Background/Context: Legal scholars have cited the Fifth Circuit's ruling in Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education (1961) as the beginning of a revolution for students' rights that ended the in loco parentis relationship between colleges and their students. But little has been written about the students' activism that led to this seminal case.…

In light of contemporary school choice proposals and the 60th anniversary of the Southern Manifesto, the Prince Edward County, Virginia public schools crisis provides interesting historical discussion. Prince Edward County (PEC), a rural community in central Virginia, was one of five school districts represented in the 1954 "Brown v. Board of…

In 1991, Herbert Kohl argued against the inaccurate and incomplete story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott that appeared prominently within texts and trade books of that era (Kohl 1991). He contended the biased perspective stripped Montgomery's African American community of their courage, intelligence, and moral conviction. Kohl…

With the rise of the Cold War, federal officials in the United States sought to end the racial segregation that the U.S. Supreme Court had accepted in the 1896 decision of "Plessy v. Ferguson." Although the reforms began with changes in the armed services, they moved to reduce racial segregation in schools. Many forces brought about the…

In this article, we describe the development and implementation of a project, "Our Leaders Are Us: Youth Activism in Social Movements," that we undertook with New York City high school students exploring events leading up to and following the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown. As part of a 50th anniversary celebration of the…

Although it is obligatory to mark the anniversary of "Brown v. Board of Education," why it deserves to be commemorated is not necessarily obvious at a distance of fifty years. In this article, the author discusses this issue in the light of Richard Kluger's remarkable book--"Simple Justice." He states that, today the widespread existence of…

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)

Analyzes Thurgood Marshall's role as a critical jurist, especially in light of recent criticism directed at Brown v Board of Education. It discusses the separate-but-equal doctrine of Plessy v Ferguson and Marshall's underlying strategy that such a doctrine was harmful to black children. It concludes with the author's interpretation of Marshall's…

If, as James Anderson stated, a nation committed to democracy and equality has every reason to be ashamed on "Brown v. Board of Education's" 50th anniversary, why the commemoration and celebration? By revising Anderson's challenge to examine the complex role of "Brown" in the nation's memory and history, this chapter…