Background/Context: Urban educational systems have garnered focused examination as bastions of educational inequity, particularly along race and class cleavages. These systems are often cited as inefficient bureaucratic institutions plagued by financial mismanagement and political corruption that produce dismal achievement outcomes. Contemporary…

This essay attempts to show how the Social Darwinist thinking of white racial superiority, and so, ultimately, white supremacy, came to be institutionalised in law in South Africa. It looks specifically at the making and institutionalisation of the School Board Act (SBA) of 1905 of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. It argues that the SBA…

In September 1957, nine brave Black students crossed a line of armed soldiers to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the first major test of school desegregation after "Brown v. Board of Education" toppled the notion of "separate but equal." Though this is still an operating high school, on most days…

Briefly sketches legal concepts that deprived Blacks of equal educational opportunity before the 1954 "Brown" decision. Holds that twenty-five years after "Brown's" implementation, the "separate but equal" mentality still operates in the United States. (GC)

Analyzes four significant court cases that span the rise of a body of jurisprudence in the United States known as civil rights law. Describes each of these cases in detail showing the profound impact they have had on the rights of all citizens and, in particular, African Americans. (CMK)

The parallels between South Africa and the United States run deep. For the United States, that moment of transition, at least as far as education is concerned, was the landmark ruling of 1954, described in the shorthand, "Brown v. Board of Education"; for South Africa, that moment came 40 years later when every citizen could, for the…

In his critique of academic writing about and public consumption of government policy and law, Jonathan Jansen uses his argument of the symbolic functions of education law and education policy as a basis for explaining the lack of progress in achieving equity and justice under "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) in the United States and…

Provides a historical overview of racial issues in American education, discussing court litigation both before and since the "Brown" decision. Holds that, despite positive changes since "Brown" mandated school desegregation, there now exists a real danger of social, economic, and educational regression for Blacks. (Author/MJL)

The year 2004 marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark "Brown vs. Board of Education" case that put an official end to segregated schooling in the USA. Desegregation has received little attention as of late, yet a number of scholars argue that the work of desegregation is far from being complete in the USA. The aim of this paper is to…

Court cases dating from the 1850s and pertaining to racial integration are reviewed in this paper. The impact that judicial decisions and laws have had on civil rights and on racial integration of the schools is discussed. Cases considered include suits from various states concerning voting rights, segregation of public transportation, segregated…

The nature of legal argument, including judicial decisions, puts severe limits on the educational advances that can be expected by Black Americans through litigation. The Brown decision, for example, has been a mixed blessing, and the Bakke case shows that the Court is unwilling to support a class-based remedy for discrimination. (KH)

Argues that the pervading purpose of the Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution was not only to secure and firmly establish Blacks' freedom, but also to take color or race into account in remedying discrimination in violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of those amendments. (CMG)

Provides an archival analysis of the relationship between the NAACP and its progeny, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., in their joint battle to end segregation in the United States, especially in its public schools. Legal efforts targeting NAACP operations in the aftermath of Brown are examined. (GR)

The results of desegregation efforts from 1954 to 1975 are reviewed. The impact of court litigation on school integration both in the North and the South is discussed. Additionally, the impact of the Brown Decision of 1954 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are reviewed in the light of improvements in school integration. A brief summation of court…

Provides a tribute to the legacy of Thurgood Marshall through an examination of Marshall's key role in the history of desegregation. It focuses on his position as lead counsel for the NAACP assigned to argue Brown v Board of Education before the Supreme Court and his subsequent influence as a member of the Court. (GR)