As part of NCHC's tribute to Dr. Ada Long (1945-2024), this response to "Honors as Neighborhood" (1995) encourages scholars and practitioners to (re)consider the problems with conceptualizing honors programs as neighborhoods given the systemic inequalities associated with both. Drawing from experience at an R1 regional institution in the…

Ghettos are a social evil. They are social atrocities maintained by inexcusable racist laws and practices, structures of class domination, and institutionalized political marginalization. After "Brown v. The Board of Education," educational reformers have increasingly (mis)framed the problem of "ghetto schools" as a failure to…

More than 50 years after the "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" decision, the democratic promises inherent in "Brown" have yet to be fulfilled (Franklin 2005) and educational quality, or lack thereof, continues to be intimately linked with social constructions of race (Baszile 2008; Ladson-Billings 2012).…

The social scientist has a public responsibility which deserves as much attention as scientific and professional concerns. Some social scientists, retreating from this ideal, are now rewriting the history of the liberal movements of the 1960s. This revisionism, a product of contemporary neoconservatism, hinders the continuing efforts that social…

Desegregation litigation has failed to address the causes of segregation. Court decisions should offer choice and control in assignments and money damages for the plaintiffs. A correct reading of the decision rendered in "Brown v. Board of Education" would make schools more racially neutral rather than attempting to balance them. (VM)

A restrictive form of equality limits African Americans' ability to benefit equally from public schooling. The "Brown" decision represents the Supreme Court's attempt to apply a mathematical solution to a social problem and left schools free to develop responses that failed to address African-American students' needs. A more expansive…

Maintains that opportunities for equal education are inextricably related to other societal factors such as health, welfare, employment, and housing; suggests that equitable distribution of society's finite resources, diversification of educational programs and systems, desegregation, and a redefinition of the Federal government's role in…

The parallels between South Africa and the United States run deep. For the United States, that moment of transition, at least as far as education is concerned, was the landmark ruling of 1954, described in the shorthand, "Brown v. Board of Education"; for South Africa, that moment came 40 years later when every citizen could, for the…

Argues that present day reality in the United States shows society is still separated by race and that the racial separation found in the school system is an accurate reflection of the nation. The author reflects on how racial separation and the separation of wealth adversely affect quality education for blacks and other minorities. (GR)

Presents a history of the social, educational, and legal events leading up to Brown v Board of Education. It also provides a comprehensive review of major Supreme Court rulings on desegregation and equal education opportunity for African Americans in the 40 years since Brown. (GR)

Examines policy issues relative to making equal educational opportunities equally available to people of color in higher education 40 years after Brown v Board of Education. Specifically, it explores the relevance of issues of educational inequality and legal opinions to public elementary and secondary schools as well as higher education. (GR)

Although this author knew very little about the details of "Brown v. Board of Education" as a legal matter when he read about it as a young second-year student at the University of Cape Town in 1954, the Court's verdict had a direct influence on his political perspectives and on his aspirations as a would-be teacher for the rest of his…

This chapter argues that a detailed, grounded understanding of classroom literacy practices as well as of learners' writing is crucial to begin to change the ongoing and patently unequal educational outcomes that schools often produce. It is impossible to intervene realistically and effectively in an evidential vacuum. The 1955 "Brown v.…