Chapter 2: Voluntary Integration as a Legacy of Brown: Promise and Challenge

Since the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, lawyers, social scientists, educators, and community members have struggled to fulfill the mandate to rid U.S. public schools of “inherently unequal” segregation. While the decision, combined with executive enforcement and legislative action a decade later, transformed the segregated schools of the South, desegregating schools in other regions as well as sustaining progress have proven to be challenging as efforts to avoid widespread desegregation have adapted as the law has shifted. Further, the legal decisions have impeded even voluntary efforts to desegregate. Indeed, at the 70th anniversary of the Brown decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has limited race-conscious diversity efforts in higher education, which may well further imperil K–12 diversity efforts.