50 Years after Brown v. the Board of Education: An Interview with Cheryl Brown Henderson By Nancy E. Carriuolo

This spring marks the 50th anniversary (May back to the earliest years of American higher 17, 1954-2004) of the Supreme Courts’ decision to education, developmental education only be- outlaw segregation by rul- came highly visible to the public after Brown v. ing unanimously in favor the Board of Education slowly pried open the of the plaintiffs in Brown doors of segregated schools, colleges, and uni- v. the Board of Education. versities. Access for students of color has Of course, segregation never brought the possibility of higher education to a really ended, as will be ex- new population, many of whom–as you know plained in the following in- so well—have been underprepared, requiring terview with Cheryl Brown remediation after studying in less-than-adequate Henderson, daughter of segregated schools. Oliver Brown, the 10th of 13 I would like to discuss Brown v. the Board’s plaintiffs in Brown v. the original intentions and its ultimate effects on Board and the namesake for the case. Reverend K-16 education. Everyone needs to understand Access for students of Oliver Brown passed away only 7 years after the that Brown v. the Board increased access for color has brought the ruling, so he never witnessed the full series of up- students of color to all levels of education and heavals and ripples caused by the decision. How- later, as one of its many consequences, sparked possibility of higher ever, his youngest daughter Cheryl, a former teacher our government’s understanding (albeit some- education to a new and administrator and also an expert on Brown v. times grudging) that the new, underprepared the Board and its effects, now carries on the decision’s students entering higher education often population, many of promise of fostering equal educational opportunities needed the financial, counseling, and academic whom...have been through her work as president of the Brown Founda- support provided by developmental educators. tion in Topeka, Kansas. The foundation makes fi- Brown promised students of color access to underprepared. nancial aid awards to minority students (book schol- college, and developmental educators added the arships to high school seniors and tuition scholar- promise of success. ships to college juniors and seniors pursuing teach- ing as a career). As Cheryl says, “Diversity in the Cheryl Brown Henderson (C.B.H.): Yes, de- classroom needs to start with the teacher at the front velopmental educators have been our partners, of the classroom.” The foundation decided to grow and I am pleased that the 50th anniversary of its own minority teachers after surveying teacher the decision has provided me with an opportu- preparation programs and realizing that many mi- nity to talk about the Supreme Court’s decision. nority teachers are nearing retirement with far too few minority students preparing to replace them. N.C.: Surely, Brown v. the Board would make Information about the foundation can be found at everyone’s short list of legal decisions that most http://Brownvboard.org. influenced American education in the 20th cen- In the following interview, Cheryl Brown tury. Did the decision, though, grow from a Henderson provides an historical context for the land- long list of significant earlier decisions? mark Supreme Court decision named after her fa- ther. She then discusses the decision’s intended ef- C.B.H.: Yes, the struggle toward equal rights fect on education, particularly on underprepared stu- was long and arduous. Sometimes African- dents from under-resourced schools, the very students Americans are chastised for being too sensitive. developmental educators work so hard to prepare for I wonder, though, how many average Ameri- college study. She also speaks of the difficulty of de- cans have read the U.S. Constitution and know segregating schools and colleges/universities, which— that enslaved people were counted as 3/5 of a unlike, for example, relatively impersonal settings person for the purposes of establishing repre- Nancy E. Carriuolo such as public transportation—are highly social set- sentation in the House of Representatives? (See Associate Commissioner for Academic and tings. Sidebar 1.) Student Affairs Americans know that, following the Civil Rhode Island Office of Higher Education Nancy Carriuolo (N.C.): Cheryl, thank you for War, people formerly held in slavery were freed. 50 Holden Street your interest in developmental educators. Al- Providence, RI 02908 Probably fewer Americans have ever thought- [email protected] though the need for remediation is traceable fully studied the resulting amendments to the

20 Journal of Developmental Education U.S. Constitution that provided for human C.B.H.: Yes, Brown v. the Board involved five his day who were seeking ways to become a part rights. The amendments were enacted by Con- states, some in the North but others in the of mainstream society rather than be gress in 1865, 1868, and 1870 but not imple- heavily segregated South. The Supreme Court marginalized by it. Dad recognized athletics mented until nearly 100 years later when Brown decision eventually uprooted state laws that could be a means to mainstream success, so he v. the Board (1954) forced our country to keep supported segregated schools in 21 states. The became a boxer, who was good enough to com- the constitutional promises (such as equal pro- driving force behind the decision was the pete in the Golden Gloves. He wanted to find tection and rights not to be denied on account NAACP. a place in life where he could be in control and of race) that are inherent in those amendments play a leadership role. Boxing, though, wasn’t (see Sidebar 2). N.C.: Please tell us some specifics about the that place. Our family joke is that after Dad’s Many years of various court cases also took case, your father, and what he and the other first knockout, he decided to go into the semi- place before and after the amendments. People plaintiffs hoped to accomplish. nary. Actually, he had always been active in are probably most familiar with the Dred Scott church. In 1953 he became an African Meth- case (1857, Supreme Court decision), in which C.B.H.: First, everyone needs to understand odist Episcopal minister and pastor of St. Mark Dred Scott, a 50-year-old man, and his wife that the NAACP organized groups of plaintiffs AME Church in Topeka, Kansas. By 1954, when Harriett filed suit for their freedom from sla- from Delaware, Kansas, Virginia, the District Brown v. the Board was decided, my father had very in federal court in St. Louis. of Columbia, and South Carolina into individual spent a year as a minister and was assigned to class action suits, eventually combined by the his first church. N.C.: Also, the case of Heman Sweatt (1946), a U.S. Supreme Court. Dad was already a community leader by man denied admission to the University of I will explain the NAACP’s method of or- the time he was recruited by the NAACP to Texas at Austin, joined similar cases filed in ganizing the case by using my hometown of participate in Brown v. the Board, but, most of Topeka, Kansas as an example. In Spring 1950, all, he was a man with common sense. My older Sidebar 1: For the Purpose of Deter- among all the schools in our public system, only sisters and other African-American children mining State Population, U.S. Constitu- four were segregated. Those schools were el- ementary schools, so the NAACP sought only tion Counts an Enslaved Person as 3/5 Sidebar 2: Amendments XIII, XIV, and XVI of a Person parents of elementary school children. The NAACP recruited 13 families, and my father Amendment XIII (Abolition of Slavery, 1865): was initially just #10, not the icon he has be- U.S. Constitution “Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servi- come over the years. tude, except as a punishment for crime whereof “Article I, Section 2 (Determination of the num- The NAACP instructed parents—who the party shall have been duly convicted, shall ber of representatives per state on the basis of served as the plaintiffs on behalf of their 20 exist within the United States, or any place sub- population): Representatives and direct taxes children—to try to enroll the youngsters in a ject to their jurisdiction.” shall be apportioned among the several states white school nearest to their home and then “Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce which may be included within this union, ac- record the results as documentation for the suit this article by appropriate legislation” (Legal In- cording to their respective numbers, which shall named Oliver L. Brown et al. vs. the Board of formation Institute, Cornell Law School, 2003a). be determined by adding to the whole number Education of Topeka, filed in 1951. People of- of free persons, including those bound to ser- ten assume my father was the lead plaintiff be- Amendment XIV (Privileges and Immunities, Due vice for a term of years, and excluding Indians cause his name must have been first in the al- Process, Equal Protection, Apportionment of Rep- not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons” (Le- phabetical list of 13 plaintiffs. resentatives, Civil War Disqualification and Debt, gal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 1868): 2003d). N.C.: How was the selection made? “Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the Missouri and Oklahoma, all of which are par- C.B.H.: (With a smile in her voice): If the lead United States, and subject to the jurisdiction ticularly relevant for us in higher education. plaintiff were selected alphabetically, you would thereof, are citizens of the United States and of The case was argued by , be interviewing the daughter of Darlene Brown, the state wherein they reside. No state shall make who later argued Brown v. the Board before the another plaintiff whose name certainly came or enforce any law which shall abridge the privi- Supreme Court. The Texas court ruled against, first in the alphabet. My father never sought leges or immunities of citizens of the United but the Supreme Court (1950) ruled in favor of out the role of lead plaintiff. His selection was States; nor shall any state deprive any person of Heman Sweatt’s admission to the University of just a matter of gender politics: He was the life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; Texas Law School (Eaton & Orfield, 2003). only male plaintiff. nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Legal Information C.B.H: Many people contributed to the effort N.C.: How did your father become involved, Institute, Cornell Law School, 2003b). to make the promises of the constitutional and what motivated him to carry through with amendments a reality. In fact, the NAACP le- lengthy legal proceedings? Amendment XV (Rights Not to Be Denied on Ac- gal campaign to desegregate schools began with count of Race, 1870): higher education. (The National Association for C.B.H.: He was asked to participate by attor- “Section 1. The right of citizens of the United the Advancement of Colored People was ney Charles Scott, a childhood friend with links States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by founded in 1909.) The organization was, and is to the NAACP. One longstanding myth is that the United States or by any state on account of still today, well aware of the socio-economic my father began the case on behalf of my older race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (Le- benefits associated with a college degree. sister. My father has also been glamorized by some as a WWI veteran. The truth is, his health gal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 2003c). N.C.: Did Brown v. the Board’s national scope prohibited any military service. However, he was distinguish it from earlier cases? very much like other African-American men of

Volume 27, Number 3, Spring 2004 21 were bussed to black schools when white el- Brown v. the Board bravely galvanized people cision had varying degrees of impact, depend- ementary schools were often as close by as three around the issue of desegregation of schools. ing on the harshness of the existing circum- or four blocks. When asked to join the NAACP’s stances that the law promised to change. initiative, he knew firsthand that segregated N.C.: What was the reaction of the African- schools didn’t make sense for his child or any- American community when the decision was N.C.: Many of today’s Americans never experi- one else’s. As one of our country’s most val- announced? enced segregation. Are there any misconcep- ued and influential social systems, the U.S. tions about the Jim Crow era about which you public education (K-16) system has represented C.B.H.: In Kansas, strident segregation and would like to speak? a key component to realizing the American brutality didn’t exist. Most neighborhoods and dream. work places were integrated, and friendships C.B.H.: Yes, when I made a speech recently in Dad died in 1961, so he only lived 7 years were not color-bound. Consequently, Kansas was Texas, a young person in the audience asked if after the Supreme Court’s decision. He didn’t a perfect testing ground for statewide desegre- the African-American community lost its focus live to see the impact or to know that every Civil gation of elementary schools. and unity by desegregating. I become so sad Rights discussion begins with our family name. when I hear segregation romanticized. No one N.C.: I remember your mother saying that she who lived through segregation romanticizes that N.C.: You–and your mother–speak modestly just kept ironing when she heard the decision period in our history, but youngsters sometimes of your father as being representative of many on the radio. do. I point out to them that, prior to the Civil other earnest young African-American family Rights laws, African-Americans may have been men in the 1950s rather than as a national icon. C.B.H.: Yes, but the decision evoked stronger able to own businesses, but they could not live Were there heroes? responses in other states. The cases that com- their lives free of white retaliation. Freedom and prise Brown v. the Board came to the Supreme safety surely outweigh any loss associated with C.B.H.: Yes, I could give a long list of heroes Court not only from Kansas but also from the being a closely knit African-American commu- and sheroes who placed themselves in real District of Columbia, South Carolina, Virginia, nity when Jim Crow is holding the knitting danger. I’ll give a few examples. Charles needles. People forget that prior to Brown, Huston, the dean of Howard University’s Law African-Americans could be maimed, brutal- school and first African-American editor of the The media is the ized, and lynched with no repercussions to their Harvard Law Review, was Thurgood Marshall’s purveyor of history in attackers. After 105 years of cases brought with mentor and teacher. Huston hired Thurgood some degree of personal risk to various courts, at the NAACP. When his former students our culture, and the the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. the graduated from Howard Law School, Huston media sometimes offers a Board of Education finally took a clear and hired them and created outstanding teams of pervasive stand regarding equal rights and al- civil rights attorneys. Huston died in 1950, so distorted view. lowed African-Americans to move inside the he never saw Brown v. the Board unfold, but protection of the law. he worked every day of his adult life toward cre- and Delaware. Particularly in the Deep South, ation of equal rights under the law. A list of where Jim Crow (segregation) laws were firmly N.C.: The average American is aware of Brown heroes would also include Robert Carter, a force- rooted in the culture, the Brown decision was v. the Board and the outlawing of segregation ful NAACP attorney active in the Brown case met with a much more jubilant response than in 1954, but then most people’s minds fast for- and, of course, Thurgood Marshall, who val- in Kansas. People often remember where they ward to the of the 1960s. iantly argued the combined cases at the Su- were and what they were doing when they first Is it true that nothing significant happened in preme Court level. heard the decision, and they recall the conver- the intervening years? I want to mention a shero too. Barbara sations that took place that evening in homes Johns was a brave teenager who faced not just and churches. For example, Secretary of Edu- C.B.H: No, significant activity was ongoing. emotional and verbal abuse but also the very cation Rod Paige can recall speaking excitedly However, not all the events were prominently real threat of physical violence. In Virginia, about the decision with his classmates. The de- brought to the public’s attention and recorded Barbara delivered a passionate in our history books. The media is the pur- speech to her teenaged class- veyor of history in our cul- mates about not tolerating ture, and the media some- their separate but so-called times offers a distorted equal educational opportuni- view. In the 1950s, the ties. Then she organized an media was especially unso- orderly strike and wrote com- phisticated; Topeka didn’t pelling letters to the NAACP, even have a television sta- asking for help. tion until after the Brown The threat of verbal and decision. Word spread physical brutality was very real from the radio and newspa- in all the southern states. In pers. South Carolina, the home and church of Rev. Joseph Delaine N.C.: What significant were burned as retribution for events followed the deci- his lead role in organizing the sion? Did the opponents to case in South Carolina. Com- desegregation score some munity activists in each of the successes of their own? five states that participated in continued on page 24

22 Journal of Developmental Education Volume 27, Number 3, Spring 2004 23 continued from page 22 lynch parties continued until perpetrators be- moved, they took their white school-aged chil- gan to suffer legal consequences. The courts dren with them. C.B.H.: Unrest occurred from 1954 to 1964. and laws can change behaviors with the threat Most importantly, people found new and Beneficiaries of the decision were elated, but and reality of punishment to back them up. The creative ways to withhold resources from schools the opposition did everything possible either courts, though, do not have the power to change with pronounced minority populations. Equal to reverse the decision or to slow the pace of its attitudes. Laws cannot end racism, which con- resources were the essence of the Brown deci- implementation. In 1955, Brown II specified tinues to mold people’s social interactions. Rac- sion: The government needed to take responsi- how to implement the decision, “with all delib- ism has not gone anywhere. Bigotry is very bility for ensuring that all children had access erate speed.” In 1956, the courts acted on trans- much alive. to the equitable resources--such as good teach- portation desegregation (as a result of the Mont- ers and current textbooks–necessary to a suc- gomery bus boycott). Then the opposition N.C.: In 1962, when attempted cessful public education. landed a significant blow. In 1957, in the U.S. to enroll in Mississippi’s flagship university, “Ole Congress, nearly 100 Southern elected officials, Miss,” and campus riots required dispatching N.C.: So the issue for your father and others including Strom Thurman, issued the South- the federal troops, President Kennedy broad- was not so much social mingling of the races as ern Manifesto, stating that the Supreme Court cast a message to the American people, saying, access to equally good public facilities? had overstepped its bounds. Inflammatory “Americans are free, in short, to disagree with rhetoric about the dangers of desegregation led the law but not to disobey it” (Kennedy, 2003). C.B.H.: If separate had been equal, as prom- to the closing of Little Rock’s public schools. If ised by Plessy v. Ferguson (Supreme Court deci- sion of 1896), I wonder if the NAACP would members of Congress could suggest that the C.B.H.: Yes, President Kennedy’s public state- have launched into these Civil Rights cases? Supreme Court had overstepped its bounds, ment is a good example of what a law can and Most white elected officials never intended to then some states, such as Virginia—where school cannot do. Kennedy reminded the American implement the promise of equal resources guar- closings occurred for 5 years—felt justified in people that they were not above the law, so they anteed by the Plessy decision. Disappointment closing public schools until policies could be couldn’t openly and actively defy desegregation. after that false promise led to Brown v. the Board put in place to prevent forcible, bloody integra- (see Sidebar 3). tion. From 1959 to the early 1960s, opposing Sidebar 3: An Excerpt from Brown v. the groups were working to either counter or imple- Board of Education with a Reference to N.C.: America’s public schools are still unequal; ment the Brown decision. Plessy v. Ferguson the most under-resourced are still located in tax- poor urban areas. As long as educational op- N.C.: Was Brown v. the Board a landmark case Supreme Court of the U.S.: Brown v. Board of portunity continues to be denied to students inside and outside of our country? Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+) due to inferior facilities, low-quality materials, and inexperienced teachers in such K-12 C.B.H.: Never before Brown v. the Board had “Segregation of white and Negro children in the schools, developmental educators will continue the Supreme Court boldly defended the 14th public schools of a State solely on the basis of to have a steady stream of underprepared stu- amendment. The court upheld the sovereign race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requir- dents crossing the thresholds of their college power of citizens’ rights. Brown v. the Board is ing such segregation, denies to Negro children classrooms. not about white children and black children sit- the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by C.B.H.: Yes, integration in public education ting next to each other in America’s schools the Fourteenth Amendment – even though the has never really been achieved. Brown v. the and colleges. The decision is about equal rights physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors of Board resonates every time a person of color for all American citizens. For the first time, white and Negro schools may be equal. . . . The checks into a hotel or is served in a restaurant, the court made clear what “equal” means. ‘ doctrine’ adopted in Plessy but the Brown decision does not resonate as The case was also important internation- v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, has no place in the loudly now in public education, where it was ally because America was in the midst of a cold field of public education” (National Center for intended to have the greatest impact. Integra- war. At the end of President Truman’s term, Public Policy Research, 2003). tion was never totally a reality. Right after the he issued a friends-of-the-court brief, indicat- Brown decision, school boundaries were re- ing he hoped the Supreme Court would find in However, he knew racist attitudes were in- drawn and then children of all colors began to favor of the Brown plaintiffs. Truman realized grained. The legal decision couldn’t change be bussed away from their homes. Certainly, America couldn’t continue to portray itself as attitudes. this situation was not the ideal scenario every- the moral voice of the world while engaging in The legal decision also failed to create truly one had in mind. moral abuses at home. After the Brown deci- equal educational opportunities. Ironically, the America continues–perhaps intentionally– sion was issued, Voice of America used the de- decision focused on education, but the decision to miss the point that public schools are unevenly cision to counter Soviet propaganda. No other was more successful in providing equal rights resourced. It is so frightening to me that mi- Supreme Court decision had such an impact in regard to other types of access such as inte- nority youngsters are viewed by some as innately on foreign and domestic policy. Many fail to grated public transportation. Schools were unable to succeed academically. The real con- realize that the decision was applied broadly to much more difficult to integrate. After Brown, versation should not be about the ability of chil- higher education and to other aspects of life neighborhoods and their schools underwent dren of different races. The conversation should such as housing and transportation, not just tremendous upheavals, some of which were be about withholding resources, thereby creat- narrowly to schools. unanticipated. So-called white flight was prob- ing failing schools. Our public education sys- N.C.: The decision clearly had a great impact, ably the most pronounced and unanticipated tem guarantees students will be either “haves” but how has it failed? consequence of the Brown decision. In essence, or “have-nots.” Developmental education in as whites sold their homes in newly integrated postsecondary institutions can offer resources C.B.H.: When people break laws, they can be neighborhoods, the neighborhoods gradually previously denied to “have not” students. punished for their impulses. For example, became segregated again; when white parents continued on page 26

24 Journal of Developmental Education CompanionCompanion AnnotatedAnnotated Bibliographies Bibliographies in in DevelopmentalDevelopmental Education Education IENTED B IENTED BIB H-OR IBLIO E-OR LIO RC GR IC GR A A CT New AP SE PH A H E Y R Y R Annotated Research Bibliography P Annotated Bibliography of Major in Developmental Education Journals in Developmental Available as a set or individually in the Education, Vol. 2 following areas: Assessment & Placement, Over 400 entries from the Journal of Develop- Tutoring, Developmental Writing, Critical mental Education, Research and Teaching in Thinking, Developmental Reading, Develop- Developmental Education, and The Journal of mental Mathematics, and Minority College Reading and Student Retention. Learning.

Ordering information and prices: National Center for Developmental Education (828) 262-3057 www.ncde.appstate.edu

Volume 27, Number 3, Spring 2004 25 continued from page 24 males in every racial/ethnic group of the popu- support for education that my parents’ genera- lation: whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and tion could provide. N.C.: Educators fret over the “digital divide” American Indians” (pp. 1-2). The opportunity that separates children with at-home comput- for education doesn’t seem to be valued as much N.C.: Developmental educators work with stu- ers from children with only occasional computer by males as it was in the 1950s when parents dents who come to college from the public access in school or at the public library. Great like Oliver Brown were willing to risk their lives schools and home situations we have described. numbers of our young people are locked out of to ensure educational opportunities for their What is your message to developmental educa- academic success by grade three if they have children, especially sons. tors? not mastered basic print and computer literacy. C.B.H.: African-Americans have traditionally C.B.H.: Developmental education isn’t doing C.B.H.: Yes, our nation’s youth are the ones placed a high value on education. During sla- an adequate job of conveying its value to the who suffer from unequal resources, and young very, education was a down payment on free- public. Public education is not doing a good people have played a powerful role in fighting dom; after the Civil War, education was a down job, and society has chosen to ignore or at least the inequities. Brown v. the Board and the payment on opportunity. tolerate this situation. As a result, developmen- later Civil Rights movement of the Kennedy- However, popular culture does not reward tal educators are a necessary second tier of edu- Johnson eras in the 1960s were youth move- academic achievement. Pop culture flaunts the cators who are vital to the success of genera- ments: young adults and teens idealistically success of athletes and entertainers but neglects tions of students who would otherwise be edu- standing up for themselves and their rights as to send the message to youngsters that success cational throw-aways. citizens. Their valor led to the Civil Rights Act in these areas is not attainable for the average Inadequate resources in public schools (1964) and the Voting Rights Acts (1965), signed person. Access to success is still coveted by have led to the development of a population of by President Lyndon Johnson. Youth possess African-Americans but not necessarily through students who graduate from high school but idealism and a powerful belief in right and education. are unprepared for college. Commercial enti- wrong that can drive change. ties such as Sylvan Learning Centers would not have sprung up if public schools were succeed- N.C.: Yes, youth of the 1960s captured the at- ing in providing students with the skills and tention of our government. In particular, the Developmental educators knowledge necessary for college. Developmen- federal government recognized that low-income have shouldered tal educators need to launch their own internal students needed not only access to college but campaigns on campus and external campaigns also resources for support. For example, the responsibility for with the public. The American public doesn’t Economic Opportunity Act (1964) created the underprepared students realize that they are the educators who make a Work-Study Program that provides part-time difference, save students, and present the stu- students with employment on campuses. The as a result of society’s dents with an opportunity through education next year, the Higher Education Act (1965) was failure to keep Brown v. to become major players in our society. That even more important because it became the the Board’s promise. opportunity is what my father and others like basis of current law that authorizes federal stu- him wanted for all children. dent aid. Title IV of the act established federal scholarships for needy undergraduates and pro- N.C.: Added to the poor PR that higher educa- N.C.: Ironically, on many campuses, develop- vided government insurance on private student tion receives from pop culture is the problem mental educators have been relegated to the loans (Center for Higher Education Support that African-American parents may not be send- bottom rung of the higher education career lad- Services, Inc., 2003). Of course, students need ing their children as clear a message about the der. They are all too often viewed as inadequate more than just tuition in their pockets to be value of education as they did in the 1950s. I because their students are viewed as inadequate. successful. TRIO programs--first authorized by understand from a recent article in Ebony that Congress under the Higher Education Act in fewer youngsters have the benefit of the strong, C.B.H.: Denigration as a result of association 1965--also help primarily low-income and first- traditional black family unit: “In 1963 when Dr. is also true in the public school system. If a generation college students to overcome edu- Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his ‘’ teacher is assigned to an urban school, the as- cational and social barriers, to obtain comple- speech, more than 70 percent of all Black fami- signment is viewed as a punishment, and the tion of higher education, and then to move into lies were headed by married couples. In 2002 teacher’s credibility sinks. Urban schools, a significant role in society. Sixty-three percent that number was 48 percent” (Kinnon, 2003, p. though, need the best and brightest faculty. We of current TRIO participants are students of 192). Black women are attending college in point fingers at students and say, “Something color (Council for Opportunity in Education, greater numbers, but an increasing number of is wrong with you.” Instead, we should be point- 2003). them seem to face the prospect of single ing a finger at the school and saying, “Some- parenting. thing is wrong with that school’s resources, and C.B.H.: Yes, support through such programs we are going to fix that situation.” Develop- has been vital to the success of students from C.B.H.: Yes, parents today, especially single mental educators play a very important role in under-resourced schools. parents, have a tough job. Look at the mes- our society because they have shouldered re- sages they receive from schools and from soci- sponsibility for underprepared students as a N.C.: Despite these programs meant to sup- ety in general: Make children feel good, sup- result of society’s failure to keep Brown v. the port low-income and first-generation college port them at all costs, and be careful about dis- Board’s promise of equal resources in public students, though, Tom Mortensen (2003) has ciplining. Parents are told to be supportive, not schools. brought the increasing absence of male college directive. As to single, working parents, they students to the public’s attention. “A majority may not even have the time to offer the strong N.C.: The failed promise is, at least, spotlighted of bachelor’s degrees are now awarded to fe- ongoing oversight of their children’s lives and due to the 50th anniversary of the decision.

26 Journal of Developmental Education C.B.H.: Yes, the anniversary is finally provid- References ing an opportunity for the remaining partici- Center for Higher Education Support Services, pants in Brown v. the Board to speak about the Inc. (2003). Financial aid. History of financial decision. They can explain the ongoing impor- aid. Retrieved December 18, 2003, from tance of the decision with an authenticity http://www.chessconsulting.org/ unique to them. financialaid/history.htm The kickoff of the anniversary year began Council for Opportunity in Education. (2003). in May 2003 when we invited plaintiffs from the What is TRIO/Who is served? Retrieved De- five combined cases to speak at a forum in cember 16, 2003, from http:// Washington, D.C. Of the nearly 300 original www.trioprograms.org/abouttrio.html plaintiffs, 48 were able to attend. Prior to the Eaton, S.E., & Orfield, G. (2003, Fall). Rededi- event, Mrs. Bush welcomed our group to the cation not celebration: Brown at fifty. The White House. When leaving, two plaintiffs College Board Review, 29-33. from Virginia and North Carolina thanked Mrs. Kennedy, R.F. (2003). Radio and TV address: The Bush for her invitation and noted that it was situation at the University of Mississippi. The the first time in nearly 50 years that they had White House, Sept. 30, 1962. Retrieved De- ever been asked to speak publicly about their cember 18, 2003, from http:// experience. Many are still angry, shamed, re- www.Networker.www3.50megs.com/ sentful, and disappointed in our country. Mrs. jfk18.html Bush was right to acknowledge their historic Kinnon, J.B. (2003, November). The shocking role. state of black marriage: Experts say many I have developed a roster of speakers who will never get married. Ebony, 59(1), 192-194. were either plaintiffs or part of the legal team. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law The youngest are in their early 60s, but they School. (2003a). U.S. Constitution, Amendment were vigorous, fearless teens in Virginia when XIII. Retrieved December 15, 2003, from they went on strike over separate and unequal http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/ schools. We are still fortunate to be able to constitution.amendmentxiii.html speak with them about their thoughts and the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law dangers they faced. Unlike the media, they can School. (2003b). U.S. Constitution, Amendment give us first-hand reports. They provide his- XIV. Retrieved December 15, 2003, from tory, not revisionist history. (The roster of http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/ speakers is available through the Brown Foun- constitution.amendmentxiv.html dation.) Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. (2003c). U.S. Constitution, Amendment N.C.: Isn’t the opening of a national historic XV. Retrieved December 15, 2003, from site in Topeka also commemorating the deci- http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/ sion this year? constitution.amendmentxv.html C.B.H: Yes, in October 1992, Congress passed Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law a law establishing the Brown v. Board of Educa- School. (2003d). U.S. Constitution, Article 1. tion National Historic Site in commemoration Retrieved December 15, 2003, from http:// of the decision. Our foundation fought to save www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/ Monroe Elementary School, one of the four constitution.articlei.html#section1 segregated elementary schools in Topeka back Mortenson, T. (2003, August 9). Fact sheet: in the early 1950s. The school and its grounds What’s wrong with the guys? Postsecondary are now the historic site, and a grand opening Education Opportunity, 1-4. Retrieved Septem- is scheduled for May 17, 2004, exactly 50 years ber 23, 2003, from http://www.post- after the Supreme Court handed down the secondary.org/archives/previous/ Brown decision (National Park Service, 2003). GuysFacts.pdf The site will be used to educate the public re- National Center for Public Policy Research. garding the decision and its effect on human (2003). Supreme Court of the United States, rights around the world. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+). Retrieved December 17, N.C.: Cheryl, thank you for sharing with us 2003 from http://www.nationalcenter.org/ information about an historic decision that has brown.html affected American schools and colleges pro- National Park Service. (2003). Brown v. Board of foundly. We at the JDE offer your family and Education national historic site. Retrieved all others associated with the original case our December 4, 2003 from http:// best wishes for a well-deserved anniversary cel- www.nps.gov/brvb/ ebration.

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