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Brown v. Board of Education is the landmark case regarding racial segregation and forever changed race relations in the United States. On May 17, 2004 the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site will hold its Grand Opening Dedication Ceremony and will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of when the Supreme Court handed down its decision.

I hope this thread allows one to think about, learn more, and/or comment on one of the most important legal cases in U.S. history. Please also feel free to share personal experiences regarding school segregation/desegregation.

For more info, see
http://www.brownvboard.org
http://www.nps.gov/brvb/
http://www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html (the May 17, 1954 opinion)
http://www.digisys.net/users/hootie/brown/
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistor ... brown.html
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classro ... board.html
http://www.lib.umich.edu/exhibits/brownarchive/
http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/br ... index.html
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr007.html

Questions to think about:
Have we moved forward enough?
What is the meaning of “All Deliberate Speed?”
What is the promise of Brown? Have we lived up to the promise of Brown?

It's easy to forget how recently this country engaged in that kind of discrimination. There are the occasional reminders of a frequently hidden but deep seated unease between the races... few would openly challenge the hiring of a black employee because of their race, for example, but then that's different from saying your average white person is fully comfortable with their daughter dating a black man or say, having a black brain surgeon. And I'm sure this subtle unease isn't unidirectional.

I suppose the biggest question people would have these days isn't whether schools should discriminate but whether there's value in diminishing segregation in populations that have self segregated. There are costs of course, but if we're going to ever fully recover from our legacy of racism and distrust, we've got to spend enough time with other cultures to find out we're all fairly boring.

It's worth noting how many proposals there are for "separate but equal" civil unions there are these days. Perhaps it's easier to equalize relationships that only differ by name than different school systems, but across the country legislators are trying to prevent the enormous precedent about to be set by Massachusetts.