The Containment

Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North

By: Michelle Adams

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

“Janina Edwards narrates in a compelling tone, a vivid style, and a clear sense of the importance of this action.”—AudioFile

The epic story of Detroit's struggle to integrate schools in its suburbs—and the defeat of desegregation in the North.

In 1974, the Supreme Court issued a momentous decision: In the case of Milliken v. Bradley, the justices brought a halt to school desegregation across the North, and to the civil rights movement’s struggle for a truly equal education for all. How did this come about, and why?

In The Containment, the esteemed legal scholar Michelle Adams tells the epic story of the struggle to integrate Detroit schools—and what happened when it collided with Nixon-appointed justices committed to a judicial counterrevolution. Adams chronicles the devoted activists who tried to uplift Detroit's students amid the upheavals of riots, Black power, and white flight—and how their efforts led to federal judge Stephen Roth’s landmark order to achieve racial balance by tearing down the walls separating the city and its suburbs. The “metropolitan remedy” could have remade the landscape of racial justice. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the suburbs could not be a part of the effort to integrate—and thus upheld the inequalities that remain in place today.

Adams tells this story via compelling portraits of a city under stress and of key figures—including Detroit’s first Black mayor, Coleman Young, and Justices Marshall, Rehnquist, and Powell. The result is a legal and historical drama that exposes the roots of today’s backlash against affirmative action and other efforts to fulfill the country's promise.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Necessary reading

Difficult truths, incredibly timely. Devastatingly informative re.: the state of our still segregated schools and cities.

Revealing an important part of US History

This book should be a must-read, even in high school in the US - maybe part of AP US History. Much of our history is swept under the rug so that we can cling to a mythical ideal of our country. Without an understanding of what really has happened we cannot possibly work to improve our country which I so love.

Critical history of what should have been.

It's very good.

The focus is on the pivotal Milliken v. Bradley, the famous metro-wide school desegregation case/plan. Knew lots of the history, but not at this level of detail. And it has reminded me of how, at least with the post-Warren court, SCOTUS has been a force that has often supported systemic racism. Judge Roth tried to push back in Detroit, but SCOTUS undid his attempt.

I also appreciate how the author draws on her Detroit roots. She grew up in a neighborhood about a mile from the one I did, about the same time (60s/70s).

Very informative

Very informative and much needed. It did go a little too much into the legal side and repetitive on some details but overall a great story.