Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-232) and index.

"In the United States, children of color are disproportionately affected by poverty, poor educational outcomes, and structural discrimination. In Reimagining Equality, Nancy E. Dowd sets out to examine the roots of these inequalities and their implications for all children by tracing the life course of black boys from birth to age 18. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, the book demonstrates that black boys encounter challenges and barriers that funnel them toward failure rather than developmental success. Their example exposes a broader reality of hierarchies among children. Government policies, practices, structures, and institutions are substantially responsible for generating those hierarchies. Dowd argues for a new legal model of developmental equality -- ensuring that every child has an equal opportunity to reach their fullest potential -- grounded in the real challenges that children face on the basis of race, gender, and class. Using that model, she offers strategies for change, including a groundbreaking New Deal for Children to ensure equality for all children."