Chris Stewart: It’s Been 65 Years. Maybe It’s Time To Stop Expecting The Promise Of Brown V. Board To Be Fulfilled

Chris Stewart: It’s Been 65 Years. Maybe It’s Time to Stop Expecting the Promise of Brown v. Board to Be Fulfilled

This essay is part of a special series honoring the 65th anniversary of the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education case, which led to the desegregation of schools. To read more essays, hear from the families who made a difference in America’s schools, and download the new book "Recovering Untold Stories: An Enduring Legacy of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision," please visit our website at The74Million.org/Brown65.

Every few years, there is a predictable wave of articles emphasizing the anniversary of Brown v. Board and highlighting how our schools are still just as segregated as they were when the landmark ruling was handed down in 1954.

What you won’t find in these articles is a thorough examination of the fact that integration was largely unsuccessful and, in many cases, caused more harm than progress. Instead, they will once again argue – as many integration supporters often do – that we need to fight for school boundaries that cannot be altered by white flight, akin to calling back soldiers to a lost war.

I believe that black communities should not solely rely on integration as the primary solution for providing our children with a quality education. Placing our trust in the social engineering of schools deprived us of our educational assets and infrastructure. Our teachers were fired, our principals demoted, and our children were handed over to an education system that did not truly value them.

Through this process, we learned that quality education can be achieved without the need for integrated schools.

If you ask prominent advocates of public school integration why our schools are still segregated decades after costly attempts to fulfill the promises of Brown, they will likely claim that "desegregation was working but we lost our resolve." However, they are mistaken and ill-prepared for serious discussions about education.

I assume that most of us initially support integration out of fairness and a desire to combat bigotry. Perhaps due to the fear of being labeled racist, we avoid questioning integration strategies, even when they may exacerbate segregation – as we saw with widespread busing in the 1970s.

It may comfort us to know that there have been individuals – both humble and renowned – who have transitioned from naive integrationists to experienced realists, with reputations untainted by bigotry.

Virginia Williams, a black educator at Fort Hunt High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, considered herself a staunch integrationist during the peak of integration efforts in the late 1960s. However, a decade later, she expressed doubts about the benefits of integration. She stated, "I have come to believe that, from various perspectives, black students were better off in a segregated system."

Williams’s journey reflects the common transition from idealistic aspirations to a more realistic perspective, acknowledging the weariness that follows failed attempts to impose racially balanced schools.

Dr. Kenneth Clark, famous for his sociological research on the impact of segregation on black psychology, experienced a similar journey. Twenty-three years after his work contributed to the Brown decision, he had a different critique of public schools. As integration occurred, he observed that black students were not held to high standards and were led to believe that their language skills were acceptable regardless of proficiency in reading.

Clark criticized the presence of ineffective teachers and their unions, who he believed were perpetuating a sense of inferiority among students. He no longer saw integration as the solution, arguing, "What we need are competent teachers in elementary grades who can teach reading, spelling, arithmetic, and writing."

James Coleman, whose influential 1966 report on Educational Opportunity Equality examined a vast number of students and teachers, concluded that the racial composition of classrooms had a stronger impact on black student performance than school resources or instruction. This finding led to widespread efforts to desegregate schools for the sake of social equity and as a primary educational intervention.

However, by 1978, Coleman had reassessed his position. After reviewing numerous studies on the outcomes of desegregation, he found "no overall gains" and either "no achievement effects or losses."

Coleman, a civil rights advocate who had personal experience with unjust barriers to equality, then underwent another unexpected transformation: he became a vocal proponent of publicly funded scholarships that allowed low-income black families to access private and parochial schools.

Prior to the historic Brown v. Board of Education case, public schools for black children were severely lacking in resources. However, they often had a strong presence of black teachers, who sometimes had better qualifications than their white counterparts. Unfortunately, after desegregation, black students found themselves trapped in poorly equipped schools, lacking the valuable institutional knowledge that came from being taught by black teachers.

One of the most damaging consequences of the Brown decision was the unjust assumption that all-black schools were inherently inferior simply because of their racial makeup. This belief, according to Coleman, is curiously racist and illogical. There have been and continue to be all-black schools that are excellent institutions by any measure.

W.E.B. Du Bois recognized this as early as 1935, when he observed that the "mixed" public schools of Harlem did not offer the same level of education and human development as the separate schools in Washington, D.C. Du Bois argued that black schools could be just as strong as their white counterparts, but lamented that many black individuals believed in their own inherent inferiority, causing them to doubt the value of any black institution.

It is time for us to have faith in ourselves and take responsibility for the education of our children. We must acknowledge that the Brown decision alone is not the solution to closing the achievement gap for black students, breaking the cycle of poverty, reducing racism, or restoring the quality of education that existed before the illusion of integration erased our assets.

Through education reform efforts, we have learned that it is possible to create schools that cater to the needs of black children and help them reach their full potential. These schools can take the form of charters, magnets, or traditional district schools that reject the notion that black children can only excel in the presence of white peers.

It has been 65 years since Brown promised integrated schools and better education. It is high time that we recognize that the ultimate goal should be quality education for all children, regardless of how the schools are composed.

Chris Stewart, the CEO of Education Post, has been a lifelong advocate for education and has dedicated himself to supporting nonprofit causes related to education. His experiences have exposed him to the systemic inequities that hold children back, motivating him to fight for change.