A Call For Black Educational Equity On The 71st Anniversary Of Brown v. Board Of Education

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A Promise Unfulfilled

Seventy-one years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a seismic ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), declaring state-sponsored segregation in public schools unconstitutional. That decision, lauded as a triumph of the Civil Rights Movement, promised equal access to education for Black children long denied their rights. Yet in 2025, the promise of Brown remains incomplete.

As Black and Latino students across the U.S. increasingly attend resegregated, underfunded schools, and African nations face their own post-colonial educational hurdles, the call for justice reverberates across the diaspora. The 71st anniversary of Brown v. The Board of Education is not just a moment of remembrance, it is a rallying cry.

Historical Overview:

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Before 1954, American law entrenched racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine, upheld by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In the face of substandard schools and systemic disenfranchisement, the NAACP crafted a multi-state strategy to overturn Plessy’s legacy. Lead plaintiff Oliver Brown’s Topeka suit, combined with companion cases from Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C., culminated in a unanimous Supreme Court decision on May 17, 1954. Chief Justice Earl Warren’s opinion declared that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” finding that state-sanctioned segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling not only invalidated Plessy’s legal foundation but also set the stage for the Civil Rights Movement’s next wave of challenges to de facto segregation.

Precedent: Plessy v. Ferguson and “Separate but Equal”

The 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson legitimized state-mandated racial segregation by holding that separate railroad cars for Black and white passengers satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as facilities were purportedly equal. This ruling extended to all public accommodations, spawning Jim Crow laws that produced grossly unequal schools, transportation, and public spaces. By affirming that segregation alone did not imply inferiority, Plessy erected a legal barrier against constitutional challenges to racial discrimination for nearly six decades.

The Plaintiffs and NAACP Legal Strategy

Beginning in the 1930s, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall, targeted segregation through carefully chosen test cases. In Virginia, student leader Barbara Johns spearheaded a strike at Robert Russa Moton High School (Farmville), which became Davis v. Prince Edward County, one of five consolidated cases in Brown. Oliver Brown, a Topeka father seeking admission for his daughter Linda to a white elementary school, became the lead plaintiff in the Kansas case, emphasizing that segregated schools stigmatized Black children and denied them equal protection. These combined suits provided a broad geographic and legal basis to challenge “separate but equal” in education.

The Supreme Court’s Unanimous Ruling

On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered a unanimous opinion declaring: “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”. Warren emphasized that state-sponsored segregation inflicted “a sense of inferiority” on Black children that undermined their educational growth and mental health. Under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, the Court found no constitutional justification for segregated schools. The ruling explicitly overruled Plessy’s application to public education, stating that segregation violates the fundamental principle of equality before the law.

Immediate Impact and Legacy

Although Brown I dismantled Plessy in theory, Brown II (1955) tasked lower courts with desegregation “with all deliberate speed,” a phrase critics later argued allowed delay and resistance. Massive Resistance frameworks, school closures, state laws, and local opposition emerged throughout Southern states, slowing integration and galvanizing civil rights activism. Nonetheless, Brown’s legal repudiation of “separate but equal” provided a critical judicial precedent for ensuing civil rights legislation and court decisions, marking a pivotal turning point in the fight for educational equity.

State of Educational Equity in 2025:

In 2025, despite landmark legal advances, stark funding gaps and rising resegregation undermine equal educational opportunity. Districts serving the most students of color receive on average 16 % less state and local revenue than those serving the fewest, and high-poverty districts receive 5 % less than low-poverty ones. Racial and economic segregation in large U.S. districts has climbed sharply, Black–white segregation up 64 % since 1988 and economic segregation up 50 % since 199, driven by the rollback of court-ordered desegregation and expansion of unregulated school choice. These trends concentrate Black and Latino students in underfunded, high-poverty schools with fewer experienced teachers, limited advanced courses, and harsher disciplinary climates. Policy shifts, including proposals to dismantle the U.S. The Department of Education and privatize public schooling, threaten to exacerbate these divides. Addressing these persistent inequities requires robust, equity-driven funding formulas, renewed federal oversight, and community-centered integration strategies.

Funding Disparities:

Source: Brown v. Board Made It to 64. But How Much Longer Will It Survive? | ACLU

Resource Gaps by Race and Income

• District Revenue Shortfalls: Districts with the highest concentrations of students of color receive 16 % less state and local revenue than those with the fewest, while high-poverty districts receive 5 % less than low-poverty districts.
• Per-Pupil Funding Gaps: Districts serving the largest number of students of color receive about $2,000 less per student annually than those serving the fewest.
• Pandemic Cliff Risk: Although federal COVID relief infused nearly $200 billion into schools, states risk a “fiscal cliff” that will reopen historic funding gaps unless systemic reforms are enacted.

Impacts on Teaching and Learning

• Teacher Quality and Turnover: High-poverty schools, where Black and Latino students are overrepresented, have higher rates of inexperienced teachers and turnover, undermining instructional quality and continuity.
• Advanced Coursework Access: Only 8 % of students in high-poverty schools enroll in AP/IB courses versus 35 % in low-poverty schools, limiting college readiness for marginalized students.

Resegregation Trends:

Rising Racial and Economic Isolation

• Large Districts: Since 1988, racial segregation between Black and white students in the 100 largest districts rose by 64 %, and economic segregation by about 50 % since 1991, despite declines in neighborhood segregation.
• Charter and Choice Effects: The rapid expansion of charter schools and release from court-ordered desegregation entirely explains the uptick in segregation from 2000 to 2019.
• Suburban Isolation: In suburbs around the 25 largest metros, the share of students in highly racially isolated schools more than doubled from 2011 to 2020.

Consequences for Achievement

• Concentrated Poverty Schools: Black and Latino students are five times more likely than their white peers to attend schools where 75 % or more of students live in poverty, perpetuating achievement gaps.
• Discipline Disparities: Black students face exclusionary discipline at nearly four times the rate of white students, further eroding instructional time and well-being.

Policy and Structural Challenges:

Federal Oversight Retreat

• Court-Order Rollbacks: Approximately two-thirds of districts under desegregation orders have been released since 1991, removing key enforcement mechanisms for integration.
• Project 2025 Threats: Proposals to abolish the Department of Education, eliminate civil-rights enforcement, and expand vouchers/ESAs risk further privatizing schools and deepening segregation.

Funding Formula Reform Needs

• Equity-Driven Weights: Experts recommend adding “concentration of poverty” weights to state funding formulas to offset higher costs in high-need schools.
• Progressive Allocation: Shifting from regressive property-tax bases toward progressive, state-level funding can narrow revenue disparities and sustain equity post-pandemic.

Impact on Student Outcomes

Academic and Social Effects

• Achievement Gaps: A $1,000 spending reduction widens Black–white achievement gaps by six percentage points, underscoring the direct link between funding and outcomes.
• Social–Emotional Supports: Lack of counselors, nurses, and wraparound services in underfunded schools contributes to lower attendance, engagement, and graduation rates.

Promising Practices

• Magnet and Integration Programs: Evidence shows integrated, magnet-style schools boost achievement for students of color in high-poverty contexts.
• Restorative and Whole-Child Approaches: Restorative practices reduce exclusionary discipline and improve climate, counteracting some harms of poverty and segregation.

Africa’s Fight for Educational Justice

While Brown v. Board was a uniquely American case, its spirit resonates globally. In South Africa, the post-apartheid constitution guarantees equal education, but townships continue to suffer from chronic underfunding. In Kenya, the Competency-Based Curriculum reforms aim to tackle inequality but face implementation gaps.

In Ghana, “free SHS” (Senior High School) policies have expanded access, yet urban-rural divides persist. UNESCO data from 2022 show that African nations, on average, spend less than 4% of GDP on education,below the global standard of 6%.

The continent’s youth-led movements, from #FeesMustFall in South Africa to community-run schools in Nigeria, mirror U.S. activism in fighting for education as a human right.

The 71st anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education is not just a commemoration, it’s a challenge to confront the unfinished business of educational equity. Across the U.S. and Africa, systemic disparities demand urgent reform.

Anand Subramanian is a freelance photographer and content writer based out of Tamil Nadu, India. Having a background in Engineering always made him curious about life on the other side of the spectrum. He leapt forward towards the Photography life and never looked back. Specializing in Documentary and  Portrait photography gave him an up-close and personal view into the complexities of human beings and those experiences helped him branch out from visual to words. Today he is mentoring passionate photographers and writing about the different dimensions of the art world.