UCLA Civil Rights Project: The Broken Promise of Brown
The Brown decision of 1954 marked the beginning of a dramatic transition in American society. I attended segregated public schools in Houston. I remember segregated buses and water fountains marked “white” and “colored.” I remember the social codes that required black peoples to enter through the back door, never the front door. I remember segregated movie theaters, public swimming pools, beaches. So many degrading laws, rules, practices, customs, but only for black peoples.
So much has changed. After a period of years in which school segregation shrunk markedly, it has rebounded and intensified.
The UCLA Civil Rights Project has tracked civil rights issues for years. Here is its latest report on the state of school segregation.
Harming Our Common Future: America’s Segregated Schools 65 Years after Brown
Authors: Gary Orfield, Erica Frankenberg, Jongyeon Ee, Jennifer B. Ayscue
The publication of this report marks the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. There have been many changes since the ruling, but intense levels of segregation—which had decreased markedly after 1954 for black students—are on the rise once again. White and Latino students are the most segregated groups.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The publication of this report marks the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In the immediate years after the Brown ruling, the effort to integrate schools faced many difficult challenges and progress was limited. But the passage of the l964 Civil Rights Act as well as a series of Supreme Court decisions in the l960s and early 1970s produced momentum towards increased desegregation for black students that lasted until the late l980s, as districts across much of the country worked to achieve the promise of Brown–integrated schools for all children.
As we mark the 65th anniversary of Brown, there have been many changes since the ruling, but intense levels of segregation—which had decreased markedly after 1954 for black students—are on the rise once again. In the CONTINUE READING: UCLA Civil Rights Project: The Broken Promise of Brown | Diane Ravitch's blog