It is difficult to overstate the importance of segregation for race- and ethnicity-based school funding disparities in the United States. In many respects, unequal educational opportunity depends existentially on segregation. Racial and ethnic disparities in wealth accumulation are perpetuated over generations, ensuring persistent segregation even…

Schools in the United States continue to be segregated by race and socioeconomic status, almost 70 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling that aimed to desegregate schools. Segregation exists in three ways in K-12 schools: (1) Across districts. This is the case in about two-thirds of segregation in metropolitan areas; (2)…

This article is the second in a series of narrative studies of leaders in the field of multicultural education researched and written by Cheryl Hunter and several of her graduate students at the University of North Dakota. The first in the series appeared in the Fall 2017 issue and other articles will appear in future issues of "Multicultural…

Racial inequities, such as systematic disparities in school discipline and achievement outcomes, are a perennial characteristic of public education in the United States. Although attention to interracial chasms such as the Black-White achievement gap is common, limited efforts are devoted to understanding how and why colorism motivates imbalances…

This research explores the historical development of African American teacher and principal hiring and placement in Columbus, Ohio, from 1940 to 1980. In 1909, the Columbus Board of Education established Champion Avenue School creating a de facto segregated school to educate the majority of African American children and to employ Black educators.…

Racial segregation has remained a lasting legacy of rural schools in southern states. Our article explains a case where community leaders created a diverse charter school to change its historical practice of an isolated White private school and isolated African American public schools. We scan documents and literature related to this integration…

This study estimates racial/ethnic discipline gaps, using multiple measures of school discipline outcomes, in nearly all school districts in the United States with data collected by the Office of Civil Rights between 2013 and 2014. Just like racial/ethnic achievement gaps, discipline gaps also vary substantially, ranging from negative to greater…

In this article, Carol Ann Tomlinson reflects on "the next steps on the march toward equity?" It was not until her first teaching job that she had a real understanding of societal inequities in a very rural, very poor area of a southern state. In this context she began to develop an understanding of how society sends its young to school…

A Du Boisian framework is outlined for the sociology of education. Because of the totalizing nature of racial inequality, W. E. B. Du Bois was forced to simultaneously consider Black students' educational experiences and outcomes at both the macro and micro levels. The framework's central problematic is the macro-micro feedback loop between racial…

This article explores the complex contexts and relationships that enabled student civil rights advocates to emerge at Howard University in the 1930s and 1940s. Such histories are valuable given their realistic portrayal of the daily challenges, interpersonal collisions, collaborations, and organizational positioning that made some human rights…

How has education evolved from exclusion to inclusion, from judgment to acceptance, and from disability to difference? This is the question that frames Barbara Boroson's article in the theme issue, "Differences, Not Disabilities." Boroson begins by taking a historical view of how schools have treated those who were perceived to be…

This article reconstructs the story behind "Freeman v. Pitts" (1992), one of the main US Supreme Court cases that made it easier for school districts to terminate court desegregation orders and that, in turn, helped to propel a widely documented trend: the resegregation of southern schools. The case in part hinged on the question of…

This research is a study of the educational systems of South Africa and the United States in a comparative perspective. The research examines the success and failures of the two systems, taking black student dropout rates as a case study for understanding the structural, philosophical and public policy foundations of the genesis and development of…

Six years after "Brown v. Board of Education", Atlanta reluctantly complied with the order to desegregate its school system rather than risk having schools closed due to noncompliance. Out of 132 students, nine black high school seniors desegregated four of Atlanta's all-white high schools. The purpose of this study is to explore and…

Historical racial segregation within Mississippi's public universities and colleges has led to litigation that spanned 25 years and eventually led to sweeping changes in policies and practices. Among these changes were the standardization of admission criteria and the creation of the Summer Developmental Program (SDP). This study sought to better…