Brown v. Board 60 Years Later

1. Brown v. Board60 Years Later Sarah Garland

2. Stories to read A SYSTEM DIVIDED: To Be Black at Stuyvesant High By Fernanda Santos Earning a spot at Stuyvesant is unquestionably a badge of honor, sort of a secret knock to an exclusive club. As high school admissions decisions are revealed across the city in the coming week, many people are concerned that it is a club that black students — and, to a similar extent, Latinos — have an increasingly hard time cracking. Growing income achievement gap overshadows race By Sarah Garland When Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963, black children lagged their white peers in school by more than three years. Fifty years later, social class has become the main gateway—and barrier—to opportunity in America. Thousands of black teachers lost jobs By Greg Toppo In Arkansas, virtually no black educators were hired in desegregated districts from 1958 to 1968. Black principals fared even worse. By some estimates, 90% lost their jobs in 11 Southern states. Private academies keep students separate and unequal 40 years later By Sarah Carr More than four decades after they were established, “segregation academies” in Mississippi towns like Indianola continue to define nearly every aspect of community life.  Bostonians Committed to School Diversity Haven't Given Up on Busing By Dana Goldstein It’s important that policy-makers pay attention to the best national evidence on busing: that when used judiciously, in ways that emphasize parental choice, it can not only reduce school segregation, but also help lure more middle-class families into urban schools and increase academic achievement overall.

3. Questions to ask • What’s the status of local lawsuits/consent decrees in your coverage area? Where are the plaintiffs now? How have their views on desegregation changed if at all? What are the schools they once attended like now? • Are kids still bused in your coverage area? What does that look like now? How is it working? • What happened to the traditionally black schools in your district? Are they all black again? Closed? Was reaction like to the closure back then? What’s taken their place? • What’s the racial makeup of faculty in your local districts? Of school and district leadership? How did that change after Brown? How has it changed in the last decade? • How is the anniversary being taught? • How have charter schools affected racial isolation in your district? • How diverse are classrooms? Are students of different races evenly distributed in high and low tracks (gifted v. regular, AP v. vocational)?

4. Story ideas • Classroom discussions about the anniversary from two different schools • Within school segregation is worse (or better?) than it used to be. Here’s what it looks like and why it’s changed. • What it’s like to be one of the only black kids (or one of the only white kids) in your class/school • The teaching force is becoming more/less diverse. Here’s why, and here’s why itmatters

5. “Re-segregation” cases • 1974 Milliken v. Bradley I: Detroit schools prevented from including suburbs in desegregation plan because no proof of “significant violation” by suburban districts • 1977 Milliken II: more money could be allotted to “compensatory” programs to repair harms of segregation • 1978 University of California Regents v.Bakke: Limited use of “rigid” racial quotas in a lawsuit brought by a white plaintiff applying for medical school. Established “strict scrutiny” in racial admission cases because use of race is “inherently suspect.” But, racial diversity can be a compelling state interest • 1986 Riddick v.Norfolk, VA(Fourth Circuit decision): An unprecedented decision that declared Norfolk, a formerly segregated district, unitary and allowed it to return to local jurisdiction and neighborhood schools • 1991 Oklahoma City v.Dowell: Oklahoma City was allowed to return to neighborhood schools after being declared “unitary,” a decision that removed the obligation to continue desegregation plans once a district was unitary • 1992 Freeman v. Pitts: DekalbCounty, Georgia: school districts could be released from some aspects of desegregation even if vestiges of segregation remained in other areas outlined in the Green decision • 1992 U.S. v. Fordice: Mississippi ordered to deal with discrimination between black colleges and white colleges. • 1995 Missouri v. Jenkins: court was limited in its ability to raise taxes to help Kansas City pay for its voluntary desegregation plan, which enhanced inner city schools to attract suburban whites. Ruling stated that lower courts were wrong in requiring proof that harms of segregation were eliminated before lifting decrees. • 2000 Jefferson County Public Schools v. Hampton (federal district court): Louisville was released from unitary status in a suit brought by black parents challenging its desegplan. • 2003 Gratz v. Bollinger: University of Michigan was prevented from admitting racial minorities based on a point system because admissions system “was not narrowly tailored” and violated equal protection clause • 2003 Grutter v. Bolllinger: U of Michigan law school is allowed to keep race as one of its admissions factors because it is part of a highly individualized review • 2007 Seattle v. PICS, Jefferson County v. Meredith: Seattle, which had a voluntary desegregation plan, and Louisville, which had been under a court order to remedy vestiges of segregation until decree was lifted in 2000, are found to have violated the equal protection clause with student assignment plans that use race in deciding individual admission to schools. Kennedy’s separate opinion allows for use of race as an aggregate characteristic - in creation of zone boundaries, for instance