In May of 1954, the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education determined that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Civil rights advocates heralded the ruling as a massive victory that would give Black children equitable access to public schools and a brighter path forward.
But as Noliwe Rooks recounts in her new book, that didn’t exactly work out as promised. The book is Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children, and it offers a powerful argument that the reality of desegregation fell far short of its intentions.
In the years following Brown v. Board, thriving schools in predominantly Black neighborhoods were shuttered or saw their funding slashed, and thousands of Black teachers lost their jobs. Meanwhile, white parents across the country fled urban areas for the suburbs, where their children could attend predominantly white schools.
“The dream of widespread integration became a tepid desegregation,” Rooks writes, “wherein as small a number as possible of Black children were, like pepper on popcorn, lightly sprinkled atop wealthy, white school environments, while most others were left behind.”
An award-winning scholar of education and Black history, Rooks weaves together sociological data and the experiences of her own parents, grandparents and son, who all faced discrimination and paid a steep price for the unrealized dream of integration. It’s a powerful indictment of our public school system, and one that policymakers and education advocates would do well to examine.
