This is an historical analysis of the central role played by the educational process in Britain in creating and perpetuating an identification of black people as both alien and as a "problem". The book documents national educational policy-making covering state-level approaches to black students as they continually changed - at least in rhetoric - from assimilation, to integration and multiculturalism. It also provides case-study material on local education authority policies in Birmingham in the 1960s. The author concludes with a reflection on the possibilities of producing a transformative historical narrative of the nation, which would recognize the historical experiences of Britain's black population and, thus, could help to bring to an end the enduring post-war practices of exclusion.