Signing Marks Publication of Morrises' Study of Racial Changes in Alabama
For release: Feb. 18, 2003
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey

After nearly two decades of research, Memphis educators Curtis and Vivian Morris have completed a book that puts a human face on desegregation practices in the South. The authors will sign copies of The Price They Paid: Desegregation in an African American Community on Saturday, Feb. 22, from 12 to 2 p.m. at Davis-Kidd Booksellers, 387 Perkins Road Extended.

The husband-and-wife team studied an African-American school community in northwest Alabama, about a two-hour drive from Memphis. They documented not only the gains but the significant losses experienced by students when their community school was closed and they were forced to attend a white desegregated school across town.

The volume includes an insider's view of what life was like in a segregated African-American school, the recounting of actual events that demonstrate the negative impact of using skin color and race as a basis for preferential treatment; and a look at the unmet promises of school desegregation that can help communities provide a quality education for all children in the 21st century.

The Morrises have worked as educators for more than three decades. Vivian Morris is a professor of education and assistant dean for faculty development in The University of Memphis College of Education. Curtis Morris is an accountability specialist for school accreditation and strategic planning for the Memphis City Schools.

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