The Legacy of Brown v. Board and the Ongoing Fight for School Equity
In this lesson, students explore the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and its ongoing impact on school equity today. After reviewing the case and its role in ending legal segregation, students examine current issues using demographic data, school maps, and personal experiences. They investigate how past practices like redlining and funding disparities still affect education. The lesson ends with students proposing solutions to promote equity in their own schools, linking history to present-day challenges.
Essential Question
- How did Brown v. Board of Education change schools in the U.S.?
- Why do some schools still seem divided today even after Brown v. Board?
- How do things like race, income, and where people live affect the schools in our community?
- What can we do as students and schools to make education fairer for everyone?
- Why is it important to understand the history of school desegregation for making schools better in the future?
Grade(s):
- 8
- 11
- 12
Subject(s):
Recommended Technology:
- Computer/Tablets
- Projector/Smartboard
- Digital Mapping Tools (e.g., Google Earth)
- Video Clips: Short documentary videos or interviews related to Brown v. Board and modern-day school equity
- Survey Tools (e.g., Google Forms) for gathering reflections or polling students about their experiences and thoughts on school equity.
Other Instructional Materials or Notes:
Primary Source Documents:
- Excerpts from Brown v. Board decision
- Articles or case studies on desegregation efforts and ongoing issues in education
- First-hand accounts or interviews with individuals who lived through desegregation
School Demographic Data
- Current and historical data on school enrollment by race and socioeconomic status.
- Access to school district maps to analyze boundaries and segregation patterns.
Charts/Graphics
- Visual aids showing the historical and current state of school desegregation, such as timelines or demographic infographics
Lesson Progression
Warm-Up Discussion - "Separate but Equal?"
- Display a quote from Chief Justice Earl Warren's opinion:
- "Seperate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
- Ask students: What do you think this means? Why did the Supreme Court rule this way?
- Show an image comparing a segregated Black school and a white school from the 1950s.
Direct Instruction: Brown v. Board and Its Impact
- Briefly explain Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and the "separate but equal" doctrine.
- Summarize the Brown v. Board case, focusing on:
- The role of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP
- Psychological research (e.g., the "Doll Test" by Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark)
- The Supreme Court's unanimous decision.
- Discuss the immediate effects:
- Resistance
- Slow implementation of segregation
Then vs. Now - Is School Segregation Still a Problem?
- Set the stage
- Explain the goal: to compare the history of segregation with what students see in school today.
- Divide students into small groups and rotate them into two different stations:
- Station A- THEN:
- Analyze Brown v. Board documents, historical maps, resistance to integration
- Station B- NOW:
- Explore current school data (demographics, funding, enrollment, honors programs).
- Station A- THEN:
- At each station, students should complete the Station Rotation Worksheet.
Class Debrief and Comparison
- Create a T-chart on the board:
- THEN (1950s-1970s) | NOW (Today)
- Students share their findings from each station
- Facilitate discussion
- What has changed? What hasn't?
- Are schools still segregated in different ways?
Reflection and Action
Have students complete the reflection prompt or write a brief opinion piece responding to one of the following:
- "Based on what I've learned, I believe school segregation today is/is not still a problem because..."
- "One thing I think could make our schools more fair and equal is..."
Optionally, students can work in small groups to brainstorm solutions to improve equity in their own schools and present them.
Station Rotation Worksheet
View Resource"Seperate but Equal" in Photographs
View ResourceSouth Carolina School Equalization Map
Interactive map providing information about the date the school opened, whether it was an African American or white school, and the date it was replaced, demolished, or renovated.
View ResourceRichland County, South Carolina- Showing School Districts as revised in the County Board of Education
1915 Richland County School Districts
View ResourceSchool Districts Richland County, South Carolina
2009 Richland County School Districts
View ResourceSchool Racial Demographics Map
This map depicts the distribution of majority-white and majority-nonwhite schools in the United States.
View ResourceMiseducation: Is There Racial Inequality at Your School?
Interactive database to examine racial disparities in educational opportunities and school discipline. Look up more than 96,000 individual public and charter schools and 17,000 districts to see how they compare with their counterpart.
View ResourceStandards
- 8.5.CX Analyze the correlation between the Modern Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina and the U.S.
- This indicator was designed to foster inquiry into the role of South Carolina in the Modern Civil Rights Movement, to include the influence of court cases such as Briggs v. Elliot and Flemming v. South Carolina Electric and Gas. This indicator was also developed to promote inquiry into the relationship between national leadership, protests, and events and South Carolina leadership, protests and events, such as the Friendship Nine and the Orangeburg Massacre.
- 8.5.CC Analyze the continuities and changes in South Carolina's identity resulting from the civic participation of different individuals and groups of South Carolinians.
- This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into civic engagement, such as military service, public demonstrations, and political activism, to shape the identity of modern South Carolina. This indicator was also written to encourage inquiry into South Carolinians’ use of the court system and legislation to affect South Carolina’s post-World War II identity.
- 8.5.E Utilize a variety of primary and secondary sources to analyze multiple perspectives on the cultural changes in South Carolina and the U.S.
- USHC.5.CC Evaluate continuities and changes during the Civil Rights Movement and other subsequent movements for equal rights.
- This indicator was developed to promote inquiry into thematic continuities and changes into how marginalized groups sought and won legal rights. Inquiry into the leadership, methods, and outcomes of modern equal rights movements are supported by this indicator.
Assessments
- Student participation in stations and discussion
- Completed reflection or opinion writing
- Optional group poster or presentation on equity solutions