Brown Blues: Rethinking the Integrative Ideal

Abstract

Thirty-eight years have passed since the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring unconstitutional stateimposed segregation of public schools. One would have thought that by now American society would have arrived at a consensus with respect to the substance and scope of Brown. The truth is otherwise. Even in the education sector of our national life that Brown specifically addressed, deep differences remain over what changes that decision was designed to effect.