"Plessy v. Ferguson" provided the foundation for a system of segregation and exclusion that adversely affected African Americans throughout the twentieth century. Segregation was perpetuated by federal policies. During the 1940s and 1950s, the federal government facilitated the construction of suburban communities with Veterans…

April 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the landmark legislation that has provided the foundation of federal education policy in the United States. In "Presidents, Congress, and the Public Schools," longtime policy analyst Jack Jennings examines the evolution of federal education…

This article will focus on the efforts of the State of Illinois to desegregate Chicago Public Schools between 1971 and 1979. The article also examines the responsibility taken on by the State of Illinois to desegregate schools and the limits between establishing the mechanisms to desegregate and the ability to accomplish those goals in Chicago.…

Although Americans tend to deal emotionally with the issue of school desegregation, it is largely an issue comprised of certain facts. Historically, government has played an active role in creating segregation, but segregation has a capacity to damage Black students. Busing is a safe, cheap, and necessary solution to this problem. (KH)

Reviews presidential and congressional support for school desegregation over the past decade and discusses four recent court cases. Holds that lack of federal support for school desegregation and the failure to retain busing as a remedy for segregated schools mean that educational inequalities will persist for minority students. (GC)

Discusses numerous issues related to school desegregation and the Brown decision, including: (1) misconceived psychological arguments used to bolster the case for "Brown"; (2) student and community attitudes toward busing; (3) effects of busing; (4) regional differences in compliance with school desegregation; and (5) recent court…

In this paper, the Commission on Civil Rights asks government leaders in the Reagan administration to reaffirm the elimination of segregation in elementary and secondary schools as established by the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Past actions by the executive and legislative branches are reviewed and the position…

Presented here are the remarks of William Bradford Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division at the Education Commission of the States National Project on Desegregation Strategies' Workshop. Reynolds states that mandatory busing and other remedial techniques to achieve racial balance in schools (measures tentatively sanctioned by…

In this paper, the Kentucky Commisssion on Human Rights outlines ways in which housing-related institutions and agencies can revise their policies and procedures to reverse the trend towards housing segregation. Recommendations are made to the city and county with regard to how Section 8 housing assistance programs can be used to promote…

Reviews the issues which turned congressional efforts away from implementing school desegregation toward directly opposing it, focusing especially on the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1972. (JM)

Even though transportation of school children was long accepted by the public prior to the conflict over school integration, the school bus became a symbol representing the divergent emotions of both the integrationists and the supporters of "neighborhood schools." Busing was used as a means of overcoming the resistance and procrastination of…

Drawing mainly on cross tabulations of some variables from the General Social Survey of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut, this paper reports black and white Americans' opinions on key issues of policy debate in the United States. In some cases, opinions are reported over a span as long as 22 years. When…

The Brown v. Board of Education decision upheld a civil rights ideal that was based on the personal interests of the students; it made no requirement for a perfect racial balance in all classrooms throughout the offending school district. Yet the ensuing, forced desegregation plans that involved long-distance busing, and other measures based on…

This testimony was delivered by William Bradford Reynolds, the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, before the Subcommttee on Separation of Powers, Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Reynold states that compulsory busing of students is not an acceptable remedy to achieve racial balance. He emphasizes the…

This monograph reviews the history and examines the current status of school desegregation with respect to major court decisions and their impact on educational policy. Discussed are the Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954 and subsequent Supreme Court and lower court decisions, busing, involvement of the executive and legislative branches of…