In the two decades following the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, tens of thousands of Black educators in the South and border states lost their jobs. Few scholars have studied how Brown impacted Black teachers in the North. Did they have the same experience?

NCSD's new report begins to answer this question: “The Impact of Brown v. Board of Education on Black Teachers Outside of the South, 1934-1974,” by Zoë Burkholder, a professor of educational foundations at Montclair State University. 

In tracing the complex history of Black teachers outside the South before and after 1954, Burkholder finds that, unlike those in the South, Black teachers in the North generally did not lose their jobs directly or indirectly due to Brown. The story is much more complicated.

As we continue to reflect on what is required to truly fulfill the promise of Brown, we invite you to read this timely and insightful report that offers important nuance to the conversation on the impact of the Court's decision on Black educators.

Want to take other action? Check out the executive summary, press release, Poverty & Race article, and help us amplify this important report by engaging with us on social media and sharing information about the report with colleagues and friends.

NCSD STAFF UPDATES

What We've Been Up to Recently

MEET NCSD'S SUMMER INTERNS

Adam McPhail (he/him) just finished his junior year at Yale, where he is majoring in the Humanities and pursuing a certificate in Education Studies. He is originally from Rochester, MN. Outside of the classroom, he sings in an a cappella group, edits for multiple campus periodicals, and plays percussion in a pops orchestra. This summer, he is supporting communications for NCSD and researching the history and effectiveness of magnet schools as tools for voluntary integration.

Margo Pedersen (she/her) is a rising senior at Amherst College studying Sociology and Education. Originally from New Haven, CT, she also runs for Amherst’s cross-country and track teams. In her spare time, she loves to explore nature by running, biking, and swimming. This summer, she is researching the intersections of housing and education policy and creating a guidebook to help education advocates work with housing agencies to co-create equitable, integrated schools and communities. 

Nisa Quarles (she/her) is a rising senior at Yale studying History and Education. She calls Washington, D.C. home—and has lived there for most of her life—but she previously lived in Delaware and Arizona. She enjoys making playlists, listening to music, and watching movies/TV/documentaries in her free time. This summer, she is researching and creating a timeline that traces the National Education Association's relationship with Southern Black educators leading up to and following Brown v. Board. She is also working a project related to Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray’s contributions to Brown.

JOIN US IN BALTIMORE JULY 29-32, 2024!

Brown at 70 and the Role of Magnet Schools in Promoting Integration

Magnet Schools of America will host a symposium to reflect on Brown’s impact on education, assess progress in promoting integration and equal opportunity, and chart a course for inclusive education. The event aims to inspire dialogue and action towards achieving equal educational opportunity for all by examining the past and envisioning the future of equal educational opportunity in America’s schools.

NCSD will be helping to facilitate an input-gathering session related to youth voice.

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF BOSTON DESEGREGATION NEWS AND RESOURCES

This month marks the 50th anniversary Morgan v. Hennigan, Boston's desegregation case. Check out these resources and news coverage commemorating the historical decision.

• Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative, a committee of 40+ community members and leaders (including NCSD member and METCO president & CEO Milly Arbaje-Thomas) leading the efforts to commemorate the 50th anniversary through forums, exhibits, partnerships, research, and interviews.
• Racial Segregation in Massachusetts Schools, a 2024 annual report from the Racial Imbalance Advisory Council finds "[t]here are more than 225,000 students at substandard segregated schools in Massachusetts, and 90% of students at intensely segregated nonwhite schools are Latino or Black."
• WBUR's Busing's legacy in Boston, 50 years later includes a suite of coverage of the 50th anniversary produced through an editorial partnership between WBUR and The Emancipator.
• The Boston Globe's Broken Promises, Unfulfilled Hope is a nine-story series about the 50th anniversary of the Garrity decision and its impact on Boston public schools today.
• GBH's Boston Busing at 50 features in-depth coverage of the Morgan v. Hennigan ruling and unpacks the events surrounding the decision and the potential for community solutions today. 

NCSD MEMBER UPDATES

CROSS-MOVEMENT RESOURCE LIST

• The Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law released a new report: "Preventing and Remedying Race, Color, and National Origin Discrimination in Schools," a primer explaining Title VI’s requirements, history and purpose, and enforcement at the judicial and administrative level.
• Findings in a new Social Problems journal article "point to the lasting effects of school segregation and sorting mechanisms that shape students’ long-term educational and career trajectories."
• A new journal article in JAMA Internal Medicine finds "school racial segregation (all segregated schooling before college) was associated with 28.8% to 39.7% of the racial disparities in cognition."

NEWS FROM ACROSS OUR COUNTRY

National -

• Why AI in the classroom needs its own ‘doll test’ 70 years post-Brown (eSchool News, June 13) - “AI chatbots could become the new face of discrimination in education--they have the potential to exacerbate existing inequalities and create new ones.”
• Laws meant to keep different races apart still influence dating patterns, decades after being invalidated (The Conversation, June 7) - “Online dating is now the most common way to meet a romantic partner, so you might assume that the lack of opportunities for meaningful interracial interactions at school, in the workplace and around the neighborhood do not matter...By facilitating segregation, these defunct laws not only influence whom people meet offline but whom they are interested in meeting online.”
• Sweatt v. Painter set the stage for Brown v. the Board of Education (KMUW, June 5) - “In a unanimous decision, the court agreed and required that states now must consider substantive equality in segregation cases. This expansion of equality set a precedent for future cases, including Brown.”
• When Does a School Closure Become Discriminatory? (Education Week, June 5) - “A district may cause disparate impact if it closes an elementary school with a disproportionately high enrollment of Black students, forcing displaced children to travel longer distances than their peers to get to school, the [Advancement Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center] argued. And selecting schools based on factors like the age of buildings may layer new harms on top of historical patterns of funding inequities and residential segregation.”
• Retired law professor replicates historic Brown v Board of Education oral arguments using AI (Canadian Lawyer, June 4) - “Jerry Goldman, the retired law professor and founder of Oyez multimedia archive of US Supreme Court materials, has used AI to recreate an audio of the oral arguments during the Brown v. Board of Education litigation, according to ABA Journal.”
• Link to tool here.
• Thurgood Marshall Was My Mentor. He’d Be Furious with the Court Today. (Politico, June 2) - "This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The Supreme Court justice’s vision is betrayed daily in an America in which schools remain separate and unequal."
• Related: Thurgood Marshall's law clerk is 'furious' with today’s Supreme Court—here's why 

Alabama -

• These Researchers Study the Legacy of Segregation They Grew Up Around (ProPublica, June 25) - “Three young academics in Alabama are examining these mostly white private schools through the lenses of economics, education and history to better understand the persistent division of schools in the South.”
• 70th Anniversary: Brown v. Board Integrated Classes But Left Black Schoolhouses Behind In Alabama (Birmingham Times, June 6) - “According to the National Register of Historic Places, six out of about 30 historic African American educational sites in Alabama have been registered in the last four years. More than a dozen others have recently been added to the state register.”

California -



• Berkeley school district task force recommends slavery reparations (The College Fix, June 24) - “The harm reports would include the ‘impacts of segregation, discriminatory policies and legacies of chattel slavery within BUSD.’”
• Related: Los Angeles County Makes Moves to Develop Reparations Framework
• Column: Five families sued to desegregate [Orange County] schools. Why is just one remembered? (Los Angeles Times, June 20) - “Once, the five families—Estrada, Guzman, Mendez, Palomino and Ramirez—were united in their determination to overturn school segregation in Orange County.”
• How 3 diverse families joined to fight injustice during WWII (AsAm News, June 14) - “Once Japanese Americans were free to return home, many found that their land was sold, damaged, or stolen. But the Mendez family took care of the Munemitsu’s farmland in their absence, keeping the terms of the lease. However, at this time the Mendez family had to stay in Westminster as they fought a legal battle against the segregation of Mexican American students, known as Mendez v. Westminster.”
• An 8-yr-old Chinese American girl helped desegregate schools 70 years before Brown v. Board (Upworthy, June 13) - “California had passed a law in 1880 that entitled all children in the state to partake in public education. However, school boards ignored the ruling and social custom kept the schools segregated. Chinese children attended the mission-run schools in Chinatown, while white children attended their local neighborhood schools.”
• More Segregated Than Deep South: ACLU Releases Report on [CA] Public Schools (San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, June 6) - “The 2024 State of Black Education: Report Card was recently published by the American Civil Liberties Union California Action (ACLU California Action). It states that California is the third most segregated state for Black students.”

Connecticut -



• Sheff v. O’Neill was supposed to save and desegregate Connecticut schools. Did it? (Hartford Courant, June 22) - “In 1989, Black, white and Latino parents sought to transform academic outcomes for students in Hartford and end racial, ethnic and economic segregation in Connecticut schools.”

Illinois -



• 5 things to know about our recent investigation about migrant students in Chicago (Chalkbeat Chicago, June 11) - “Many kids are enrolling in segregated schools that have little to no bilingual support. Schools in these neighborhoods typically have not served a large number of English language learners, meaning they often don’t have staff certified to teach" them.

Indiana -



• The road to smooth integration: [Fort Wayne Community Schools] remains a model of wise implementation (Journal Gazette, June 1) - “How did a voluntary magnet school program effectively become part of the furniture in a district that seemed close to tearing itself apart over integration from the 1970s into the 1990s?”

Lousiana -



• This wealthy Louisiana suburb is now a city. The goal? A school system of its own (WWNO, June 22) - “[B]reakaway districts lead to more segregated schools, fewer resources and worse outcomes for Black and low-income students.”

Massachusetts -

• A ‘tremendous opportunity.’ Northeastern researchers dig into Boston’s past in support of Boston’s Reparations Task Force (NGN Magazine, June 20) - “Boston established the Reparations Task Force in accordance with a city ordinance. Members of the task force were announced in 2023 and the city announced this year that two research teams would 'study and document that city’s role in, and historical ties to the transatlantic slave trade and the institution and legacies of slavery.'”
• Who was Eunice Ross? The Black girl who spurred the first equal education law in the US (Mass Live, June 17) - “Eunice Ross, an African American teenager who was integral in Massachusetts’ school integration movement in the mid-1800s, was awarded a posthumous honorary diploma.”
• Realted: She was denied an education because she was Black. Now she’s finally getting a diploma.

New Jersey -

• NJ’s 2025 Gubernatorial Candidates Talk Housing Crisis, Education (TAP Into Newark, June 8) - “Baraka said the housing crisis is about more than places to live. ‘This housing crisis is not just about affordable housing, it is also about inequity and segregation and the lack of inclusion, which is causing this crisis to go on in the state,’ he said. ‘We are actually paying a price for segregation.’ The approximately hour-long conversation included a discussion of education in light of a recent state court decision that found a persistent racial imbalance in New Jersey’s public schools.”
• High school graduation rates for Black boys improve, but disparities persist, report finds (Chalkbeat Newark, June 4) - “Generally, graduation rates for Black boys were lower in areas with high levels of unemployment and poverty, the report noted. Graduation rates among Black teens also tend to be lower in places with more segregation, indicating resource disparities within schools in those areas, according to the report.”
• NJ school segregation lawsuit talks may continue for months. Here's what they're saying (NorthJersey.com, June 3) - “Solutions could include expanding inter-district choice, which permits students to attend school in a municipality they do not reside in, as well as magnet and public charter schools.”
• Related: Good News on New Jersey School Segregation Lawsuit

New York -

• Is It Possible to Desegregate the Nation’s Biggest School System? (New York Times, June 20) - “A major lawsuit against racial inequality in New York City’s public schools is moving forward. Already, local districts in the city were trying different measures to diversify schools.”
• Related: NYC Schools Still Extremely Segregated
• NYC specialized high school offers to Black and Latino students inch up but remain stubbornly low (Chalkbeat New York, June 18) - “Despite a modest increase in the number of Black and Latino students offered admission for next year’s freshman class, New York City’s vaunted specialized high schools will remain deeply segregated.”
• Related: Admission for Black students at NYC’s specialized high schools ticks up slightly, but remains low; How a Brooklyn District Tackled School Segregation; NYC ponders giving Manhattan students admissions boost at some borough high schools, sources say

Ohio -

• Ohio’s expanded vouchers are bleeding public schools that often outperform the private schools that benefit (Cleveland.com, June 10) - “A new era of vouchers rebranded as ‘school choice’ has swept the country in recent years, including Ohio, resurrecting segregation academies on wealth and racial lines.”

Washington -

• Remember the Seattle Lawsuit that Ended School Integration? (The Stranger, June 4) - “A small group of white Seattle parents played an outsized role in Brown’s failure. In 2007, they allied with powerful conservative attorneys to make Brown unenforceable in Parents involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (PICS)."

FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY

New America's Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX), a fellowship for mid-career professionals interested in catalyzing change in schools and communities, is seeking applicants for its LSX 2024-25 cohort. Researchers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and entertainment producers with a focus on the science of learning and family engagement are encouraged to apply. Apply by July 15 and share with your networks.

“June 19 was a momentous day to mark that next chapter that we embarked on. We can’t make progress unless we have knowledge [of] where we are and where we have been.”

–john a. powell

Founded in 2009, the National Coalition on School Diversity is a cross-sector network of 50+ national civil rights organizations, university-based research centers, and state and local coalitions working to expand support for school integration. NCSD supports its members in designing, enacting, implementing, and uplifting PK-12 public school integration policies and practices so we may build cross-race/cross-class relationships, share power and resources, and co-create new realities.

NCSD MEMBERSHIP

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund * Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund * American Civil Liberties Union * Poverty & Race Research Action Council * Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law * Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund * Magnet Schools of America * One Nation Indivisible * Southern Poverty Law Center * Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School * Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA * Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University * University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights * Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University * Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley * Education Rights Center, Howard University School of Law * Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota Law School * Education Law Center * New York Appleseed * Sheff Movement Coalition * Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation * ERASE Racism * Chicago Lawyers' Committee * Empire Justice Center * IntegrateNYC * Intercultural Development Research Association * Reimagining Integration: Diverse and Equitable Schools Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education * Institute for Social Progress at Wayne County Community College District * Center on Law, Inequaliy and Metropolitan Equity at Rutgers Law School * Integrated Schools * The Office of Transformation and Innovation at the Dallas Independent School District * Live Baltimore * Maryland Equity Project at the University of Maryland College of Education * Center for Education and Civil Rights at Penn State College of Education * National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector * Diversity Education Network at Rutgers University * Being Black at School * UnifiEd * The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy * Public Advocacy for Kids * The Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools * The School Diversity Notebook * Fair Housing Justice Center, Inc. * Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO) * Learn Together, Live Together * Beloved Community * Learning Policy Institute * Public School Forum of North Carolina * The Bell * North Carolina Justice Center * The Bridges Collaborative at The Century Foundation * SproutFive * Oneonta For Equality * NestQuest Houston * Metis Associates