Last summer, the Supreme Court declared voluntary student assignment plans to racially integrate the public schools in Louisville, Kentucky, and Seattle, Washington, unconstitutional by a 5-4 majority. This was a landmark ruling for public school integration and civil rights; the "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School…

In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review two related cases originating from school districts in Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington that involved voluntarily adopted racial integration plans. Concerned about the outcome of these cases, 553 social scientists submitted a social science statement to the Supreme Court summarizing…

Background/Context: In light of the June 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Louisville and Seattle voluntary school desegregation cases, making it more difficult for district officials to racially balance their schools, this article presents an analysis of prior research on the long-term effects of attending racially diverse schools on their…

This article reports on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down two voluntary school-integration plans in a 5-to-4 ruling issued last week. Its decision left solidly intact its precedents dealing with affirmative action in higher education. Rather than signaling any clear desire to revisit its past decisions on race-conscious admissions…

"From the Courtroom to the Classroom" examines recent developments pertaining to school desegregation in the United States. As the editors note, it comes at a time marked by a "general downplaying of race and ethnicity as criteria for the allocation of public resources, as well as a weakening of the political forces that support…

This report describes housing desegregation gains in Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky, largely caused by school desegregation. The work of Judge James F. Gordon, who presided over the school desegregation plan, is cited as instrumental in aiding in this process. He ruled that no child in the minority in a neighborhood would be used for…

Failures of school officials in Jefferson County, Kentucky to desegregate their student bodies since 1975 are cited in this report and substantiated with charts and tables. The resegregation, rather than desegregation, of elementary schools in 1977-78 is documented. It is shown that 12 elementary schools have never been in compliance with…

American schools, resegregating gradually for almost two decades, are now experiencing accelerating isolation and this will doubtless be intensified by the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. In June 2007, the Supreme Court handed down its first major decision on school desegregation in 12 years in the Louisville and Seattle cases. A…

The number of black pupils living in traditionally all white suburban Jefferson County neighborhoods has increased significantly since 1974. Data taken from school enrollment information indicate a 63 percent increase in the three years from 1974 to 1977. Increases in housing desegregation in suburban areas are complemented by a slight lessening…

Statistical data on student and faculty desegregation supplied by the Jefferson County (Kentucky) Board of Education for the 1978-79 and 1979-80 school years were analyzed. The number of schools not in compliance with school desegregation guidelines was reduced between 1978-79 and 1979-80. The inclusion of first graders in the desegregation plan…

In this paper, the Kentucky Commisssion on Human Rights outlines ways in which housing-related institutions and agencies can revise their policies and procedures to reverse the trend towards housing segregation. Recommendations are made to the city and county with regard to how Section 8 housing assistance programs can be used to promote…

This book examines the history of 20th century racial segregation in Kentucky higher education, the last state in the South to enact legislation banning interracial education in private schools and the first to remove it. In five chapters and an epilogue, the book traces the growth of racism, the period of acceptance of racism, the black…