus Foster in multiple contexts: the history of urban education, urban politics, and debates around strategies of school reform. Foster was one of the most dynamic and influential urban educators of the 1960s and early 1970s, and his career coincided with momentous developments in civil rights, the urban violence that rocked American cities, and economic crisis. Given the current prominence of school reform as an issue of national importance, In the Crossfire should have a wide and varied readership."-Michael Katz, University of Pennsylvania