This article provides an overview of the major findings from the "Understanding Race and Education Study," a 5-year research project conducted by the authors at Teachers College--Columbia University and UCLA. The central theme to emerge from the 5-year historical case study of six racially diverse high schools and their graduates from the late…

This ethnography of Belvedere, Mississippi black students integrating the high school during Freedom of Choice (1966) posits that school experiences were an important part in the formation of identity in the South during Civil Rights. This article explores the relationship between individual activism existing conjointly and separate from school…

Modern educational reform owes much to the legal team and educational leaders who fought to make equal educational opportunity a reality for Black students in the United States of America. Their efforts helped to dismantle American apartheid; a.k.a. Jim Crow, a system of allocating human and civil rights according to assigned or assumed…

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…

Traces some cases of harrassment, intimidation, economic penalty, and physical pain that occurred during the twenty years following 1954 and assesses the accomplishments in race relations and educational progress achieved during the same period. (DW)

Cites evidence that large Northern cities have resisted integration and in some cases have grown increasingly segregated. (Author/DW)

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in the nation's public schools. This decision has not eliminated racial segregation, but it fundamentally altered the psychological pattern of race relations in the United States. Brown concerned a form of racial discrimination that has virtually vanished from…

This paper discusses school desegregation as a method of assimilation (especially of blacks and Mexican-Americans) in the context of shifts in the intelligentsia and accompanying changes in national educational policy. Two general ideological positions have historically been in competition (1) the conservative/order model based on a belief in…

Between 1968 and 1980, segregation of black students in the United States declined significantly, especially in the South. During the seventies, black segregation was reduced in all regions of the country, except in the Northeast which became more segregated. Increasing segregation was found in large, older industrial states and cities with…

Desegregation in the Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky) deteriorated in many key aspects but improved in two others during 1983-84. The percentage of schools out of compliance with student enrollment guidelines rose and the number of black teachers fell to their worst levels since school desegregation began. The number and percentage of…

This paper examines the role of women in the 1957 desegregation of Arkansas's Central High School, using data from interviews with black and white teachers and other prominent community members at the time. The paper shares stories of teachers, students, the Mother's League, the Women's Emergency Community, and Daisy Bates, president of the…

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)

It's a little-known fact, but, 50 years ago, the junior high and high schools of Topeka, Kan., were integrated--though in name only. Fear was the order of the day at the high school, where an African American assistant superintendent by the name of Harrison Caldwell roamed the halls as the "White folks' enforcer," ensuring that African…

Since the landmark "Brown v. Board of Education" ruling, most of the literature on school desegregation has focused on the experiences of African American students or school districts in which remedies were fashioned for African American students. However, little is known about the efforts of other ethnic and racial groups who have…

The United States Supreme Court ushered in a new era in American history on May 17, 1954 in its monumental ruling in "Brown v Board of Education," Topeka, Kansas. "Brown" is not only the Court's most significant decision on race and equal educational opportunities, but also ranks among the most important cases it has ever decided. In "Brown" a…