The political controversies surrounding the racial desegregation of public and private schools are explored using the example of Dayton (Ohio) and its 40-year effort to overcome segregation. The book examines ways business leaders, clergy, elected officials, judges, teachers, and school administrators reacted to challenges to patterns of student attendance over the years. In Dayton, as in most of the country, the developments took strange patterns as the participants changed their minds about what they wanted and tried to use education to reform society. While the racial desegregation of schools should have been a controversy about the best way to make one nation out of many peoples, it became a conflict between the authority of the Federal government and the principle of local control. The sections of the discussion are titled: (1) "Part I: Federal Courts, School Desegregation, and Religion: The National Context"; (2) "Part II: Racial Desegregation in Dayton, Ohio: City Government, Schools, and Churches"; and (3) "Part III: Curriculum, Caring, and Social Reform." In addition to its analysis of how curriculum changes have affected desegregation, the text analyzes the role of private philanthropies in education. Each chapter contains references. (SLD)