A Girl Stands at the Door

In “A Girl Stands at the Door” by Rachel Devlin, the author focuses on how young, feminine work brought school desegregation into the courts and helped moved school desegregation throughout the United states. It is never mentioned before that women were the driving force behind desegregation in school. When we think about desegregation in schools, everyone normally thinks about Brown vs. Board of Education. Devlin mentions this topic on page 70 saying, “That almost all of the early cases- the radical first attempts that earned both the biggest headlines and the most backlash- were filed on behalf of girls went unremarked upon in the official records of the NAACP.” Throughout the first three chapters, it is evident how important an education was to these women specifically. Lucile Bluford kept fighting for her lawsuit even after she was emotionally and physically exhausted from all the work. Bluford’s lawsuit became her life and her daily motivation. This motivation was also found in Ada Louis Sipuel. Devlin states on page 52, “At 23 years old, she had made the desegregation of the University of Oklahoma her life’s work.” Devlin also brings up the issue for both Sipuel and Marguerite Carr Stokes, that their mothers were both light skinned and could pass for being “white”. This caused these women to feel marginalized in both white and black spaces, leaving almost nowhere for comfort. The most important idea throughout this book so far for me, was the fact that not only are these individuals fighting for their rights to an education because of the color of their skin, but they are also fighting against the controlled image of their gender. Charles Houston led the fight in Bluford’s lawsuit and at the end of the trial, Houston created a compelling picture for the audience by saying, “A girl stands at the door and a generation waits outside.” I thought this quote captured the fight of these women perfectly. They were fighting not only for themselves, but for the future generations and the young black females who would follow in their footsteps. 

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