A Reflection on the 53rd Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
One sees a great deal in 100 years. In 1907, Teddy Roosevelt was President, there were only 45 states in the union. And African Americans were locked into an ironclad system of injustice known as Jim Crow. This violent negation of democracy was secured by the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson and upheld by centuries of brutal custom. Only the most resilient optimist could foresee a day when access to education, public facilities, housing, jobs and transportation were not based on color-coded hierarchy, and the nation could realize a day such as the 53rd anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Fortunately, Oliver Hill was one of those optimists. Hill, who turned 100 years old on May 1, 2007, not only witnessed the demise of that system, but he was one of the legal strategists who helped bring it down. He along with Thurgood Marshall, James Nabrit, Jack Greenberg and others were part of the legal team that brought an end to legalized segregation in 1954.
Time has a way of reducing even the most far-reaching moments of history into thumbnail sketches and in the case of Brown we see simply a case about segregated education. In reality, the Brown decision marked a legal turning point in which the 14th Amendment was returned to its true purpose. Crafted in the aftermath of the Civil War, the Amendment was intended to protect newly emancipated blacks from state laws that sought to virtually re-enslave them. But a series of Supreme Court decisions culminating in Plessy v. Ferguson chipped away at the Amendment and left blacks nearly defenseless against resurgent racism, particularly in the Deep South. In short, achieving racial democracy in America meant finding a way to revive the spirit of that Amendment.
Inspired by their mentor Charles Hamilton Houston, Oliver Hill - and his classmate and close friend Thurgood Marshall understood this reality. When a group of black students marched out of R.R. Moton High School in Virginia to protest the dilapidated conditions of the building, Hill seized the opportunity to attack segregation. When the parents of eight year-old Linda Brown challenged the policy that sent her to a school miles away from her home simply because she was black, Marshall saw a chance to change the course of history. Joined by school desegregation cases from Delaware, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. that became collectively argued as Brown v. Board of Education, their 1954 Supreme Court victory opened more than the doors of schoolhouses. It led to cases challenging racism in transportation, voting rights and housing. Brown provided a legal foundation that energized the Civil Rights Movement.
But again, one sees a great deal in a hundred years - not all of it pretty.
A half-century after the Brown decision, those groundbreaking contributions are in jeopardy of being undermined. Two generations of American children have matured with no knowledge of legally sanctioned apartheid in education. Although our school systems have not achieved the ideal of integration - many districts are more racially homogenous now than they were in the 1970s -- the days of legalized racial separation were banished to a dark corner of history. Or so we hoped.
Unfortunately, the worst elements of our nation's past are always threatening to resurrect themselves. Much of what Marshall and Hill accomplished may be undone by two cases that are currently before the Supreme Court. Recognizing the trend toward resegregation of public education, school districts in Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington adopted voluntary integration plans. For example, the Louisville school board weighed race along with numerous other factors like proximity and student preference and were still able to achieve a notable degree of diversity in their classrooms. Those plans are now under attack by organizations seeking to turn back the clock on racial progress in America.
If successful, the suits filed in Meredith v. Jefferson City Board of Education and Parents Involved in Community Schools v. the Seattle School District will severely hamper the ability of schools to diversify their student body. The result will be a world that looks disturbingly similar to the one that the Brown legal team was born into, one where democracy stops at the threshold of the classroom and the Constitution is a set of neglected principles.
If successful, the lawsuits could mark the beginning of an era in which the 14th Amendment is once again diminished as a tool for creating equality in America. If Brown helped pave the way for the civil rights movement, undermining Brown will be a harbinger of bad days ahead of us.
In 2007, Oliver Hill has lived long enough to see this nation take a momentous step forward and then teeter backward -- and that is something that none of us, regardless of age, can afford to let happen.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
A Lifetime Measured in the Struggle for Equality
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Amicus Briefs
Last fall, more than 1,000 organizations and individuals - including political leaders, historians, social scientists, educators, corporations, civil rights groups, former Department of Defense officials, former U.S. cabinet secretaries and many others - weighed in with the Supreme Court to support Louisville's and Seattle's voluntary efforts to integrate their schools.
These individuals and organizations filed more than 50 amicus briefs on behalf of the school districts. Some of the briefs highlight the benefits of integration, such as improved academic ability for all students, greater success once in the workplace, and lower drop out rates. Some briefs highlight the need for race-conscious integration of K-12 schools. Others review some of the key history related to integration, including the 14th Amendment’s inclusionary purpose and America’s difficulties in integrating schools.
Collectively, the briefs provide a broad and compelling picture of why America needs integrated schools. (And beyond making sense, many of the briefs also make great reading - something not usually said about legal documents.)
Soon, we'll highlight some of these amicus briefs in separate posts. We’ll also link to a summary of all the briefs. In the meantime, if you just can't wait, the briefs in their entirety can be found here.
[Note: The amicus briefs are pdf files.]
Monday, May 7, 2007
WHY ARE WE HERE?
Brown v. Board of Education's promise of inclusive, integrated, high-quality schools for all of our nation's children has never been more important. Yet in the 52 years since Brown, the nation has struggled to realize that promise. After a period of massive resistance and foot dragging, our country made real progress toward more integrated and equitable education. Over the last two decades, however, the nation has witnessed disturbing levels of resegregation across the country. Indeed, America's public schools are now more segregated than they were in 1970. Certain school districts have voluntarily tried to fight this trend, and to bring students together across lines of difference.
The Supreme Court will soon decide Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, two critical cases from Seattle, Washington, and Louisville, Kentucky, that will clarify whether school districts may voluntarily continue to integrate their schools using methods that work for their communities. The Supreme Court’s decisions could limit the ability of communities to promote diverse local schools and provide opportunities for their children to learn, play and work together. Every child in these districts has a seat at the educational table. These cases will determine whether that seat must be segregated, or if it can represent the vibrant diversity in these communities.
So, why are we here? We're here to track and analyze the upcoming decisions. We're here to gather relevant news articles, opinion pieces, and commentary. We’re here to serve as a clearinghouse of information about the cases for local communities, advocacy groups, the media, educators, social scientists, attorneys, and others interested in their impact on the educational landscape in America.