How to Learn About School Desegregation

The 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education banned segregation in American schools, but its implementation was bitterly fought. Throughout the south, state governments, school districts and ordinary citizens reacted both cunningly and violently to avoid integration, which was intended to end racial inequality in education. The battle over school desegragation raged for more than two decades.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. The Supreme Court ruled in 1954 in "Brown v. Board of Education" that segregated schools are inherently unequal in quality of education and that integration should be achieved "with all deliberate speed."
2. Many American school districts comply, but bitter resistance to the Supreme Court decision began in the South. Many interpreted "all deliberate speed" as an opportunity to ignore the ruling.
3. Some southern schools elected to shut down rather than allow black children to enroll. Others opened up private schools for white children only.
4. Forced integration of schools was met with violent reaction. Federal troops were sent to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, to help nine students enter in the midst of white rioting. James Meredith was shot and wounded as he attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi while Alabama Governor George Wallace defiantly refused to allow a black student to walk through the front door at the University of Alabama.
5. Integration was slowly achieved, but the racial divide throughout the country motivated many cities to adopt of policy of busing black children into suburban schools. That too is met with violent reaction.
6. Busing was greatly phased out as a means to integrate, leaving de facto segregation as a way of life at many schools. Inner-city schools were mostly black and suburban schools stayed mostly white. Critics argued that the educational system remained far inferior in minority-dominated schools due to lack of funding and a poorer quality of teachers.

Tips & Warnings

• The fight over school desegration in the South mirrored the cause for integration in other public places such as restaurants and buses, as well as the fight by blacks for the right to vote. All were met with violent opposition for a decade starting in the mid-1950s.