School Segregation

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Brown v. Board of Education

What do you know about?
Brown v. Board of Education

In 1951, Oliver Brown filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, after his daughter, Linda, was refused admission to the all-white elementary schools in their town. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court and was grouped with four other school segregation cases under the name Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. On May 17, 1954, the Court ruled 9-0 that school segregation was unconstitutional. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, "...In the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." 

The ruling reversed the principle of "separate but equal" set forth in the 1896 case, Plessy v. Ferguson, which said that racially segregated facilities were legal as long as they were equal. In 1955, the Court directed school districts across the country to desegregate "with all deliberate speed." The decision in Brown v. Board of Education was a tremendous victory in the long struggle against school segregation and Jim Crow, and fueled the growing civil rights movement.

Read handout 1964 School Boycott Flier
Where do you think this boycott might have taken place? Why?

1964 School Boycott Flier

Note that

• the 1964 boycott in New York was the largest civil rights protest of the 1960s, with more than 460,000 students (about 45 percent of all New York City students) staying home from school.

• segregation is most-often associated with the Deep South, it was actually a nationwide problem, and was widespread in many Northern communities as well.

Handout 

Mae Mallory: Challenging Segregation

Play the following audio clip from 12:06–

18:50: Nice White Parents, Episode 2: ‘I Still Believe in It,’ 

What stood out to you about the school conditions described by Mallory?
Were you surprised by this? Explain.

Why, to this day, do you think many districts across the U.S. have never enacted a desegregation plan?

Segregation in schools

Explore data across different states.

• Which state has the highest rate of segregation in schools?
• Does that surprise you?

Which state has the highest rate of segregation in schools?
Does that surprise you?

Why is it important for schools to be integrated?
How does integration benefit all children?