Mystery Solved: Student Photographed Integrating Virginia High School in 1962 Identified

A photo used by the school district for years to mark its history didn't identify Robert Christian, then 12 years old, until now. 

The Undiscussed Backlash to Brown v. Board: The Sidelining of Black Educators

by Leslie T. Fenwick

Brown v. Board was meant to ensure that children of different racial groups would share classrooms. But resistance to allowing Black teachers and principals to oversee white students' education led an estimated 100,000 Black educators to leave their profession. 

Malverne: The Incomplete Struggle for School Integration on Long Island

by Alan J. Singer

The general diversity of Long Island should be the area's strength. It's time to learn lessons from the past and stop allowing the area to be carved up into small and segregated school districts. 

Don't Forget that "School Choice" Originated in Massive Resistance to Desegregation

by Nancy MacLean

"Rather than giving families more school options, school choice became a tool intended to give most families far fewer in the end."

Jelani Cobb on Derrick Bell: The Man Behind Critical Race Theory

Derrick Bell's frustrations with the limits of liberal individualism in civil rights jurisprudence pushed him to develop the important critique of institiutional racism in the law. 

What Is Critical Race Theory And Why Did Oklahoma Just Ban It?

by Kathryn Schumaker

Attacks on "critical race theory" in Oklahoma's legislature are part of a political effort to prevent discussion of the state's racist past – the legislature made CRT a culture war issue as the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre approaches. Here's why we need more, not less, of the ideas behind CRT.

Ramsey Clark, Attorney General and Rebel With a Cause, Dies at 93

Ramsey Clark's tenure as Attorney General saw the aggressive enforcement of civil rights law; his liberalism strained his relationship with Lyndon Johnson, who blamed Clark in part for energizing the "silent majority" that led Richard Nixon to victory. He continued in private life to represent unpopular defendants and oppose American militarism.

St. Louis' Sumner High Facing Possible Closure; Tina Turner, Others Attended

Despite its importance to the history of education and its famous alumni (including Dick Gregory, Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, and several of the Tuskegee Airmen), the school may fall victim to declining enrollment and cost considerations. Alums are working to keep the building in use for other purposes.

Fighting School Segregation Didn’t Take Place Just In The South

by Ashley Farmer

"The Harlem 9’s fight serves as an important reminder that school desegregation protests were popular and successful in the North as well as in the South."

Once a Symbol of Desegregation, Ruby Bridges’ School now Reflects another Battle Engulfing Public Education

by Connie L. Schaffer, Martha Graham Viator and Meg White

The New Orleans school integrated by Ruby Bridges is now operated by a private charter school company, part of a trend that three education scholars say jeopardizes the survival of the entire system of public education in the United States.

“Nice White Parents,” “Fiasco,” and America’s Public-School Problem

Two podcasts address controversial aspects of racial integration in schooling, looking at contemporary New York and Boston in the late 1960s and 1970s. 

Little Rock Nine Members Question How Far We've Come 63 Years After Broking Racial Barriers

Daily images of police pushing back protesters with excessive force have also resulted in a surge of traumatic memories for some members of the Little Rock Nine.

The Damage Trump Has Done This Week Extends Far Beyond America’s Borders

by Mary L. Dudziak

Concern that Orval Faubus's defiant stand for school segregation in Arkansas would sully America's reputation abroad pushed Dwight Eisenower to deploy the National Guard in the interest of both racial justice and American leadership. Calls to deploy the military today must consider this context.

66 years after Brown v. Board, Schools Across the South are Still Separate and Unequal

The SPLC contends that school funding programs, including vouchers and charter schools, help to preserve and extend racial segregation in the South. 

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Students Have the Right to Basic Minimum Education

The decision in a suit brought by Detroit students against the state of Michigan referenced a number of historic cases and revives the question of whether inequality among school systems violates equal protection under the Constitution.