Briefly describes report by Gary Orfield, codirector of Harvard University's Civil Rights Project, that finds American public schools have become much less desegregated than they were 10 years ago. (PKP)

Preceded by recent affirmative action rulings, the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) came during a time of legal retreat away from addressing racial issues. Rather than resolve America's race problems, the history and modern structure of "Brown" and other higher education desegregation cases…

The enforcement of a requirement of racial dispersion of school population in one region of the country is morally, politically, and legally an untenable position. Busing is a shorthand term symbolizing something else which must be faced. (DM)

In this article, the author describes how he was born in 1954, just four months after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision outlawed the "separate but equal" doctrine of school segregation. He discusses how that fact has shaped his life immeasurably. Beginning with entering the world in Tallahassee, Fla., where his…

As we move into the 21st century, Latinos have become the largest minority group in American society. Consequently, we are shifting from a majority White/minority Black paradigm to a paradigm that will consider a broader spectrum of ethnic and racial diversity wherein Latinos will provide guidance in promoting inclusiveness as we address social…

In this article, the author discusses racial and school segregation with the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, as well as the Brown vs. Board of Education case as an example. The Plessy case deals with Louisiana's separate car law, wherein a 30-year-old apprentice shoemaker named Homer Plessy, who was 1/8 Negro, was arrested for sitting in the Whites-only…

Reports and analyzes a decision of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that Mississippi's five predominantly white public universities continue to close themselves off to black students by their financial aid policies. Notes that the Court did not order changes in the state's public institutions' admissions policies as desired by the…

In 1987, Cleveland (Ohio) Schools allowed a child to transfer to predominantly white school. A 1991 judicial review supported this action, affirming that 1976 Race Relations Act did not govern 1980 provisions for parental choice of school. This paper examines implications, focusing on place of parental choice in conservative education policy and…

This statement was an appendix to the appellants' briefs in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, Briggs v. Elliott, and Davis v. Prince Edward County, Virginia, cases. The statement offers definitions of segregation and discusses the implications and potential effects of segregation on children both in minority and majority groups.

Psychologists' work was cited in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). One criticism of the citation was that psychology could be used to overturn the Brown decision and return the country to segregation. A historical examination of such an attempt to overturn Brown in the early 1960s on the basis of new psychological…

The first part of the title of this lecture is taken from Ajay Heble's (2000) book "Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz, Dissonance, and Critical Practice." The author chose this musical image to convey the problem of good intentions gone awry. No musician plans to play the wrong note. The plaintiffs, litigators, Supreme Court Justices, and civil…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Charting a New Course toward Racial Integration: Districts Seek Legal Routes to Capture the Benefits of Diversity (Brigid Schulte); (2) Voluntary Integration: Two Views--(a)…

Discusses the Fourth Circuit Court's decision in "Riddick v. School Board of Norfolk" allowing the school board to stop busing children even though the return to neighborhood schools creates many racially isolated schools. The argument turns on whether segregation is "de jure" or "de facto"; the distinguishing factor…