School Desegregation, School Integration

This reading-, discussion-, and writing-intensive seminar is a deep dive into the role of race in American public education. It will trace the arc of school desegregation and school integration law, from the early civil rights struggles and litigation strategy that lead up to the Supreme Court’s seminal pronouncement in Brown v. Board of Education through the ongoing challenges to more equitable, integrated public schools in the present day. It will also explore issues inextricably linked to desegregation, such as residential segregation and affirmative action in higher education, and discuss their relationship to school segregation. Utilizing secondary sources, social science literature, and case law—all read with a critical eye—we will explore what the aspirations for Brown were, ask why its promise was never fully realized, and consider what legacy it leaves behind roughly seventy years later.