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 Fifty
years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling,
questions about equality of access to education in
the United States remain. De facto segregation remains
a central issue, but attention has increased around
topics such as bussing, ability tracking, and school
financing. The No Child Left Behind Act has
also called attention to high-stakes testing.
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| Archives
Documentation |
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| Thurgood
Marshall and Charles Houston represented Donald Murray
in his attempt to enter the University of Maryland
Law School. Many states tried to circumvent the admission
of African Americans to their schools by creating separate
and inferior professional schools.
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UMD
registrar to Murray: Letter of rejection |
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Murray
to the Board of Regents: Letter of Appeal |
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T.
Marshall to UMD President: Letter for access to
the minutes of the Boards of Regents |
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Minutes
of the Board of Regents: Resolution asenting the
purchase of the Princess Ann Academy |
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| Hiram
Whittle, the first African American undergraduate
at the University of Maryland was represented by
Donald Murray.
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Newspaper
clips about Whittle's UMD admission |
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| Scholarships
for out of state schools and off site campuses were
developed to keep the education of African Americans
and White separate.
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T.
Marshall to President Byrd in the issue of the scholarships
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NAACP
president Jackson to President Byrd opposing Senator
Melvin's bill |
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Special
Counser Houston from NAACP to President Byrd in
reference to apply the Court of Appeals sentence
in Murray's case to other UMD graduate departments
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T.Marshall
to President Byrd about Byrd's role supporting the
bill |
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Text
of Maryland General Assembly "Act on the Comission
on Higher Education for Negroes" |
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Photo
of anti-segregation protesters on Baltimore |
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Letter
from Acting Dean Banford, to Dean Benjamin in the
Colege of Education |
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Newspaper
clip on the admission of P. Mitchell in the Sociology
Department for graduate level. |
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|
Articles |
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| "The
Ruling that Changed America." Special issue
of The American School Board Journal (April
2004)
A series of articles that discuss the impact of Brown and discuss how more
recent demographic shifts affect educational access fifty years later. |
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| Ruiz,
Vicki L. South by Southwest: Mexican Americans and
Segregated Schooling, 1900-1950. OAH Magazine of
History 15 (Winter 2001). http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/deseg/ruiz.html#Anchor-Sout-30795
Presents a historical overview of the impact
of segregation on Mexican American children and also ties
the landmark Mendez v. Westminster case to Brown
v. Board of Education. |
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| Smith,
Emma. “Raising standards in American schools:
the case of No Child Left Behind.” Journal
of Education Policy 20.4 (2005): 507-524.
Discusses the impact of NCLB on minority students as well as those from economically
disadvantaged backgrounds and non-proficient English speakers. |
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| Wightman,
Linda F. “Standardized Testing and Equal
Access: A Tutorial.” Compelling Interest: Examining
the Evidence on Racial Dynamics in Colleges and Universities. Ed.
Mitchell J. Chang, Daria Witt and Kenji Hakuta. California:
Stanford Education, 2003. 49-97.
Offers an overview of the impact of standardized
testing on equal access to education. |
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| Zehr,
Mary Ann. “State Testing of English-Learners
Scrutinized.” Education Week 24.40 (June 15
2005): 1-3.
Addresses questions of how states should carry out NCLB-mandated testing
of ESOL students. |
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| Books |
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| Bell,
Derrick. Silent Covenants: Brown V. Board of
Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform.
New York: Oxford UP, 2004.
A critical assessment of the state of public
education fifty years after the Brown ruling. |
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| Chubb,
John E. Within Our Reach: How America Can Educate
Every Child. NY: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2005.
An anthology of essays assessing the strengths and weakness of the No Child
Left Behind Act. |
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| Dale,
Johnson D. High Stakes: Children, Testing and
Failure in American Schools. Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield
P, 2002.
Uses an elementary school in Louisiana as a
case-study to examine the effects of standardized testing
on public schools and the students they serve. |
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| Kozol,
Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s
Schools. Crown, 1991.
Examines the impact of race and school financing on public education. |
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| Orfield,
Gary and Susan E. Eaton. Dismantling Desegregation:
The Quiet Reversal of Brown V. Board of Education. New
York: New P, 1996.
Argues that residential segregation has, in
certain ways, led to the resegregation of American public
schools. Includes a discussion of Prince Georges and
Montgomery County Public Schools. |
|
| Tatum,
Beverly Daniel. "Why Are All the Black Kids
Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" And Other
Conversations About Race. New York: Basic Books,
2003.
Tatum explains how issue of race affect how
students perceive and act in academic environments. |
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| Tierney,
William G. and Linda Serra Hagedorn. Increasing
Access to College: Extending Possibilities for All
Students. New York, SUNY P, 2002.
An examination of pre-college enrichment programs. |
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| Documentaries |
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| Harvest
of Shame (1960)
http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS316/mbase/docs/harvest.html
Producer David Lowe, CBS Television
CBS reporting from the 1960s on access issues among Latino/Latin American
migrant workers. Recommended with reservations; the film fails to fully contextualize
the issue of migrant worker education. |
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| LaLee’s
Kin (2001)
Dir. Susan Froemke, Deborah Dickerson and Albert Maysles. Maysles Films,
Inc.
http://www.laleeskin.com/synopsis.html
Nominated for an Academy Award, this 2001 documentary depicts the poverty
of the Mississippi Delta and its impact on LaLee, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The film also focuses on the efforts of the local Superintendent of Schools,
who contends with illiteracy, poverty and the cumulative effects of undereducation
as he attempts to meet the needs of the local community. |
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| Mendez
v. Westminster: For All the
Children/Para Todos los Niños (2002)
Dir. Sandra Robbe. KOCE Productions
http://www.koce.org/mendez.htm
Discusses the landmark case that ended the segregation
of Mexican American children in public schools in Orange
County, California. This case was scrutinized by the lawyers
who would participate in the Brown v. Board of Education
trial eight years later. |
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| New
Harvest, Old Shame (1990)
Dir. Hector Galán, WGBH Educational Foundation
http://www.galaninc.com/press/prharvest.phtml
Presents an updated account of the limited educational opportunities available
to the children of migrant workers. |
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| The
Road to Brown (1989)
Dir. William Elmwood. California Newsreel Productions
http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0076
This documentary film presents a history of legal cases leading up to Brown
v. Board of Education and demonstrates how a legal battle against segregated
schools was constructed. |
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| The
Intolerable Burden (2003)
56 min. Directed by Chea Prince. Produced by Constance Curry
http://www.frif.com/new2003/into.html
In the autumn of 1965, sharecroppers Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter enrolled
the youngest eight of their thirteen children in the public schools of Drew
Mississippi. Their decision to send the children to the formerly all white
schools was a response to a “freedom of choice” plan. The plan
was designed by the Drew school board to place the district in compliance
with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, essential since without compliance, the
district would no longer be eligible for financial support from the Federal
government. The film places the Carters’ commitment to obtaining a
quality education in context, by examining the conditions of segregation
prior to 1965, the hardships the family faced during desegregation, and the
massive white resistance, which led to resegregation. While the town of Drew
is geographically isolated, the patterns of segregation, desegregation, and
resegregation are increasingly apparent throughout public education systems
in the United States. |
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| Websites/PBS
Films |
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| A
Class Divided (1985)
46 min. Produced and Directed by William Peters
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/
PBS/Frontline
award winnining program on a classroom exercise designed in the
aftermath of the King assassination that divided students on
the basis
of
eye color. Discusses how the perception of being the target of
negative stereotypes affected student performance. Full view
available online at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html |
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| Beyond
Brown: Pursuing The Promise (2004)
60 min. Produced by Firelight Media
http://www.pbs.org/beyondbrown/
PBS website that not only discusses the Brown ruling but also looks at
ability testing/tracking, high-stakes tests, bussing and school financing
and their impact on educational access. Also a film by the same name. |
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| Secrets
of the SAT
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/
PBS/Frontline show on the hidden bias of standardized tests like the SAT.
Contains an interactive feature that asks participants to review student
applications for admission to UCLA and then reveals the racial backgrounds
of the applicants. |
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| The
Case of Mendez et al.v. Westminster (CA) School
District (1946)
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/calheritage/latinos/mendez.html
Presents a synopsis of the case and states its significance. Original documents
related to the trial are also available here. |
