Constructive Commentaries: The 70th Anniversary of Brown v Board of Education
Periodic recommendations for reading, listening, or viewing in matters of higher education and its importance to democratic society.
Cynicism and sensationalism shape a lot of public debates about higher education today. Exaggerations, distortions, and falsehoods are common in punditry about the alleged state of college campuses.
Here are some constructive, fact-based, and illuminating antidotes to such “campus misinformation”—specifically on the legacy of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v Board of Education (1954).
That unanimous decision, which declared that segregated public schools could not be considered equal under the U.S. Constitution, marked a pivotal moment in US history.
Yet the ensuing program to desegregate public schools and other institutions met fierce and prolonged legal, political, and armed resistance. Desegregation never occurred in full, as originally conceived and ordered.
The paramount question of public education today is whether the popular political will exists to continue the vital democratic work of ongoing integration or whether schools will revert to a quasi- or fully-segregated status quo.
“7 Realities for Black Students in America, 70 Years after Brown,” Hechinger Report (May 13, 2024)
An efficient balance of crucial statistics with the lived experience of students in the decades since the historic ruling, showing its impacts according to a number of important practial criteria.
Matthew Allen, “Exclusive: Kimberlé W. Crenshaw Discusses 70 Years Of Brown vs. Board Of Education,” NewsOne (May 17, 2024)
A revealing interview with legal scholar and primary architect of Critical Race Theory Kimberlé W. Crenshaw on lesser-known legal and political implications of Brown v Board of Education.
Laura Meckler, Emily Guskin, and Scott Clement, “70 Years Later, 1 in 3 Black People Say Integration Didn’t help Black Students,” Washington Post (May 17, 2024)
Opinion polling suggests overwhelming popular support for the original court decision in the abstract, but also mixed views on its success in achieving integration and whether more should be done to continue it.
Sarah Kuta, “This Map Lets You See How School Segregation Has Changed in Your Hometown,” Smithsonian (May 17, 2024)
An interactive map that shows how desegregation affected hundreds of specific school districts—as well as, in some districts, worsening segregation over time.
Southern Education Foundation, “Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision” (May 17, 2024)
A commemorative statement regarding the importance of proactively continuing to promote integration, accompanied by a variety of informative resources and proposals.