Seventy years ago, the history of civil rights in the United States was Brown v. Board of Education decision.
In May 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the segregation of educational facilities between black and white students was “inherently unequal,” and the Rejecting the concept of “all but equal”, the United States began efforts to desegregize schools.
But the process was painful and time-consuming. Federal legislation brought black students into schools that had previously served primarily or exclusively white students, an initiative that forever changed public schooling in this country.
“It happened at a time when facilities were grossly unequal. Plessy vs. Ferguson It was the law of the land,” said Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, professor of counseling psychology at Howard University and national director of educational innovation and research at the NAACP. “After more than 50 years, Plessy vs. FergusonWe have seen that Black students are not placed in equal accommodations, and that the practice of forced segregation is morally wrong and contrary to the best education for Black students. ”
Seventy years later, scholars look back on this landmark case with due respect, calling it “noble,” “correct,” and “necessary,” but the implications for its implementation and its aftermath remain. He said the impact was devastating.
Instant repulsion and resistance
In the face of the court's decision and subsequent federal desegregation efforts, there was much pushback from white mobs and state leaders alike.
The Virginia General Assembly called for “massive resistance” to desegregation of the state's schools. Mississippi State Senator James Eastland declared that the American South “will not abide and abide by this legislative decision.” Pro-racist White Citizens' Councils were established across the country and consisted of tens of thousands of members. And in Dallas, Texas, the city's independent school district refused to consolidate, as did many school districts across the country. Even northern cities like Boston put up violent resistance, leading to public confrontations in the 1970s.
Brown v. Board of Directors It was a “noble cause,” said Dr. Stephen Bradley, the Charles Hamilton Houston 2015 Professor of Black Studies and History at Amherst College, but America has “the fortitude and perseverance” to actually make it happen. He said there was no such thing.
“The state was forced to do so because states and school districts condoned and condoned cheating. [including] Economic slowdown, entire school district closures; [and] When violence occurred on campus, we looked the other way,” Bradley said. “It was the federal government's job to ensure that the ruling was followed. As such, it was the responsibility of each state to abide by the federal ruling.”
Some federal enforcement efforts remained in place. In 1957, through the efforts of dissident citizens and Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus himself, nine black students, the “Little Rock Nine,” were blocked from entering Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas and captured by federal troops. A situation occurred that prompted intervention to give way. This is to allow these students to attend classes.
in subsequent decades Brown v. Board of Directorsfurther legal progress toward the elimination of racial discrimination was made through court cases such as: Green v. New Kent County Board of Education 1968 and Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education In 1971.
Resources and representation
The movement towards school integration is Brown v. Board of Education Scholars say what was allowed was fairly one-sided, creating persistent complexities in today's schools.
premise of Brown v. Board of Education That is, black schools did not have the proper facilities and accommodations that white schools had. As a result, following the ruling, black students and some black staff and teachers were sent to integrate into white schools.
But white students were not sent to black schools in the same way.
As a result, predominantly black schools at the time had fewer students, talented black teachers and staff lost their jobs, and many black students were exposed to intense hatred and racism.
“The way desegregation was implemented was to bring black children into previously all-white educational institutions and to have one or two teachers, perhaps one administrator, attend those institutions. was to select. [and coach]” Bradley said. “What ends up happening is essentially destroying the infrastructure of black educational institutions.”
The effects of these losses may still be felt today.according to education weekBlack principals and teachers made up 35% to 50% of educators in 17 states before segregation. brown Ruling. According to the Pew Research Center, black teachers currently make up about 7% of public school teachers in the United States, black men make up 1.3%, and black students make up 15% of the national student body. , Black principals make up 11% of school principals.
“I do not think so Brown v. Board of Directors We also looked at how that would impact the representation of Black teachers,” said Dr. Donna Y. Ford, Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. “We are suffering far-reaching and profound harm from the loss of Black teachers.”
The nation's public schools have also taken a financial hit as white families have fled to America's suburbs and private schools, Bradley said.
“Public education is also largely in the hands of black and brown children in urban areas,” Bradley said. “All of this means that there is a huge disparity between public and private schools due to their reliance on property taxes as the basis for education funding. We also see disparities.”
Assistant Dr. Charles Davis said that while discriminatory housing policies have historically prevented Black families from owning homes and paying property taxes, universities are exempt from paying certain taxes. He said he has become a huge real estate owner. Professor at the University of Michigan Center for Higher and Postsecondary Education Research.
racism today
Brown v. Board of Education It has not been possible to end racism in American schools. In many ways, schools in this country remain just as segregated.
More than one-third of students nationwide (approximately 18.5 million students) and more than 75% of students are of a single race or ethnicity, according to a 2022 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). I was attending school. The report concluded that although K-12 public school populations have become increasingly diverse, today's schools remain segregated along racial, ethnic, and economic lines.
Part of it has to do with perception and bias. Brown v. Board of Directors educational Trudson said it reinforced the idea in people's minds that black schools were “substandard,” a perception that unfairly persists and pervades to this day.
“Therefore, there is a misconception that majority-black schools in socially, culturally and economically diverse areas are substandard. They must prove otherwise.” Mr. Tordson said. “We are used to black schools performing poorly, so they often have to work hard to prove that they are high-quality institutions.
“When you look at a predominantly white suburban school, there is often an assumption that it is a high-quality school without even really understanding how it works.”
This has led white families, and even some wealthy black families, to avoid sending their children to majority-black schools, fearing that as the number of black students increases, the quality of schools will decline. It creates a dynamic of worry, Toldson said.
Not all of these say so Brown v. Board of Directors educational It wasn't informative or far-reaching. Indeed, the current field of special education for persons with disabilities owes much of its legal basis to precedents such as: brown says Dr. Addie McConomy, clinical assistant professor of special education at Florida State University.
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)) was the result of a court case in the 1970s. Brown v. Board of Directors educational As a precedent. McConomy said these lawsuits advocate equal access to public education for children with disabilities.
But Ford said racism in today's schools is also seen in other aspects of public education, such as gifted programs.
In the 2017-18 school year, white students made up 58.4% of public school students participating in gifted education programs, even though they accounted for 47.3% of total public school enrollment. Meanwhile, Black students made up about 8.2% of students in such programs, despite making up 15.1% of the student body, according to the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
For Ford, a focus on equality proved not enough.
“I used to be very supportive, but Brown v. Board of Education“But many years ago, I realized that equality alone is not enough,” she said. To truly achieve the changes we need, we must focus on equitable learning opportunities, not equal learning opportunities. Our culture is different. It's fair to do something different because it's our needs. ”
a flawed legacy
While remembering Brown v. Board of Education, it is important to keep in mind that the lawsuit and judgment were a compromise by white parties that kept the plaintiffs and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall on one side and equally resistant on the other. “This is important,” said Dr. David Johns, CEO of the organization. National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC).
In the wake of school integration Brown v. Board of Education It also had unintended consequences for students undergoing integration, including physical, psychological and verbal abuse, Johns added.
Johns cites the views of the late author and social commentator Bell Hooks on this issue, as written in his 1994 book. Teaching to sin: Education as a practice of freedom.
“Gone is the messianic zeal to transform our hearts and beings that characterized teachers and their pedagogical practices in all-black schools,” Fuchs wrote at the time. “Knowledge suddenly became just information. It had nothing to do with how people lived and how they acted. It no longer had anything to do with the anti-racism struggle. Busted to white schools, we quickly learned that what was expected of us was obedience, not eagerness to learn.
“When we entered a white, desegregated school, we stepped out of a world where teachers believed that political engagement was necessary to properly educate black children. .”