Brown v. Board
60 Years Later
Sarah Garland
Stories to read
THOUSANDS OF BLACK TEACHERS LOST JOBS
By Greg Toppo
In Arkansas, virtually no black educators were hired
in desegregated districts from 1958 to 1968. Black
principals fared even worse. By some estimates, 90%
lost their jobs in 11 Southern states.
PRIVATE ACADEMIES KEEP STUDENTS
SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL 40 YEARS LATER
By Sarah Carr
More than four decades after they were
established,
“segregation
academies”
in
Mississippi towns like Indianola continue to
define nearly every aspect of community life.
BOSTONIANS COMMITTED TO SCHOOL
DIVERSITY HAVEN'T GIVEN UP ON BUSING
By Dana Goldstein
It’s important that policy-makers pay attention to
the best national evidence on busing: that when used
judiciously, in ways that emphasize parental choice, it
can not only reduce school segregation, but also help
lure more middle-class families into urban schools
and increase academic achievement overall.
A SYSTEM DIVIDED: TO BE BLACK AT
STUYVESANT HIGH
By Fernanda Santos
Earning a spot at Stuyvesant is unquestionably
a badge of honor, sort of a secret knock to an
exclusive club. As high school admissions
decisions are revealed across the city in the
coming week, many people are concerned that
it is a club that black students — and, to a
similar extent, Latinos — have an increasingly
hard time cracking.
GROWING INCOME ACHIEVEMENT GAP
OVERSHADOWS RACE
By Sarah Garland
When Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have
a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963, black
children lagged their white peers in school by
more than three years. Fifty years later, social
class has become the main gateway—and
barrier—to opportunity in America.
Questions to ask
•
What’s the status of local lawsuits/consent decrees in your coverage area? Where are the plaintiffs
now? How have their views on desegregation changed if at all? What are the schools they once
attended like now?
•
Are kids still bused in your coverage area? What does that look like now? How is it working?
•
What happened to the traditionally black schools in your district? Are they all black again?
Closed? Was reaction like to the closure back then? What’s taken their place?
•
What’s the racial makeup of faculty in your local districts? Of school and district leadership? How
did that change after Brown? How has it changed in the last decade?
•
How is the anniversary being taught?
•
How have charter schools affected racial isolation in your district?
•
How diverse are classrooms? Are students of different races evenly distributed in high and low
tracks (gifted v. regular, AP v. vocational)?
Story ideas
• Classroom discussions about the anniversary from two
different schools
• Within school segregation is worse (or better?) than it
used to be. Here’s what it looks like and why it’s changed.
• What it’s like to be one of the only black kids (or one of
the only white kids) in your class/school
• The teaching force is becoming more/less diverse. Here’s
why, and here’s why it matters
“Re-segregation” cases
•
1974 Milliken v. Bradley I: Detroit schools prevented from
including suburbs in desegregation plan because no proof •
of “significant violation” by suburban districts
•
1977 Milliken II: more money could be allotted to
“compensatory” programs to repair harms of segregation
•
1978 University of California Regents v. Bakke: Limited
use of “rigid” racial quotas in a lawsuit brought by a white •
plaintiff applying for medical school. Established “strict
scrutiny” in racial admission cases because use of race is
“inherently suspect.” But, racial diversity can be a
compelling state interest
•
•
•
1986 Riddick v. Norfolk, VA (Fourth Circuit decision): An
unprecedented decision that declared Norfolk, a formerly
segregated district, unitary and allowed it to return to local
jurisdiction and neighborhood schools
•
1991 Oklahoma City v. Dowell: Oklahoma City was allowed
to return to neighborhood schools after being declared
“unitary,” a decision that removed the obligation to
•
continue desegregation plans once a district was unitary
•
1992 Freeman v. Pitts: Dekalb County, Georgia: school
districts could be released from some aspects of
desegregation even if vestiges of segregation remained in
other areas outlined in the Green decision
•
1992 U.S. v. Fordice: Mississippi ordered to deal with
discrimination between black colleges and white colleges.
1995 Missouri v. Jenkins: court was limited in its ability to
raise taxes to help Kansas City pay for its voluntary
desegregation plan, which enhanced inner city schools to
attract suburban whites. Ruling stated that lower courts
were wrong in requiring proof that harms of segregation
were eliminated before lifting decrees.
2000 Jefferson County Public Schools v. Hampton (federal
district court): Louisville was released from unitary status in
a suit brought by black parents challenging its deseg plan.
2003 Gratz v. Bollinger: University of Michigan was
prevented from admitting racial minorities based on a
point system because admissions system “was not
narrowly tailored” and violated equal protection clause
2003 Grutter v. Bolllinger: U of Michigan law school is
allowed to keep race as one of its admissions factors
because it is part of a highly individualized review
2007 Seattle v. PICS, Jefferson County v. Meredith: Seattle,
which had a voluntary desegregation plan, and Louisville,
which had been under a court order to remedy vestiges of
segregation until decree was lifted in 2000, are found to
have violated the equal protection clause with student
assignment plans that use race in deciding individual
admission to schools. Kennedy’s separate opinion allows
for use of race as an aggregate characteristic - in creation
of zone boundaries, for instance