Professor James Anderson
“A Tale of Two Browns” and
“The Historical Context for
Understanding the Test Score Gap”
The most famous court case in US schooling
BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
Outcome? Two ways of viewing this case.
Derrick Bell asks “How could a decision that promised so much
and, by its terms, accomplished so little?” (Anderson,14-15)

CONSTITUTIONAL EQUALITY
Equal access to schools today is based on the 14 th
Amendment. But why did it fail to protect people prior to Brown?
14 th Amendment passed in 1868 Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. WHY?

Why did the 14 th amendment fail to protect the rights of African Americans and other minorities?
The 14 th Amendment interpreted by GOVERNMENT
Congress, Federal Courts, States, and localities.
States continued to set laws, and the Federal government did not interfere. The 14 th amendment was defined narrowly by the courts. Plessy virtually nullified the 14 th amendment.
The law did not impact social customs.
What role did courts play? Supported states until late 1930s.
Teachers’ pay, graduate schools (law, education)

Political Economy (Institutions and Practices)
What forces most affected African Americans in daily life 1865-1954? SEE HANDOUT
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LEGAL CONSTITUTION ADVANCES EQUAL RIGHTS 13th, 14th, 15th
Amendments Anderson shows that equality of individuals was not protected by the Constitution prior to 14 th Amendment.
FEDERAL LAW FREE BLACKS TARGETED BY Reconstruction Act of
1867 BUT PROTECTION ended in 1877 with withdrawal of Federal troops.
SUPREME COURT 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson “Separate and Unequal”
ORGANIZATIONS KKK (fear) both in the North and South
ACADEMY Science of Social Darwinism, IQ Testing Movement
LEGAL STATE LAWS Jim Crow State and Local Governments (laws and regulations that limited rights, and voting of free Black males)
SOCIAL PRACTICES Jim Crow Customs
ECONOMY Limited Economic Power for Blacks Employment Structure: share cropping, low wage jobs, restrictions on work based on race
CLASS High Levels of Poverty among former slaves
SCHOOLS: Poorly funded, limited number of High Schools, 17 states plus
D.C. had some form of forced legal segregation

After the Civil War
14 th Amendment and
Reconstruction
Would states continue protection of freed Blacks after the end of
Reconstruction?
After Reconstruction ended,
States curtailed the rights of free blacks.
How did the Federal government act?
Thomas Nast (1868) cartoon
“This is a white man’s government”

Supreme Court
Plessy v. Ferguson
Anderson, p. 22
 1896 Plessy boarded a train and sat the in car designated for whites only. The court found that as long as he could ride the train, the state had the right to tell him where to sit, even though accommodations for African American passengers were inferior to the cars for white passengers. The picture is a caricature of African
Americans, but not a likeness of Plessy, who was
1/8 African American and light skinned.
SUPREME COURT DECISION (5 TO 4)
NULLIFIED THE EQUAL
PROTECTION CLAUSE of the 14th
Amendment
ALLOWED SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL

What were the consequences of Plessy for schools?
1898 STATE COURT OF GEORGIA COMPLICIT in discrimination (Anderson, p. 26)
Cumming v. Richmond (1899)
 In 1898, Richmond County closed its only
High School in the state for Black students, and used the funds for elementary schools
EDUCATIONAL REGRESS
Separate and Unequal
Courts would not uphold equal schools
 SUPPORTED HIGH SCHOOLS FOR
WHITE STUDENTS
Court ruled the closing was not discrimination, but based on trying to best serve the African American community .
1945 first public high school funded in this county in Georgia for African American students since 1898.

The legacy of Plessy v. Ferguson touches several generations of African Americans who do not have access to a high school education.
In 1916, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, and North
Carolina had no public high schools for African
Americans.
True or False?
1945 in the South, 77% African Americans of high school age were not enrolled in high school.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
WERE LIMITED, CONTROLLED BY
THE STATES (See Anderson pp. 23, 26, 28-29)
In Mississippi:
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1890s To prevent Blacks from voting--poll taxes and literacy tests for voting
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1890 35% state school funds spent on black students who represented 60% of the school aged population
1940 REDUCED TO 13% state funds spent on black students who represented 57% of the school aged population
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1940 half of the public schools for black children met in privately owned structures (double taxation)
1960 80% of Mississippi’s black population had completed less than 9 years of school (Anderson)

WORLD EVENTS THAT MOVE
AMERICAN SOCIETY TOWARD
CHANGE JUST PRIOR TO BROWN V.
BOARD OF EDUCATION
World War II A segregated Army
After the War, Truman Desegregated
Armed Forces.
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Black veterans’ held high expectations of freedom after fighting to defend freedom in the world.
Integration in Major League Baseball
1947
Cold War with Soviet Union—accused
US of hypocrisy

NATIONAL PROBLEM
LEGAL SCHOOL SEGREGATION in 1950
Prohibited (light mix, dots) No legislation (white)
Required (dark) Local option (dark mix, slants)

PARENTS OF STUDENTS EXCLUDED FROM
SCHOOLS TRIED TO CLAIM THEIR RIGHTS
In 1885 and 1948 California Courts ruled that minority children cannot be barred from attending public schools
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1885 Chinese Students The California Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny “a child of Chinese parents entrance to public schools” based on the 14 th Amendment, but it stays silent on “separate but equal”. San Francisco builds separate schools for Chinese students.
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1948 Latino Students Mendez family sues regarding segregated schools. The court ruled that separate but equal violated the equal protection clauses of the 14th amendment and orders California public schools to desegregate .

BROWN CASE
Organized by NAACP
Oliver Brown filed suit on behalf of his daughter Linda (3 rd Grade)
Who were the plaintiffs?
Linda Brown and 12 others in
Topeka, and similar cases in Delaware, Virginia,
South Carolina, Kansas, and
District of Columbia.

PBS on Brown v. Board of Education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGHLdr-iak

 ANOTHER HEADLINE New York Times headline on May
18, 1954: "A Sociological Decision: Court Founded Its
Segregation Ruling On Hearts and Minds Rather Than
Laws." James Reston commented that "the Court's opinion reads more like an expert paper on sociology."
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Expert witness Kenneth Clarke presented evidence of a doll experiment to showed that Black children thought White dolls more preferable than Black dolls. Court ruled separation harms the hearts and minds of the separated group. (Video resource)

What is the ESSENCE OF THE BROWN DECISION?
 Chief Justice Earl Warren, who justified the significance of education in the Brown decision as being "the very foundation of good citizenship." “… for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system. We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

1957-1958
Massive Resistance
State vs. Federal troops http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=5541

OUTCOME of BROWN: Some schools desegregated, but the school climate was frequently hostile. Some communities resist ---Massive Resistance http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=5541
1957
Little Rock Nine
With protection of Federal
Troops, the students attended school in 1957-58.

Hostility and views of inferiority stand in the way in mixed schools
What is the difference between a desegregated and integrated school?
DESEGREGATED students go to school together, but minority students are not comfortable, not treated as equal, nor given the same educational opportunities in the curriculum.
INTEGRATED (mix of minority and white students and equal treatment and similar success for all students)

MASSIVE RESISTANCE IN VIRGINIA
In Prince Edward County schools for Black students were severely under funded. In 1958 schools were ordered to desegregate Anderson, 31-32
 Is it legal for a school district to close its schools and deny students access to public education?
 If the public schools were closed, who do you think would be responsible for getting them reopened?
 Schools were closed in Prince Edward County, Virginia to avoid desegregation. How many years were schools closed?

Griffen v. County School Board of
Prince Edward County
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1959 Prince Edward County shuts down schools
NAACP sues
Virginia passes a law closing all schools that desegregate
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Law struck down in the courts
Prince Edward County Board votes to close schools
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Opens private academy, gives white students vouchers paid for with state and local public funds
Court strikes down vouchers, but declines to rule on school closings, so system continues.
Virginia Court rules counties are authorized, but not required to provide schools, so system continues.
1964 Supreme Court strikes down the use of vouchers for only a few students, but it also declines to rule on school closings.
Virginia desegregates schools.

“Lost generation” February 2003
200 received honorary diplomas
(Anderson, 32) Virginia
EDITH GEE
State of Virginia, Issues regret
“…..severely affected the education of
African American students, wounding the human spirit, and ultimately contributing to job and home losses, family displacements and separation, and a deep sense of despair within the
African American community.”
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Awarded “honorary” diplomas
Scholarship fund for GED or to support college attendance today.

The history of schooling includes a major struggle for equal education by many different groups of students.
Democracy is a work in progress
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+ 1868 14 th Amendment Should have made all persons equal under the law
+ - 1885 California affirms public schools for all, but School Board creates separate schools for Chinese students
- 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson --Court ruled in favor of legal segregation
- 1899 Cumming Case showed that education did not have to be equal even if separate
+ 1945 Mendez Case in California struck down segregation for Mexican
American/Latino students
+ 1954 Brown Jubilation -- will effect practices beyond schools, housing, transportation, public accommodations.
+ 1955 Brown II “All deliberate speed”
- 1955-1970 DO NOTHING or MASSIVE RESISTANCE
-Prince Edward county closes all schools rather than desegregate, Virginia funds private schools for white students.
+ 1964 Griffen v. School Board of Prince Edward County
+ 1964 Civil Rights Act, prohibited discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and nationality could withdraw Federal funds.
- 1960s-1980s Loss of jobs for Black principals and teachers (Anderson, 29-31)

Negative Effect of Desegregation on Black
Teachers and Principles:
Unintended Consequences of Brown Anderson, 29-31
 Closing of black schools, the loss of black schools as important social and cultural institutions, a source of community pride.
 38,000 black teachers lost their jobs in southern and border states between 1954-1964, another 21,515 teachers lost their jobs between 1984-1989.
 The number of Black Principals also declined dramatically.

“AWE AND RESPECT” for Brown:
CONSTITUTIONAL EQUALITY
LONGTERM IMPACT FOR SCHOOLING --
ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS
For ALL STUDENTS Girls and women, students with disabilities, limited English speaking students, and in the 1990s gay, lesbian and transgendered students.
BUT Educational rights were not automatic: INDIVIDUAL (S) had to
SUE and go to COURT—after success in court THEN FEDERAL
LEGISLATION followed.

SOME GAPS FOR MINORITY STUDENTS HAVE BEEN
ELIMINATED--Anderson, The Historic Context for Test Score Gap
1. ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOL
2. HIGHER GRADUATION RATES
Advances in high school graduation among
African American students in the South
(Anderson, Tale of Two Browns, 29)
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1960 most African Americans obtained at most an eighth grade education
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1970 25 and older, 31% high school graduates
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1997 25-29 year olds 86% high school graduates

HOW SHOULD WE READ THE TEST SCORE GAP?
What’s are the problems?
Lack of Increase in National Test Scores (NAEP)

NAEP Trends
National samples of students
Black/ White test score gap
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Achievement Gap part of a larger issue of limited increases by all students on standardized tests.
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Schools are serving more students than in 1970s.
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Minority students decreased the test score gap in the 1980s, younger students have more recently decreased the gap, but it still prevails among older students.
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Social Psychology Research shows effect of stereotyped threat in testing situation for any group that is negatively stereotyped. Stereotyped threat-social psychology http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGEUVM6QuMg&feature=related

What are the key educational issues of the troubled legacy of Brown? Brown did not achieve substantive (reality, substance) equality for minority students.
1. A powerful legacy of segregation, resistance, discrimination, and poor funding throughout the 20 th Century still impacts the African American community today.
2. Gains made by desegregation efforts between 1960 and 1980, were lost starting in the 1990s, schools are more segregated today due to housing patterns and districting.
3. Integrated schools may still be possible in small cities and in the suburbs as they grow in their diversity. Recent courts have ruled that policies can’t be designed to achieve racial balance in school districts.

Brown v. Board of Education 55 th Anniversary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LKlvW2LD3s
What is defacto segregation?
Looks at Charlotte North Carolina High School

Conclusions: Brown brought a reinterpretation of the 14 th
Amendment. Laws could not separate citizens or be used to provide separate and unequal treatment.
Brown decision led to greater constitutional equality
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Institutions and daily life: schooling, housing, busing, employment, etc. Anderson, p. 15,22
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Bridge to passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964
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The 1964 Civil Rights Act made racial discrimination in public places, such as theaters, restaurants and hotels, illegal. It also required employers to provide equal employment opportunities. Projects involving federal funds could now be cut off if there was evidence of discriminated based on color, race or national origin.