This article first appeared on The Emancipator and is part of the coverage of the 50th anniversary of a federal judge’s ruling that led to busing in Boston to desegregate schools It’s republished here under a Creative Commons license. See full series here. During the time of Brown v. Board of Education, the most radical […]
Brown v. Board of Education
Revisiting Brown v. Board of Education’s Legacy in a New Era of Massive Resistance
Exactly 70 years after some of the greatest Black legal minds in the U.S. challenged racial segregation in public schools, the assault on diversity in the classroom and beyond is gaining fresh momentum. Black students have long been subtly pushed out of schools thanks to disciplinary policies with roots in widespread resistance to desegregation efforts. […]
The Unintended Consequences of Brown v. Board of Education
When the U.S. Supreme Court deemed segregated schooling unconstitutional in 1954, the landmark decision become a symbol of racial progress. But the ruling came with a hidden cost: the dismissal of tens of thousands of Black teachers and principals as white school staff poured into previously all-Black schools and were promoted into leadership roles over […]

