FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY Brown v. Board of Education This May, our nation will mark the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the historic Supreme Court ruling that ended offi cial segregation in public schools. In the pages that follow, you will fi nd articles and resources to help today’s students understand the legacy of Brown and to help them appreciate the ongoing struggle to integrate America’s schools.

Illustration by R. Gregory Christie Linda Brown at segregated school, 1954

38 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 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.

 FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, RATIFIED IN 1868

We conclude that, in the fi eld of public education, the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Th erefore, we hold that the plaintiff s and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

 CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN, BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION, 1954 CARL IWASAKI/TIME-LIFE PICTURES IWASAKI/TIME-LIFE CARL

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 39 “We ain’t asking for anything that belongs to those white folks. I just mean to get for that little black boy of mine everything that any other South Carolina boy gets. I don’t care if he’s as white as the drippings of snow.”

—The Rev. J.W. Seals, Summerton, S.C., 1953 An American LegacyBY BRIAN WILLOUGHBY

It is, on its face, a story of separateness. It is the story of two little girls walking through a railroad switchyard in 1950s Topeka, Kan., lunch bags in hand, unable to attend a nearby white school, making their way to the black bus stop beyond the tracks. And it is the larger story of countless other African American children walking great distances, against great odds, to reach their own segregated schools as buses fi lled with white children passed them by. But it is, at its heart, a story of togetherness, of courageously good-hearted and open-minded Blacks and Whites — and others — working together toward a constitutional ideal. I“When you look at Brown you are looking at a moment so powerful it is the equivalent of the Big Bang in our solar system,” says historian and commentator Juan Williams. “It led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It led to sit-ins and bus rides and freedom marches. And even today, as we argue about affi rmative action in colleges and graduate schools, the power of Brown continues to stir the nation.” Th is year marks the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the separate but equal doctrine in American public schools. Th e 11-page decision — much shorter than other major decisions of the era, and written by Chief Justice Earl Warren in purposefully unemotional language — was fi rm and clear: “We conclude that in the fi eld of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but 50 equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Th e decision was unanimous. Reaction was not. Newspaper editorials variously Brown v Board praised and condemned the decision. White Southerners vowed opposition. —FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY— Predictions of ugly resistance came true. CARL IWASAKI/TIME-LIFE PICTURES IWASAKI/TIME-LIFE CARL

40 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 The Brown family, circa 1954

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 41 Color lines, certainly, had already been crossed by 1954. Jackie Robinson, for example, had made history on the baseball fi eld the previous decade. But for those who resisted integration, watching a sport was very diff erent than sending a child to school. Because opposition was fi erce, those who fought for integration faced tremendous hardships. Often they lost jobs, were denied credit and were ostracized in white and sometimes even black society. Th e half-century since Brown has been a series of gains and losses, from segregation to integration and on to a new kind of segregation. Other movements — feminism, the fi ghts for other minority FRANCIS MILLER/TIME-LIFE PICTURES FRANCIS rights, gay rights, advocacy by and on behalf of people with disabilities — were aided, THE ROAD TO BROWN Th e NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund bolstered and fueled by Brown. And while It’s fi tting that Linda Carol Brown and pulled the train. In mid-20th century Brown focused on schools, it also helped younger sister Terry Lynn had to walk America the NAACP was the most in the fi ght for desegregation of everything along railroad tracks for their daily powerful civil rights organization, with from public golf courses to public buses. journey to school, fi tting that so many membership growing tenfold in the On one hand, Brown remains the other children determined to have an 1940s, to nearly half a million. hallmark of the promise of equality education journeyed such long paths And Th urgood Marshall served as for this nation. On the other, Brown’s to school. Th e route to Brown was conductor, the lead NAACP attorney promise remains, if not broken, certainly similarly long and arduous, court cases for Brown and the mastermind behind unfulfi lled. linked together, steaming forward to a much of its strategy. Marshall would destination countless miles away. later become the nation’s fi rst African BROWN V BOARD TIMELINE SCHOOL INTEGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

1857 With the Dred Scott decision, the ship is extended to African Americans. Supreme Court upholds the denial of 1875 Congress passes the Civil Rights citizenship to African Americans and Act of 1875, which bans racial discrimi- rules that descendants of slaves are “so nation in public accommodations. far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” 1883 The Supreme Court strikes down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 fi nding that 1861 Southern states secede from the discrimination by individuals or private Union. The Civil War begins. businesses is constitutional. 1863 President Lincoln issues the Eman- 1890 Louisiana passes the fi rst Jim cipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in Crow law requiring separate accommo- Southern states. Because the Civil War dations for Whites and Blacks.

GETTY IMAGES/PALMA COLLECTION GETTY IMAGES/PALMA is ongoing, the Proclamation has little practical eff ect. 1849 The Massachusetts Supreme 1865 The Civil War ends; the Thir- Court rules that segregated schools teenth Amendment is enacted to are permissible under the state’s abolish slavery. constitution. (Roberts v. City of Boston) The U.S. Supreme Court will later use 1868 The Fourteenth Amendment OF CONGRESS LIBRARY this case to support the “separate but is ratifi ed, guaranteeing “equal equal” doctrine. protection under the law”; citizen-

42 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 “If you got the guts to go, I Anti-integration activist, Arkansas, 1959 got the guts to take ye.”

—A black mother in Kentucky, supporting her 10-year-old son’s desire to attend a Whites-only school, as quoted in Reporting Civil Rights: Part One: American Journalism, 1941-1963

American Supreme Court justice. Brown itself was made up of fi ve separate but similar court cases in four states and the District of Columbia, representing tens of families: • Briggs v. Elliott in South Carolina; • Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County in Virginia; • Gebhart v. Belton (a collection of cases itself, sometimes cited as Belton v. Gebhart or Bulah v. Gebhart) in Delaware; • Bolling v. Sharpe in the District of Columbia (which ended up with a separate court decision); and • Th e actual Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in Kansas. Th ese cases had been working their way through state and federal courts for several years. Details varied and strategies MILLER/TIME-LIFE PICTURES FRANCIS diff ered, but each case attacked the forced this: “Neither the atom bomb nor the jobs for black school teachers; that it segregation of black students. hydrogen bomb will ever be as meaningful would do little to eliminate the racism Other cases — Cumming v. Richmond to our democracy as the unanimous in people’s hearts and minds. (Ga.) Board of Education, Missouri ex declaration of the Supreme Court that Zora Neale Hurston, a noted African rel. Gaines v. Canada, Sipuel v. Board of racial segregation violates the spirit and American author, put it this way: “How Regents of the University of Oklahoma, the letter of our Constitution.” much satisfaction can I get from a court Sweatt v. Painter, and McLaurin v. While fear of reprisal kept many order for somebody to associate with me Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Blacks from celebrating publicly, the who does not wish me near them?” Education — were precursors to Brown, decision still inspired tremendous Among Whites, many in the North and earlier attempts at integration and equal emotion. James T. Patterson’s book, West, unaff ected by the ruling, still saw rights. (See timeline.) Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil it as positive. Conversely, white southern And two 19th century Supreme Court Rights Milestone and its Troubled Legacy, leaders and southern newspapers loudly cases had created the laws that Brown describes one reaction: and angrily denounced the decision. sought to overturn: “Sara Lightfoot, a 10-year-old black Consider the May 18, 1954, editorial •1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson, which girl, vividly recalled the moment that in the Jackson, Miss., Daily News: opened the door to state-sanctioned news of Brown reached her house. Human blood may stain Southern soil racial discrimination across the South. ‘Jubilation, optimism and hope fi lled my in many places because of this decision, •And 1857’s Dred Scott, which ruled home,’ she wrote later. ‘Th rough a child’s but the dark red stains of that blood will that Blacks, slave or free, were “so far eye, I could see the veil of oppression lift be on the marble steps of the United inferior that they had no rights which from my parents’ shoulders. It seemed States Supreme Court building. the white man was bound to respect.” they were standing taller. And for the White and Negro children in the fi rst time in my life I saw tears in my same schools will lead to miscegenation. REACTING TO BROWN: father’s eyes.’” Miscegenation leads to mixed marriages HOPE AND HATRED But not all Blacks celebrated. Some and mixed marriages lead to the When the Brown decision was announced, worried that desegregation would mongrelization of the human race. the Chicago Defender, a long-standing further alienate Blacks in white society; Georgia Gov. Marvin Griffi n said, African American newspaper, said that it would lead to the elimination of “No matter how much the Supreme

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 43 Court seeks to sugarcoat its bitter pill of “Brown v. Board of Education stands as a national tyranny, the people of Georgia and the confession of error, a true landmark. It propelled the South will not swallow it.” Such harsh words foreshadowed the modern civil rights movement, a still-incomplete social diffi culty of implementing Brown. revolution. It reaffi rmed the American spirit of equality ‘WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED’ and rekindled hope of peaceful transformation. It is a Brown was actually decided in phases. living monument, a cause for celebration.” After striking down Plessy and declaring segregation unconstitutional, —New York Times editorial on May 17, 1984, marking the 30th anniversary of Brown the Warren Court handled the issue of implementation separately. Brown II, as states to desegregate their schools “with the anticipated resistance of the South. it has come to be known, was handed all deliberate speed.” Using the more open-ended “deliberate down more than a year later, on May An earlier draft of the ruling had used speed” wording, Brown set no deadlines 31, 1955. the words “at the earliest practicable and left much of the decision-making in In that decision, the Supreme Court date,” but that language was struck the hands of local school offi cials. sent all cases back to lower courts, asking down, in part as an appeasement to From 1955 to 1960, federal judges would hear more than 200 school desegregation cases. Border states reached 70 percent integration within about two years. Southern states, from grade to graduate school, were hardly changed: • In 1956, Autherine Lucy, a black woman seeking admission to the University of Alabama, was called vile

Court orders Missouri’s all-white law school to grant admission to an Afri- can American student. (Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada) 1940 Thirty percent of Americans — 40 percent of Northerners and 2 percent of THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION THE HISTORIC Southerners — believe that Whites and 1896 The Supreme Court authorizes 1927 The Supreme Court fi nds that Blacks should attend the same schools. segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, fi nd- states possess the right to defi ne a ing Louisiana’s “separate but equal” Chinese student as non-white for the A federal court requires equal salaries law constitutional. The ruling, built on purpose of segregating public schools. for African American and white notions of white supremacy and black (Gong Lum v. Rice) teachers. (Alston v. School Board of City inferiority, provides legal justifi cation for of Norfolk) 1936 The Maryland Supreme Court or- Jim Crow laws in southern states. ders the state’s white law school to en- 1947 In a precursor to the Brown case, 1899 The Supreme Court allows a state roll a black student because there is no a federal appeals court strikes down to levy taxes on black and white citizens state-supported law school for Blacks segregated schooling for Mexican alike while providing a public school for in Maryland. (University of Maryland v. American and white students. (Westmin- white children only. (Cumming v. Rich- Murray) ster School Dist. v. Méndez) The verdict mond (Ga.) County Board of Education) prompts California Governor Earl War- 1938 The Supreme Court rules the prac- ren to repeal a state law calling for seg- 1908 The Supreme Court upholds a tice of sending black students out of regation of Native American and Asian state’s authority to require a private col- state for legal training when the state American students. lege to operate on a segregated basis provides a law school for whites within despite the wishes of the school. (Berea its borders does not fulfi ll the state’s 1948 Arkansas desegregates its state College v. Kentucky) “separate but equal” obligation. The university.

44 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 names and pelted with rotten eggs by angry Whites. Offi cials excluded her Beyond Black and White from campus, then expelled her. Th e university remained all white until the All fi ve of Brown v. Board of Education’s cases involved African American plain- early 1960s. tiff s. But the historical legacy and aftermath of Brown drew from a richer cul- • In 1957, bloody riots erupted tural and political spectrum. as nine black students attempted to There was 1927’s Gong Lum v. Rice in Mississippi, in which a Chinese American enter Central High School in Little girl fought for the right to attend the white school rather than the black school. Rock, Ark. President Eisenhower, a The Lum family made the case that the girl wasn’t black. The court ruled she reluctant player in the extended battle, wasn’t white, allowing school offi cials to categorize children as they saw fi t. eventually surrounded the school with In the 1940s — but still pre-dating Brown — there was Mendez v. Westminster 1,100 soldiers from the U.S. Army and School District, when a Mexican American family fought for and won the right the Arkansas National Guard. Troops to attend integrated schools in California. stayed all year. The NAACP closely watched the California case, since its concerns mir- • In 1960 in New Orleans, armed rored those of the cases that would become Brown. Earl Warren, the man who marshals shielded 6-year-old Ruby Bridges would later write the Brown decision, was governor of California at the time. as she passed an angry crowd of 150 The California case illustrated the layers of segregation and oppression present Whites who threw tomatoes and eggs. in mid-20th century America. The Mendez family had moved into the district in which • And by 1964 in Prince Edward their children faced discrimination because they were called on to oversee the farm County, Virginia — a full decade after of a Japanese American family who had been interned during World War II. Brown — not a single black child had Similar stories are found at the time of the Brown decision. been admitted to a white school. In In one school district in rural Texas in the mid-1950s, Mexican American stu- fact, the county defi antly closed its dents were held in Spanish-language classrooms — even if they were able to speak public schools for fi ve years rather than English — in 1st and 2nd grades before being integrated with white students. integrate them. That doesn’t sound too bad, by the standards of the era, but consider this: Most Mexican American students were kept in 1st grade for four years, followed ‘SLEEPWALKING BACK TO PLESSY’ by several years in 2nd grade. Most students reached 3rd grade at precisely the Th e passage of the Civil Rights Act of age they dropped out to go to work with their families in the fi elds. 1964 fi nally gave some teeth to Brown. In 1957, a court ruled the practice was “purposeful, intentional and unrea- Th at act, supported by the executive sonably discriminatory” and ordered a new system for assigning students. branch, empowered the federal Brown, too, would be used to wage battles for inclusiveness on behalf of government to cut funding to schools children with disabilities. that continued to segregate their At the time of Brown, nearly every state prohibited children with epilepsy from at- students and gave the U.S. Department tending public school, even though medications were available to control seizures. of Justice authority to fi le lawsuits seeking In praising Brown, Lillian Smith of Clayton, Ga., wrote this in a 1954 letter to desegregation of schools. the New York Times: As Supreme Court Justice Hugo “All these children, some with real disabilities, others with the artifi cial dis- Black wrote at the time, “There has ability of color, are aff ected by this great decision.” been entirely too much deliberation —BRIAN WILLOUGHBY and not enough speed in enforcing the constitutional rights which we held in Brown.” — allowed school systems to bus federal court sanctions, allowing schools But even then, integration was students as a way of integrating schools to return to racial segregation. By 1991, fought in a variety of ways. Using the in segregated neighborhoods. Busing integration levels had returned to pre- fact that, legally speaking, Mexican remains a volatile issue, but this decision 1971 levels. Americans were considered “white,” is the one that prompted the highest Gary Orfi eld of Harvard University’s schools in Texas and other states levels of integration. Civil Rights Project put it this way: “We are, created “integrated” schools of Mexican Th e number of black students in essence, sleepwalking back to Plessy.” Americans and Blacks, leaving all-white attending majority-white schools in the Th e 1970s through the 1990s also schools unchanged. South rose from 2 percent in the mid- spotlighted new forms of segregation, It wasn’t until 1971 that widespread 1960s to nearly 45 percent in the late fueled by a history of so-called “white integration began. Th at’s when a North 1980s, the peak of school integration. fl ight” from cities to suburbs, particularly Carolina case — Swann v. Charlotte- But success brought other changes. in the North and Midwest. By the Mecklenburg Board of Education Th e mid-1980s also saw the fi rst lifting of opening of the 21st century, the nation’s

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 45 most segregated public schools were Th e issues have changed, but It is the hindsight of Kenneth Clark, found not in the South but in Illinois, the fundamental question remains: a psychologist who testifi ed in Brown New York and New Jersey. How equal are America’s educational about the harm done to black children Th ere, and in other areas across the opportunities? by segregation. Forty years after Brown, country, black and Latino students live Clark wrote that the U.S. “likely … will in segregated, urban neighborhoods SO MANY THINGS never rid itself of racism and reach true and attend overcrowded, under- In the end, Brown is as simple as equality integration. While I very much hope for funded, low-achieving schools, while and as complex as justice. the emergence of a revived civil rights most of their white counterparts attend Brown is the courage of Barbara movement with innovative programs affl uent, nearly all-white schools in Johns, a 16-year-old girl in Farmville, Va., and dedicated leaders, I am forced to suburban America. who in 1951 led a black student walkout recognize that my life has, in fact, been Separate and unequal continues: of 450 young people, shaming adults a series of glorious defeats.” More than 80 percent of black and into taking up the cause of integration. It is all those children of color, in so Latino segregated schools are in high- As one of the Brown lawyers explained many states, moving with determination poverty areas, compared with 5 percent at the time, “We didn’t have the nerve to and hope toward the promise of equal of segregated white schools. break their hearts.” education. Today, the arguments are about It is the activism of Esther Brown, a And it is those two little girls in affi rmative action and the disparities white Jewish woman who, along with Topeka, walking on the packed earth of created by the use of property taxes to the NAACP, fought school segregation a railroad switchyard, reminding us all fund schools. Just last year, the Supreme in several Kansas cities, becoming herself that education in this free land is less free Court off ered a split decision on a target of white hatred. for some children than it is for others, affi rmative action admissions to college, It is the persistence of McKinley the journey longer, more fraught with upholding race-based admissions at the Burnett, the Topeka NAACP president, pitfalls, then and now. University of Michigan’s Law School but who well before the Brown case tried to striking down a similar process used for persuade the Topeka Board of Education Brian Willoughby is the senior writer/ Michigan’s undergraduates. to integrate its schools. editor of Tolerance.org.

1948 The Supreme Court orders the 1953 Earl Warren is appointed Chief admission of a black student to the Justice of the Supreme Court. University of Oklahoma School of Law, a white school, because there is no law The Supreme Court hears the second school for Blacks. (Sipuel v. Board of round of arguments in Brown v. Board Regents of the University of Oklahoma) of Education of Topeka. 1950 The Supreme Court rejects Texas’ 1954 In a unanimous opinion, the plan to create a new law school for Supreme Court in Brown v. Board black students rather than admit an of Education overturns Plessy and African American to the state’s whites- declares that separate schools are only law school. (Sweatt v. Painter) The “inherently unequal.” The Court delays

Supreme Court rules that learning in DONALD UHRBROCK/TIME-LIFE PICTURES deciding on how to implement the law school “cannot be eff ective in isola- decision and asks for another round at Robert R. Moton High School in tion from the individuals and institutions of arguments. Farmville, Va., organizes and leads with which the law interacts.” The deci- 450 students in an anti-school The Court rules that the federal sion stops short of overturning Plessy. segregation strike. government is under the same duty as The Supreme Court holds that the the states and must desegregate the 1952 The Supreme Court hears oral policy of isolating a black student from Washington, D.C., schools. (Bolling v. Sharpe) arguments in Brown v. Board of Educa- his peers within a white law school is tion. Thurgood Marshall, who will later 1955 In Brown II, the Supreme Court unconstitutional. (McLaurin v. Oklahoma become the fi rst African American jus- orders the lower federal courts to State Regents for Higher Education) tice on the Supreme Court, is the lead require desegregation “with all Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old junior counsel for the black school children. deliberate speed.”

46 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 Number of states 48 (Alaska and Hawaii were fi ve years from joining the union.)

Number of states that mandated segregation 17, plus the District of Columbia (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia)

Number of states that allowed but did not mandate segregation 4 (Arizona, Kansas, New The United States, circa 1954 Mexico and Wyoming) “My daughters will never attend a school with Number of states that had laws prohibiting Negroes so long as there is breath in my body segregation 16 and gunpowder will burn.” —Bryant Bowles, an avid segregationist in Delaware, 1954 Number of states with no laws regarding segregation 11 In 1954, 17 U.S. states mandated segregation. These laws aff ected (Note: In these last two about 9 million white children and 2.3 million black children in MAP © 1957 BY RMC, R.L. RMC, 03-S-83.WWW.RANDMCNALLY.COM BY MAP © 1957 categories, de facto public schools. segregation — segregated Four other states allowed segregation but did not require it. neighborhoods and The remaining 27 (Alaska and Hawaii were fi ve years away from schools that occurred becoming states) either had laws prohibiting segregation or had no 50 based not on laws but on laws regarding segregation. In those states, segregation still occurred socioeconomics and living based not on laws but on socioeconomics and living patterns. Brown v Board —FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY— patterns — were common.) The scene varied from state to state, but the patterns were clear

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 47 in the South: balancing elements of South and North: to handle the Brown case on behalf of White hospital patients could be “Topeka did not impose a color line Topeka featured a sign, ‘Colored and tended only by white nurses; black in the waiting rooms of its bus and train Mexicans served in sacks only.’” patients, only by black nurses. Textbooks stations or on its buses. Yet fi ve of the In 1954, collective shock over the used by white students were kept seven movie houses barred black people, brutal murder of Emmett Till had not separate from those used by black a sixth was for blacks, and the seventh yet galvanized the nation; Rosa Parks students; interchanging them was admitted blacks to its balcony — ‘Nigger hadn’t yet refused to give up her seat on forbidden. Even in prisons, white prisoners Heaven,’ it was called. The park swimming a Montgomery bus; and the Rev. Martin could not be shackled with black inmates pool was closed to blacks except for one Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech on chain gangs. day in the year. A restaurant regularly was still years — and worlds — away. James T. Patterson, in Brown v. Board patronized by the white lawyer who was —BRIAN WILLOUGHBY of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and its Troubled Legacy, paints this picture of 1950s Kansas, a border state

1955 Between 1955 and 1960, federal judges will hold more than 200 school desegregation hearings. 1956 Forty-nine percent of Americans — 61 percent of Northerners and 15 percent of Southerners — believe that Whites and Blacks should attend the same schools. Tennessee Governor Frank Clement calls in the National Guard after white mobs attempt to block the desegregation of a high school. 1956 Under court order, the University of Alabama admits Autherine Lucy, its fi rst African American student. White students and residents riot. Lucy is suspended and later expelled for FRANCIS MILLER/TIME-LIFE PICTURES FRANCIS criticizing the university. The Virginia legislature calls for Ten thousand young people march “massive resistance” to school in Washington, D.C., in support of desegregation and pledges to close integration. schools under desegregation orders. 1959 Twenty-fi ve thousand young 1957 More than 1,000 paratroop- people march in Washington, D.C., in ers from the 101st Airborne Division support of integration. and a federalized Arkansas National Prince Edward County, Va., offi cials Guard protect nine black students close their public schools rather integrating Central High School in than integrate them. White students Little Rock, Ark. attend private academies; black 1958 The Supreme Court rules that fear students do not head back to class of social unrest or violence, whether until 1963, when the Ford Foundation real or constructed by those wishing funds private black schools. The to oppose integration, does not excuse Supreme Court orders the county to state governments from complying with reopen its schools on a desegregated

NEW YORK TIMES CO./DRENNAN/ARCHIVE PHOTOS TIMES CO./DRENNAN/ARCHIVE NEW YORK Brown. (Cooper v. Aaron) basis in 1964.

48 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 Brown is… Prominent Americans refl ect on the historic desegregation ruling

TEACHING TOLERANCE asked a number of commentators, activists, educational leaders, politicians and others to respond to a series of open-ended questions about the legacy and impact of Brown v. Board. Here is a sampling of their responses.

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 49 Jean AbiNader, Julian Bond, Morris Dees, John Hope Franklin, board member of longtime civil rights attorney, advocate author, scholar and the Arab American activist, former and co-founder the James B. Duke Institute and former Georgia legislator of the Southern Professor Emeritus president of the U.S.- and chairperson of Poverty Law Center of History at Duke Arab Chamber of the NAACP University Commerce

HOW DID BROWN AFFECT YOUR of Brown v. Board impacted me minnijean brown trickey What OWN EDUCATION? directly, as it did every other African Brown actually did for me personally cheryl brown henderson I began American in the United States. Th ere was to open the possibility that I could my formal schooling in the fall of was tremendous jubilation, a feeling attend the big beautiful school that was 1955 in the wake of (Brown v. Board). of fi nally having arrived, a feeling that 11 blocks from my house … Central Th e only glaring diff erence was that we had overcome a great burden, and High School, with a stadium, a gym … unlike my mother and sisters I have that now, the world of opportunity was science labs … new textbooks. Brown been educated kindergarten through opening up for us. made me think I could attend Central, graduate school without being taught because it was there, and I had a right by a person of color. beverly daniel tatum While I come to go to the school of my choice. Brown from a long line of African American also forced the reluctant President rod paige I was in my junior year of educators (I am a fourth-generation Eisenhower to act to protect me from college, at Jackson State University, college professor), my generation the unruly mobs surrounding Central in 1954. Th e psychological impact is the only generation to have been High School, by sending federal troops. educated entirely in predominantly white schools. I have had educational juan williams I attended public choices throughout my education that schools in Brooklyn, N.Y., during were not available to my parents or the the 1960s. Th ose schools were very generations that preceded them. integrated. It was before the massive ART SHAY/TIME-LIFE PICTURES SHAY/TIME-LIFE ART

1960 In New Orleans, federal marshals shield and Charlayne Hunter. After a riot on 6-year-old Ruby Bridges from an angry crowd campus, the two are suspended. A court as she attempts to enroll in school. later reinstates them. 1961 A federal district court orders the 1962 A federal appeals court orders University of Georgia to admit African the University of Mississippi to admit American students Hamilton Holmes James Meredith, an African American student. Upon his arival, a mob of more than 2,000 white people riots. 1963 Sixty-two percent of Americans — 73 percent of Northerners and 31 percent of Southerners — believe Blacks and Whites should attend the same schools. FRANCIS MILLER/TIME-LIFE PICTURES FRANCIS LYNN PELHAM/TIME-LIFE PICTURES LYNN

50 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 Cheryl Brown Hen- Gary Locke, gover- Rod Paige, U.S. Sec- Dan Rather, anchor derson, daughter of nor of Washington retary of Education and managing edi- the late Rev. Oliver state tor of CBS Evening Brown, namesake of News Brown v. Board, and co-founder of the Brown Foundation

white fl ight from the Crown Heights “Brown was an American action. It was an action that section of Brooklyn. I went to schools impacted the United States of America and all of us. It with Jewish children, Irish children, Italian children and a stunning range was good for our nation. It was not just good for the of immigrant children from around ethnic African American community, but for every the world. But as each year went by the number of white children in the schools community, even Anglos who attended schools that had declined as the neighborhood became shut out that part of the world.” —Rod Paige more and more black and brown.

HOW, IF AT ALL, HAS BROWN V. BOARD CHANGED OPINIONS ABOUT THE MYTH OF RACIAL INFERIORITY? julian bond For African Americans, it reinforced pre-existing assumptions they had of equality with Whites, and

NKLIN: DUKE UNIVERSITY; CHERYL BROWN HENDERSON: THE BROWN FOUNDATION; FOUNDATION; HENDERSON: THE BROWN BROWN CHERYL NKLIN: DUKE UNIVERSITY; gave sanction from the nation’s highest ESS; BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM: SPELMAN COLLEGE; MINNIJEAN BROWN TRICKEY: PERSONAL; TRICKEY: SPELMAN COLLEGE; MINNIJEAN BROWN TATUM: DANIEL ESS; BEVERLY court that their long-denied (struggle) for equality was just and right.

cheryl brown henderson Much like the Truman administration’s decision to integrate the armed forces, the Brown decision played a pivotal role in addressing the country’s image abroad. We could not hold ourselves Fort Worth, Texas, 1956

up as a world leader speaking with a SCHERSCHEL/TIME-LIFE PICTURES JOSEPH moral voice, when U.S. policy makers were engaged in human rights abuses [compared with Brown] was a well- in my mind that it began with … Brown at home. Brown began the process of implemented decision. v. Board. changing attitudes and beliefs about the value of all people by forcing the dan rather … (I)n the parts of America WHAT OTHER MOVEMENTS, country to take a critical look at itself. where segregation was a way of life, it CAMPAIGNS OR CAUSES DID was taken as an almost unexamined fact BROWN V. BOARD AID OR INSPIRE? minnijean brown trickey Nothing among Whites that people of African minnijean brown trickey It was has truly changed opinions about American heritage were in some way designed for schools, but it created racial inferiority in the United States. mentally inferior. Th is ugly surmise was openings to challenge discrimination … (R)acial inferiority was embedded accepted and very seldom questioned in every other area, from interstate in the national psyche, beginning with where I grew up. Fifty years ago, just transportation to voting. … If a whole the indigenous peoples who were about every white person I knew held bunch of white men – rich, powerful already here, continuing with Africans this view in one way or another; today, white men of the Supreme Court who were imported. … Almost I don’t think I personally know anyone – could see the error of segregation, as soon as slavery was outlawed, who believes such a thing. Th at’s as I think it defi nitely opened up the Plessy was ushered in to codify and dramatic and important a change as one possibility that everyone could see

PHOTO CREDITS, PAGE49:JEAN ABINADER: ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE; JULIAN BOND: PAUL GREEN; MORRIS DEES: PENNY WEAVER; JOHN HOPE FRA DEES: PENNY WEAVER; GREEN; MORRIS JULIAN BOND: PAUL INSTITUTE; AMERICAN ABINADER: ARAB CREDITS, PAGE49:JEAN PHOTO CONGR SANCHEZ: U.S. LORETTA GETTY IMAGES; RATHER: DAN OF EDUCATION; DEPT. U.S. OFFICE; ROD PAIGE: GOV. WASHINGTON LOCKE: GARY MARTIN WILLIAMS: CADE MICHAEL R. WENGER: PERSONAL; JUAN ASSOCIATION; EDUCATION NATIONAL RDG WEAVER: actually rejuvenate racism. Now that could imagine, and it is absolutely clear some hope in other areas, too.

For a complete text, visit www.teachingtolerance.org/magazine; click on BROWN IS... SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 51 Loretta Sanchez, Beverly Daniel Minnijean Brown Reg Weaver, former Congresswoman Tatum, president of Trickey, social- middle-school sci- from California Spelman College justice activist and ence teacher and and author of Why member of the Little president of the Are All the Black Rock Nine who inte- National Education Kids Sitting Togeth- grated Central High Association er in the Cafeteria? in 1957

“When you look at Brown you are looking at moment so powerful it is the equivalent of the Big Bang in our solar system.” —Juan Williams

Michael R. Wenger (Brown) … the prybar that began the long and take a personal interest in black inspired a number of other movements, unfi nished work of making America a education since white children were in including the movement for Mexican desegregated society. segregated schools. On the other hand, farm worker rights led by Cesar Chavez, it worked in an opposing fashion: Th e who formed the United Farm Workers HOW DID BROWN V. BOARD AFFECT decision instigated white fl ight and in 1962. Th e movements for equal rights THE CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES OF Whites’ abandonment of their civic for women and for the rights of disabled AMERICANS, INCLUDING PEOPLE responsibilities. Private schools were citizens also can be traced to the civil OF COLOR AND WHITE PEOPLE? opened, and communities refused to rights struggles of African Americans, morris dees In many communities support bond issues. and therefore, to the Brown decision. Brown v. Board caused Whites and Blacks to work together to better Michael R. Wenger Brown … dan rather It is important to note education for all people. Before Brown empowered people who historically that Brown v. Board did not, by itself, v. Board, a lot of Whites really didn’t had been relegated to second-class open (school doors) completely and perfectly, but Brown v. Board was

1963 Two African American students, Vivian Malone and James A. Hood, successfully register at the University of Alabama despite George Wallace’s “stand in the schoolhouse door” — but only after President Kennedy federalizes the Alabama National Guard. For the fi rst time, a small number of black students in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Mississippi attend public elementary and secondary schools with white students. 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is adopted. Title IV of the Act authorizes the federal government to fi le school deseg- regation cases. Title VI of the Act prohibits discrimination in programs and activities, including schools, receiving federal fi nancial assistance. The Rev. Bruce Klunder is killed protesting the construction of a new segregated school in Cleveland, Ohio. 1968 The Supreme Court orders states to dismantle segre- gated school systems “root and branch.” The Court identifi es fi ve factors — facilities, staff , faculty, extracurricular activities and transportation — to be used to gauge a school system’s compliance with the mandate of Brown. (Green v. County School Board of New Kent County) In a private note to SHEL HERSHORN/TIME-LIFE PICTURES

52 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 Michael R. Wenger, Juan Williams, special consultant journalist, NPR to the Joint Center commentator and for Political and author of Eyes on Economic Studies the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965

“We should celebrate Brown on its golden anniversary, but our celebration will be a hollow one if we do not insist that our elected offi cials put an immediate end to the inadequate and unequal funding of public schools that serve poor children.” —Reg Weaver

citizenship, created a spirit of common and other minority Segregated school, Kansas, 1953 cause and common sacrifi ce among children still go to people of color and many white people, segregated schools PICTURES IWASAKI/TIME-LIFE CARL especially young people, and inspired and receive an segregation on minority students the leadership of Dr. King and others, education inferior to that received by – what Th urgood Marshall referred including white people like Walter most white children. Many schools in to as the “badge of inferiority.” Brown Reuther, then head of the United Auto urban and rural areas are in critical also attacked a pernicious, cowardly Workers Union, and Rabbi Joachim condition – buildings are crumbling and inhumane practice – the physical Prinz, both of whom were prominent and overcrowded, too many teachers separation of a segment of our society speakers at the March on Washington in are uncertifi ed, class sizes are too large, solely because of race. Th is same August, 1963, where Dr. King delivered and student achievement is dismally mentality led to the internment of the his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. low. … For many children, the reality is Japanese during World War II, and still separate and unequal. can be found elsewhere in our history. ARE STUDENTS BETTER OFF TODAY Th e Brown decision elevated public THAN BEFORE BROWN V. BOARD? juan williams Th e cultural acceptance debate on the harms of segregation beverly daniel tatum Certainly having of inferior schools for black and brown and arguably forced a more responsible legal access to the well-funded schools children is gone. Americans know this view of past mistakes and what we can often found in white communities is is wrong. Th e problem is that people learn from them. better than being legally denied access. close their eyes. But legal action and However, it is important to say that public policy arguments rage today loretta sanchez All Americans, many adults who grew up in segregated over how to improve those schools. both new and more established schools often cite the high expectations Th at is why the controversy over Americans, have been aff ected by communicated to them by their black vouchers, charter schools and the use this court decision. Th e fact that new teachers, and the positive learning of magnet schools is at the center of Americans are not classifi ed and put environment that they experienced. any discussion of public education in into particular schools speaks to that Regrettably many of those black America today. fact. In Orange County alone, we teachers were displaced when school have children from homes where the districts merged … and students of WE OFTEN THINK OF BROWN primary language spoken is one other color sometimes found themselves in V. BOARD IN A BLACK/WHITE than English. At last count, there were unwelcoming or even hostile learning CONTEXT. HOW HAS THE DECISION 93 diff erent languages being spoken environments. AFFECTED OTHER MINORITY AND around the county. IMMIGRANT GROUPS? reg weaver Even though Jim Crow in gary locke Brown recognized HOW DID BROWN V. BOARD AFFECT our schools is dead, the reality is that the complexity of racism and the HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES millions of African American, Hispanic profoundly permanent eff ects of AND UNIVERSITIES, AS WELL AS

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 53 OTHER AFRICAN AMERICAN white South unwillingly, grudgingly black newspapers began to decline. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS, BUSINESSES and reluctantly permitted it to be Brown v. Board also has signifi cant AND HOUSES OF WORSHIP? enforced. Th ey insisted on closing eff ect on libraries: Blacks gained access julian bond Over the long haul it black schools and transferring black to libraries and information. Books may actually have hurt some black students to white schools. by African American writers and colleges; by opening the doors of new subjects, like black history and white schools, it allowed a black john hope franklin Black newspapers literature, have been added. brain-drain of students and eventually like Pittsburgh Courier, the Chicago faculty to occur, weakening these Defender, the Norfolk Journal and beverly daniel tatum Many social schools considerably. It undoubtedly Guide used to have major distribution organizations that were once all white hurt black public school teachers in cities across the nation. When white are now “integrated.” However, … and principals — not the decision newspapers started to carry black news residential segregation has largely itself, but the perverse way the sections (which were sometimes left persisted for African Americans. out from papers for white readers) and White fl ight continues to be a reality were later integrated, the infl uence of in urban/suburban communities,

or all-white “splinter districts.” (Wright the Constitution does not require v. Council of the City of Emporia; United equal education expenditures within a States v. Scotland Neck City Board state. (San Antonio Independent School of Education) District v. Rodriguez) The ruling has the eff ect of locking minority and poor Brown’s legacy extends to gender. Title children who live in low-income areas IX of the Educational Amendments into inferior schools. of 1972 is passed prohibiting sex discrimination in any educational 1974 The Supreme Court blocks metro- program that receives federal fi nancial politan-wide desegregation plans as a assistance. means to desegregate urban schools with high minority populations. (Milliken FRANCIS MILLER/TIME-LIFE PICTURES FRANCIS 1973 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation v. Bradley) As a result, Brown will not Act is passed prohibiting schools from have a substantial impact on many ra- Justice Brennan, Justice Warren writes: discriminating against students with cially isolated urban districts. “When this opinion is handed down, mental or physical impairments. the traffi c light will have changed from Non-English-speaking Chinese students The Supreme Court rules that states Brown to Green. Amen!” fi le suit against the San Francisco Unifi ed cannot provide textbooks to racially School District for failing to provide 1969 The Supreme Court declares the segregated private schools to avoid instruction to those with limited English “all deliberate speed” standard is no integration mandates. (Norwood v. profi ciency. The Supreme Court rules longer constitutionally permissible and Harrison) that the failure to do so violates Title VI’s orders the immediate desegregation of The Supreme Court fi nds that the prohibition of national origin, race or color Mississippi schools. (Alexander v. Holmes Denver school board intentionally discrimination in school districts receiving County Board of Education) segregated Mexican American and federal funds. (Lau v. Nichols) 1971 The Court approves busing, mag- black students from white students. 1978 A fractured Supreme Court de- net schools, compensatory education (Keyes v. Denver School District No. clares the affi rmative action admissions and other tools as appropriate rem- 1) The Court distinguishes between program for the University of California edies to overcome the role of residential state-mandated segregation (de jure) Davis Medical School unconstitutional segregation in perpetuating racially and segregation that is the result of because it set aside a specifi c number segregated schools. (Swann v. Charlotte- private choices (de facto). The latter of seats for black and Latino students. Mecklenberg Board of Education) form of segregation, the Court rules, is The Court rules that race can be a fac- not unconstitutional 1972 The Supreme Court refuses to tor in university admissions, but it can- allow public school systems to avoid The Supreme Court rules that education not be the deciding factor. (Regents of desegregation by creating new, mostly is not a “fundamental right” and that the University of California v. Bakke)

54 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 and worship services continue to be highly segregated; even black people who live in predominantly white communities often choose to travel to other locations to attend a church with a black congregation.

BROWN V. BOARD WAS NOT EASILY IMPLEMENTED, AND SCHOOLS IN MANY AREAS HAVE GONE FROM INTEGRATION TO RESEGREGATION. DO YOU THINK WE’RE STILL RESISTING THE SPIRIT OF BROWN V. BOARD? IF SO, HOW? john hope franklin (T)here has been a return to neighborhood schools, eff ectively returning to segregated schools that follow housing segregation patterns. Even in Durham, N.C., where I live, where there is signifi cant desegregated housing, still, Linda Brown (center) and classmates, 1953 many parents send their children to PICTURES IWASAKI/TIME-LIFE CARL segregated schools by choice. “Dismantling the results of hundreds of years of gary locke Th e battles have changed white supremacy required more that a Supreme since Brown, but the stakes are the same and they are very high. Equality Court decision.” —Minnijean Brown Trickey in public education is a birthright, and we must continue in our eff orts as seen in the growing numbers of poor Whites, it is even more diffi cult to close this achievement gap. Just multiracial families, and the greater to overcome for poor people of color. as Brown made historic progress diversity in the workplace. Th e socioeconomic divide seems to be 50 years ago, today we have an getting worse and does not bode well important opportunity – and a moral BROWN V. BOARD HAPPENED 50 for our society. responsibility – to advance the cause of YEARS AGO. WHERE WILL WE equality in our schools. BE, IN TERMS OF INTEGRATED dan rather I have no doubt that EDUCATION AND OTHER ISSUES 50 years from now my children and rod paige I think the most devastating RAISED BY BROWN V. BOARD, IN grandchildren will live in an America segregation now is the division among THE COMING 50 YEARS? that is far more desegregated than the academic accomplishments of morris dees Fifty years from now a lot it remains now — which is in turn children. It’s among those kids who of the problems will have disappeared. far more desegregated than even the have the academic foundations to As minority students get an pioneers of ending segregation may learn and those who do not. It’s opportunity for better education and have foreseen 50 years ago. among kids who have access to early integrating themselves as professionals cognitive development programs and into society, there will be less resistance WAS BROWN V. BOARD WORTH IT? those who do not. It’s among those to going to school with people of color. julian bond Yes, it was. But the result children who have solid parental Eventually, our grandchildren and could have been better had not the support for their literary pursuits and great-grandchildren will think it is resistance been so strong and the those who do not. quite ordinary. commitment so weak. beverly daniel tatum Yes, the beverly daniel tatum … Th e growing juan williams Brown not only resistance is visible in the continuing divide between the rich and the poor triggered radical changes in schools pattern of residential segregation. is of concern. Th e poor (regardless of but it was the singular event that However, we can also see increased race) are increasingly socially isolated, prompted heightened expectations comfort with interracial interaction and while this isolation is a problem for for equality among black and white

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 55 Americans. … (Brown) led to the Civil means that all of us, as voters, parents, minnijean brown trickey Education, Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights students, immigrants, workers, clergy, of course, for all citizens! … Th e Act of 1965. It led to sit-ins and bus rides educators, etc., can make a diff erence commitment to education in this and freedom marches. And even today, in our own way if we participate, country is secondary to military as we argue about affi rmative action in organize and mobilize. actions and spending. We should think colleges and graduate schools, the power about our real societal values. Maybe of Brown continues to stir the nation. beverly daniel tatum Work to we should begin to “democratize” the interrupt the cycle of racism and U.S., by making a true commitment to WHAT CAN SOMEONE DO TODAY, classism. Challenge the stereotypes education for all people. WITH REGARD TO THE ISSUES OF about people of color. Teachers in BROWN V. BOARD, TO MAKE A particular can actively embrace DIFFERENCE? multicultural education in their — Reported by Cynthia Pon, Emily jean abinader Brown v. Board classrooms, and encourage their Vickery, Dana Williams and Brian demonstrated that activism does not students to think critically about the Willoughby of the Teaching Tolerance only mean being in the streets. It stereotypes they see in the media. and Tolerance.org staff s

1982 The Supreme Court rejects tax by itself, fulfi ll the Constitutional obliga- 2002 A report from Harvard’s Civil exemptions for private religious schools tion to desegregate colleges and uni- Rights Project concludes that America’s that discriminate. (Bob Jones University v. versities that were segregated by law. schools are resegregating. U.S.; Goldboro Christian Schools v. U.S.) (United States v. Fordice) 2003 The Supreme Court upholds 1986 For the fi rst time, a federal court 1995 The Supreme Court sets a new diversity as a rationale for affi rmative fi nds that once a school district meets goal for desegregation plans: the return action programs in higher education the Green factors, it can be released of schools to local control. It empha- admissions, but concludes that point from its desegregation plan and re- sizes again that judicial remedies were systems are not appropriate. (Grutter v. turned to local control. (Riddick v. School intended to be “limited in time and ex- Bollinger; Gratz v. Bollinger) Board of the City of Norfolk, Virginia) tent.” (Missouri v. Jenkins) A federal district court case affi rms 1988 School integration reaches its 1996 A federal appeals court prohibits the value of racial diversity and race- all-time high; almost 45 percent of black the use of race in college and university conscious student assignment plans in students in the United States are at- admissions, ending affi rmative action K-12 education. (Lynn v. Comfort) tending majority-white schools. in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. A study by Harvard’s Civil Rights (Hopwood v. Texas) 1991 Emphasizing that court orders are Project fi nds that schools were more not intended “to operate in perpetuity,” 2001 White parents in Charlotte, N.C., segregated in 2000 than in 1970 the Supreme Court makes it easier for schools successfully seek an end to when busing for desegregation began. formerly segregated school systems to the desegregation process and a bar 2004 The nation marks the 50th anni- fulfi ll their obligations under desegre- to the use of race in making student versary of Brown v. Board of Education. gation decrees. (Board of Education of assignments. Oklahoma City v. Dowell) After being —COMPILED BY JENNIFER HOLLADAY released from a court order, the Okla- homa City school system abandons its desegregation eff orts and returns to neighbohood schools. 1992 The Supreme Court further speeds the end of desegregation cases, ruling that school systems can fulfi ll their obli- gations in an incremental fashion. (Free- PICTURES CRANE/TIME-LIFE RALPH man v. Pitts) The Supreme Court rules that the adop- tion of race-neutral measures does not,

56 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 “The problem of the 21st century will be the problem of the color line. … By any standard of measurement or evaluation the problem has not been solved in the 20th century and thus becomes part of the legacy and burden of the next century.”

—Historian John Hope Franklin, echoing turn and the words of W.E.B. DuBois at a diff erent century’s turn Where are weBY GARY ORFIELD now?AND ERICA FRANKENBERG

School desegregation, celebrated as a historic accomplishment, is being abandoned in practice as much of urban America turns back to segregated neighborhood schools. Th e abandonment is driven, in part, by Supreme Court decisions ending desegregation orders. Some say that this demonstrates that desegregation failed and that we are worse off than before the famous court decision whose 50th anniversary we are celebrating. Others assume — perhaps because of the little discussion of desegregation in educational policy debates — that we have done all that can be done. Still, an overwhelming majority of Americans favor desegregated schools. Likewise, almost all parents want their children to be prepared to get along with children of all backgrounds in a society that is on pace to become half non-white within their Slifetimes. According to a recent Gallup Poll, increasing majorities of Americans believe that integration has improved the quality of education for both Blacks and Whites. Th is does not mean that most Americans do not also prefer neighborhood schools — they do — but it makes clear that most people would like integrated schools if they didn’t have to do anything in order to get them. Th e truth about the desegregation story is that we did accomplish a great deal — when we were serious about it. When all branches of government worked together for a few years in the 1960s, the South went from almost total racial separation to become the region with the nation’s most integrated schools. In fact, most parents whose children went to integrated schools and most students who now attend them see it as a very positive experience that tends to have lasting impacts on their lives. 50 But we, the people, haven’t put any real eff ort into desegregation in several decades. Perhaps because we have failed to demand continued diligence in creating an integrated Brown v Board society, our executive and legislative leaders have forgotten the promise of Brown —FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY— — while the courts have been moving backward.

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 57 At the dawn of the 21st century, education for Blacks is more segregated than it was in 1968. Black students are the most likely racial group to attend what researchers call “apartheid schools,” schools that are virtually all non-white and where poverty, limited resources, social strife and health problems abound. One-sixth of America’s black students attend these schools. Whites are the most segregated group in the nation’s public schools. Only 14 percent of white students attend multiracial schools (where three or more racial

groups are present). WHY SHOULD WE CARE? Latino students are School desegregation originally began to ensure the constitutional rights for black the most segregated — and later Latino — students under the minority group in U.S. Fourteenth Amendment. Fifty years later, schools. They are we have additional reasons to continue Brown’s worthy pursuit. segregated by race First, racial segregation is strongly and poverty; immigrant linked to segregation by class: Nearly 90 percent of intensely segregated schools among members of diff erent racial and Latinos also are at for Blacks and Latinos are also schools ethnic backgrounds. Signifi cantly, these risk of experiencing in which at least half of the student body benefi ts aff ect both white and minority linguistic segregration. is economically disadvantaged. students. Th ese schools are traditionally as- Asian American sociated with fewer resources, fewer THE POWER TO CHANGE students are the most advanced course off erings, more Today our public schools are more segre- inexperienced teachers and lower gated than they were in 1970, before the integrated group in the average test scores. At the same time, Supreme Court ordered busing and other nation’s public schools. despite the unequal resources that are measures to achieve desegregation. Three-fourths of Asian traditionally associated with high pov- Supreme Court decisions of the 1990s erty and minority schools, students in have made it easier for urban school dis- Americans attend these schools are being subjected to tricts to be released from decades-old multiracial schools. increasingly rigorous testing that can desegregation plans. have serious stakes attached for student In some areas, very high levels of promotion and graduation. integration remain. In others, particu- Second, decades of social science larly our large central city districts that research has found that racially diverse educate one-quarter of black and Latino classrooms improve student experiences: students, high levels of isolation by race enhanced learning, higher and poverty exist. In many large subur- academic achievement for ban districts, rapid racial change and minorities, higher educa- spreading segregation are occurring. A Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools: tional and occupational We have learned a great deal about Are We Losing the Dream?, a 2003 report from aspirations, increased how to design policies to encourage social scientists at Harvard’s Civil Rights Project, civic engagement, a great- racial diversity, such as coordinating outlines the nature and scope of contemporary er desire to live, work, and eff orts to tackle residential and school school segregation. Download a free copy online at go to school in multiracial desegregation. www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu; click on “Research.” settings, and positive, in- As our country grows increasingly creased social interaction multiracial and this diversity expands

58 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 Racial segregation in schools is strongly linked GETTY IMAGES to segregation by class. Nearly 90 percent of intensely segregated, black and Latino schools are also schools where at least half of the student body is economically disadvantaged. Residential segregation impacts schools. With the decrease in busing to achieve school integration and the overwhelming return to neighborhood schools, where we live matters. the school does not minimize interracial Today’s segregated exposure. To that end, teachers must be schools are still unequal. trained in techniques to create positive environments that maximize the benefi ts Segregated schools have of racial diversity. And students must rise higher concentrations of up and help us cross our nation’s long- poverty, much lower test standing racial and ethnic divide. Finally, we — young and old, rich, poor scores, less experienced and working class — all of us, across racial teachers and fewer and ethnic lines, must remember the words advanced placement of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King: “Desegregation simply removes … le- courses.

LOUISE J. GUBB/IMAGE WORKS GUBB/IMAGE J. LOUISE gal and social prohibitions. Integration is creative, and is therefore more profound Students in integrated into our suburban areas, we must think and far-reaching. Integration is the posi- schools perform better carefully about not replicating policies tive acceptance of desegregation and the on tests, possess of resegregation that have produced the welcomed participation of Negroes into overwhelmingly minority and poor in- the total range of human activities.” elevated aspirations ner-city school systems. His solution, as ours should be, is for educational and Th e growth of the charter school not to abandon desegregation, but to occupational attainment, movement, which neglected segregation deepen it. issues and has unfortunately contributed and lead more to resegregation, especially for black stu- Gary Orfi eld is a professor of education integrated lives. dents, is an example of how essential it is and social policy at the Harvard to incorporate equity provisions into any Graduate School of Education and co- new education reform, particularly when director of the Civil Rights Project at residential segregation remains so high. Harvard University. Erica Frankenberg We must ensure that where desegre- is a doctoral student at the Harvard gated schools exist, segregation within Graduate School of Education.

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 59 60 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 “(Brown) embodies the best of our hopes and ideals. It resonates with our best selves and our highest and most honorable callings. It springs from our bedrock national commitment to freedom, justice and equality. In a sense, Brown is a metaphor for the American dream.”

—From Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents, by Waldo E. Martin Jr. A New MilestoneBY MICHAEL R. WENGER Decade

On May 17, 1954, the world changed. Th e unanimous declaration by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education that “separate” is “inherently unequal” became the legal cornerstone of eff orts to dismantle racial segregation, not only in public schools, but in public accommodations, the workplace, housing and the voting booth. Brown’s reverberations were not limited to the law. Th e decision empowered those who had been second-class citizens and set the stage for an unparalleled decade of sweeping social, political and economic change. From 1954 to 1964 the journey toward racial justice was relentless. Each year of that decade produced milestone events in the journey. Th is “Milestone Decade,” culminating with the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, was fueled by a spirit of common cause and common sacrifi ce among Odiverse groups and individuals in communities across the country. Blacks and Whites, especially young people, marched together — and died together — for the cause of justice. Th eir sacrifi ces inspired others — groups like the farm workers led by Cesar Chavez — to launch additional quests for freedom. Unfortunately, the journey toward justice has not reached its ultimate destination. Today, we confront persistent racial and ethnic disparities in education and economic opportunity as well as deep racial and ethnic divisions. In too many places, our schools are still largely separate and unequal. Th e 50th anniversary of Brown presents a unique opportunity to launch “A New Milestone Decade,” reawakening the spirit of common cause and common sacrifi ce. Imagine the public attention we could spark if we took advantage of the many 50th anniversary milestones that will occur from 2004 to 2014 to re-energize the journey toward justice for all. Imagine the new allies we could enlist in a determined eff ort to create a society of truly equal opportunity in an era of changing demographics, technological revolution and globalization. Imagine the power we could generate if we put aside turf wars and political partisanship and invited all fair-minded Americans to join a journey toward justice during “A New Milestone Decade.” In communities across the country, dedicated organizations and individuals, often in isolation, work to build a more inclusive and just society. Creating “A New Milestone Decade” can unite us all in common cause, widening our circle of allies and building 50 relentless momentum for completing the journey begun a half century ago. Brown v Board Michael R. Wenger is a special consultant to the Joint Center for Political and —FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY—

DAN BUDNIK/WOODFIN CAMP/TIME-LIFE PICTURES CAMP/TIME-LIFE BUDNIK/WOODFIN DAN Economic Studies.

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 61 Milestones to remember

Central High School, 1957

IN 2005, WILL YOU REMEMBER … Rock’s Central High School in 1957, en- The determination of Rosa Parks who, countering white rage so hot that feder- in 1955, refused to move from her bus alized troops had to attend school, too? seat? Will you remember the conviction of the black residents of Montgomery, IN 2008, WILL YOU REMEMBER … Ala., who boycotted city buses and The hope of 10,000 students who par- walked and carpooled to work for 381 ticipated in the 1958 Youth March for days, demanding the end of segregated Integrated Schools? busing in the city and elsewhere? IN 2009, WILL YOU REMEMBER … IN 2006, WILL YOU REMEMBER … The groundswell of youth — 25,000 The voice of the U.S. Supreme Court, strong — who joined the second Youth which declared in 1956’s Browder vs. March for Integrated Schools in 1959? Gayle that Mrs. Parks and Montgomery’s Cesar Chavez, 1962 boycotters were right — that bus seg- IN 2010, WILL YOU REMEMBER … regation laws defi ed our Constitution’s The defi ance of North Carolina college stu- a white mob in Anniston, Ala., that he principles of equality and freedom? dents who in 1960 began sit-ins at Whites- suff ered a stroke and spent the rest of only lunch counters, prompting a nation to his life in a wheelchair? IN 2007, WILL YOU REMEMBER … confront segregation in public facilities? The bravery and fear of nine black IN 2012, WILL YOU REMEMBER … school children who integrated Little IN 2011, WILL YOU REMEMBER … The victims of a 1962 riot at the Univer- The blood spilled by Free- sity of Mississippi, which was spawned by dom Riders — black, white violent white resistance to the enrollment and brown, Christian and of James Meredith, a black student? Will Jew, from across the U.S. you remember the 28 federal marshals — who dared to travel the who were shot, the 130 people injured South in 1961 in integrated and the death of European reporter Paul buses and were met all too Guilhard, killed by a mob’s rage? often by violence? Will you remember that in 1962, Cesar Will you remember Free- Chavez created the United Farm Work- Rosa Parks on integrated bus, 1956 dom Rider Walter Berg- ers Association to confront the plight of man, beaten so badly by California’s Latino migrant farm workers

62 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963

Freedom Riders, 1961 1964 and spoke to equality: “In the Unit- young volunteers during 1964’s Freedom ed States of America, in our democracy, Summer to register African Americans you don’t have to pay to vote”? in Mississippi to vote? Will you remem- ber that their work was not easy — that Will you remember that in 1964 three civil rights workers were murdered Patsy Mink became the fi rst Asian that summer, that dozens of volunteers American woman elected to the were beaten, 37 black churches bombed U.S. Congress — a reminder that and 30 homes burned? great Americans come from all eth- nicities and races? Will you remember that, fi nally, after centuries of endurance by people of — and reminded us all that political and Will you remember that color, after a decade of economic freedom transcends the black/ in 1964 the Rev. Bruce organized, multiracial PICTURES; DON CRAVENS/TIME-LIFE BUS BOYCOTT: NTGOMERY white paradigm? Klunder was killed — struggle and sacrifi ce, the run over by a bulldozer U.S. Congress fi nally passed IN 2013, WILL YOU REMEMBER … — protesting at a con- the Civil Rights Act of 1964, CRANE/TIME-LIFE PICTURES; FREEDOM RIDERS: PAUL SCHUTZER/TIME-LIFE SCHUTZER/TIME-LIFE RIDERS: PAUL PICTURES; FREEDOM CRANE/TIME-LIFE The 250,000 people who traveled from struction site for a new prohibiting racial discrimi- across our great nation to converge at segregated school in nation in public accommo- the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs Ohio? Will you remem- dations and employment? and Freedom? Will you take the time to ber that the struggle read the entire “I Have a Dream” speech for equal education AND NEVER FORGET... the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliv- exists in every region of The struggle for justice, equal- ered that day? our great nation? ity and freedom did not end in 1964. IN 2014, WILL YOU REMEMBER … Will you remember the Patsy Mink (right), 1964 — MICHAEL R. WENGER PHOTO CREDITS: CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL: FRANCIS MILLER/TIME-LIFE PICTURES; I HAVE A DREAM/HULTON ARCHIVE BY GETTY ARCHIVE BY A DREAM/HULTON MILLER/TIME-LIFE PICTURES; I HAVE HIGH SCHOOL: FRANCIS CREDITS: CENTRAL PHOTO MINK: RALPH /TIME-LIFE PICTURES; PATSY IMAGES Our nation ratifi ed the 24th Amendment in eff orts of the 1,000 AND JENNIFER HOLLADAY PICTURES; MO SCHATZ/TIME-LIFE ARTHUR PICTURES; CESAR CHAVEZ:

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 63 SPECIAL SECTION 50 CLASSROOM ACTIVITES Brown v Board Pages 40-63 of this magazine are designed for use with students in grades 7-12. —FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY— Photocopy these pages and use them in your classroom, in combination with the activities below.

GENERAL 1. What do you think segregated schools were 5. Diff erent groups in the United States reacted DISCUSSION like in pre-1954 America? In what parts of diff erently to the Brown decision. How did Afri- QUESTIONS the country were schools segregated? Were can Americans react? Were all African Ameri- schools in your state segregated? How was cans in favor of the decision? How did white the experience of a black student in public Americans react? Where in the United States school diff erent from that of a white student? was the strongest reaction felt against Brown? 2. The Brown decision called for school de- 6. Is your school segregated? In what ways? segregation to happen with “all deliberate What could you do to work against that segrega- speed.” How quickly — and how fully — do you tion, bringing more integration to your school? think schools de-segregated? 7. Do you believe in what Brown v. Board 3. The Supreme Court decision has come stands for? How close to — or far from — fully to be known, in shorthand form, as Brown v. embracing the Brown decision are we, as a Board of Education. But that one name rep- society? What else needs to happen for us to resents several cases. What other cities and move closer to the ideals of Brown? states were involved in court battles to end 8. How would schools have looked in your area public school segregation? How were these had the Supreme Court not ruled against seg- cases alike? How were they diff erent? regation in 1954? How would your life, and the 4. What is segregation? Does it still exist? lives of other students, be diff erent? Other than schools, where have segregation battles been fought?

PAGES 40-48

PROJECT IDEAS An American Legacy This concise history examines school segregation, the Brown case and its relevance in the ongoing struggle for school equity. Build on this history using one or more of the following activities. 1. The Supreme Court concluded in its Brown decision that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Using the web or school library, research how the resources of segregated schools diff ered. Con- struct 3-D models of a white school and a school for children of color in the pre-Brown era. 2. Create songs, raps, poems or spoken word pieces about the legacy of Brown. Host a school assembly to showcase students’ work. 3. Pretend it’s May 17, 1954. Write the front-page headline and lead story for your local newspaper. Use poster board or multi-media to display stu- dents’ stories — contrasted against the front page that actually ran in your community newspaper.

64 TEACHING TOLERANCE Visit www.teachingtolerance.org/magazine for additional activity ideas; click on “Brown v. Board Activities.” Brown Is …

PAGES 49-56 These interviews with 14 prominent Americans delve largely persisted for African Americans. White more deeply into the legacy and impact of Brown. fl ight continues to be a reality in urban/suburban While the magazine off ers excerpts of the interviews, communities, and worship services continue to be full texts are available online at www.teaching highly segregated.” Draw, photograph or describe tolerance.org/magazine; click on “Brown Is …” in writing the places where you feel segregated. Create an “A World Apart” bulletin board display 1. Conduct interviews with people in your local commu- for the classroom or school hallway. nity who experienced de jure segregation, who worked to overcome local school segregation or who advocate 3. The people Teaching Tolerance interviewed believe for contemporary school equity. Use Teaching Toler- that the promise of Brown has yet to be fully achieved. ance’s interview questions as starting points. Compile Inside your school’s walls, does self-imposed segrega- written interviews into a booklet; distribute copies to tion still exist? What are the boundary lines that divide school board members and other community leaders. If students from one another? Are race and ethnicity still audio is available, work with local radio stations to cre- boundaries? What about style, athletic ability or wealth? ate student-produced segments on Brown. Convene Mix It Up Dialogue Groups to talk about the social boundaries in your school and to identify ways to 2. In her interview, Beverly Daniel Tatum overcome those divisions. See www.mixitup.org; click on says: “Many social organizations that “Start a Mix It Up Dialogue Group.” were once all white are now ‘integrated.’ However, … residential segregation has

Where Are We Now?

PAGES 57-59 This essay from Harvard’s Civil ings at a community forum or from outside your community. Rights Project reminds us that school board meeting. 3. Arrange a classroom exchange American schools are reseg- 2. Integrated schools are better with a school that has diff erent regating. What’s happening in for all students. Brainstorm a list demographics than your school. your community? of integration’s benefi ts. Use the How are students’ educational 1. Research your school district’s list to create a pledge in support experiences the same? How are history. When, why and how did of continued eff orts to integrate they diff erent? Help students it fi rst begin its desegregation schools on the local and national identify a project that they can process? Are local schools inte- levels. Gather signatures from stu- complete together — perhaps a grated? Are they resegregating? dents, parents, school workers and documentary fi lm project to visu- What factors are impacting the members of the community. Put the ally capture disparities in their level of integration? Discuss fi nd- pledge online to garner interest educational opportunities.

A New Milestone Decade Share Your Ideas! How are you using this spe- PAGES 60-63 In this essay, advocate Michael R. Wenger asks students Send letters to: cial section of our magazine to continue the struggle for equality and justice in the U.S. Teaching Tolerance in your classroom? Please 400 Washington Ave. 1. Students will fi nd a variety of “milestones” listed take a moment to email us at Montgomery, AL 36014 on pages 62-63. Ask students to create timelines [email protected]. of their own lives for the years 2005-2014. What 3. Invite speakers We’ll share your ideas on our goals do they have for each of those years? How from local civil rights website and off er you pay- does attainment of those goals relate to the civil organizations to visit ment on publication. rights milestones? your classroom and describe the “persis- 2. Write letters to Teaching Tolerance describing ac- tent racial and ethnic disparities in education and tions today’s students can take to honor our nation’s economic opportunity as well as deep racial and eth- civil rights history and to continue the journey toward nic divisions” that Wenger refers to in his essay. a more just and integrated America.

SPRING 2004 TEACHING TOLERANCE 65 RESOURCES newspaper and magazine accounts The National Education Association’s of the era, the entire struggle for civil website catalogues Brown commemo- books rights in the United States. Part One: rative events from across the U.S. At If you buy just one book to supplement American Journalism 1941-1963 cap- press time, the NEA was also solicit- lessons on Brown, purchase Waldo E. tures the Brown decision, while Part ing classroom activities. Martin Jr.’s Brown v. Board of Educa- Two: American Journalism 1963-1973 www.nea.org/brownvboard tion: A Brief History with Documents covers many of the struggles associ- ($16.35) Off ering complete or near- ated with integration. The offi cial website of the Ruby Bridg- complete versions of relevant legal The Library of America es Foundation brings visitors face-to- briefs and court decisions, the paper- www.loa.org face with the now-grown 6-year-old back provides a solid social history girl who integrated New Orleans’ brought to life by newspaper editorials, What Brown v. Board of Education schools. Articles by and about Ruby political cartoons and other materials Should Have Said: The Nation’s Legal Bridges populate the site. from the Brown decision era. Experts Rewrite America’s Landmark www.rubybridges.org Bedford/St. Martin’s Civil Rights Decision ($18), edited www.bedfordstmartins.com with an introduction by Jack M. “Red, white, blue and Brown … Brown Balkin, is a bit heavy on legal schol- v. Board of Education matters to all Brown v. Board of Education: The arliness, but the introduction off ers Americans” — this is the motto for the Challenge for Today’s Schools ($19.95), a concise and critical look at Brown’s NAACP Legal Defense and Education edited by Ellen Condliff e Lagemann history, impact and legacy. Fund’s commemorative website. and LaMar P. Miller, off ers a series New York University Press www.brownmatters.org of essays on a wide range of topics, www.nyupress.nyu.edu including Brown’s impact on non-black Films minority communities and immigrants. A quarter of a century after it was Moving from slavery to civil rights, The Teachers College Press fi rst published, Richard Kluger’s Road to Brown ($49.95) provides a www.teacherscollegepress.com Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. concise history of how African Ameri- Board of Education and Black Amer- cans fi nally won full legal equality Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil ica’s Struggle for Equality ($25) re- under the Constitution. Its depiction Rights Milestone and its Troubled Leg- mains the defi nitive history of Brown. of the interplay between race, law acy ($16.95), by James T. Patterson, Random House, Inc. and history adds a crucial dimension is a richly detailed retelling of Brown. www.randomhouse.com to courses in U.S. History, Black Stud- One of the defi nitive Brown studies, ies, Constitutional Law, Law & Society, Patterson’s book includes numerous on the WEB Social Movements and Government. historic photographs as well as help- The Brown Foundation for Education- California Newsreel ful charts and tables. al Equity, Excellence and Research www.newsreel.org Oxford University Press runs a 56K-friendly website featuring www.oup.com activity booklets for younger students Scheduled for release in Spring and The Brown Quarterly, a publica- 2004, With All Deliberate Speed: Dismantling Desegregation: The tion for classroom teachers. The Legacy of Brown v. Board Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of www.brownvboard.org ($24.95) addresses the challenges Education ($19.95), by Gary Orfi eld, in implementing desegregation and Susan E. Eaton and The Harvard The National Park Service’s Brown analyzes the role of diversity and Project on School Desegregation, ad- v. Board of Education site off ers an multicultural education in America dresses issues such as housing seg- overview of the historic site at Monroe today. The fi lm includes interviews regation, magnet schools and other Elementary School in Topeka, Kas. with leading scholars, including Jona- issues related to and arising from www.nps.gov/brvb than Kozol and Beverly Daniel Tatum. attempts at integration. Teleduction The New Press Brown at 50, operated by Howard www.teleduction.com www.thenewpress.org University School of Law, provides an annotated chronology and full docu- Visit www.teachingtolerance.org/ Reporting Civil Rights ($40) is a two- ments for relevant legal cases. magazine for additional book, web volume set that covers, through actual www.brownat50.org and fi lm reviews.

66 TEACHING TOLERANCE SPRING 2004 Brown v. Board 50th Anniversary logo by RODNEY DAVIDSON/DOGSTAR DESIGN 2003 ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE FOR DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT “This is the BEST presentation I have ever seen about Ms. Parks and Civil Rights!”

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