The Burden of Brown: Thirty Years of School Desegregation 0870497502, 9780870497506

Examines the results of the Supreme Court's 1954 decision on desegregation on the five school districts that partic

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Table of contents :
Introduction
3

Showcase of Integration
9

Enrollments by Race Washington D C Public
16

Reading Scores Washington D C Public Schools
54

PART TWO Massive Resistance in Prince Edward County
65

Average Annual Salary of White and Black Teachers
68

Reading and Math Scores Prince Edward Public
121

PART FOUR
175

Enrollment by Race P S du Pont High School
194

Enrollments by Race Kent and Sussex Counties
203

Enrollment by Race New Castle County De
247

PART FIVE Back in Topeka
253

Conclusion
273

Notes
291

Bibliographical Note
329

Index
335


Enrollments by Race Wilmington Public Schools
182

Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills Wilmington
188

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T

JL he Burden of Brown describes the course of events and the educational re¬ sults in the five school districts whose liti¬ gation was consolidated for the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on desegrega¬ tion, Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The absorbing account of what has ac¬ tually happened in the communities where desegregation began differs sharply from the conventional liberal wisdom. Instead of better race relations and improved aca¬ demic performance, Wolters argues, the court decision has resulted in heightened racial tensions, white flight, and a general deterioration in standards of behavior and schoolwork. The harm to education has been so great, he says, that it is time to face a fact that should no longer be hidden from view: the attempt to integrate the na¬ tion’s schools has been a tragic failure. In accounting for this failure, Wolters focuses especially on disingenuous federal judges who instead of interpreting Brown to require an end to racial discrimination, as most people understood the Supreme Court to intend in 1954, took the ruling to prohibit racially neutral policies that do not lead to a substantial amount of racial mixing.

The Author Raymond Wolters is a Professor of History at the University of Delaware. He is author of Negroes and the Great Depression: The Problem of Economic Recovery and The New Negro on Campus: Black College Re¬ bellions of the 1920s.

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