Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Brown v Board of Education: “We Need Another Moment for Our Time”

As the landmark ruling turns 70, BU Wheelock faculty weigh in on its legacy

Seventy years ago, on May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools. Acknowledging that the previous “separate but equal” doctrine was inherently unequal, Brown v. Board laid the groundwork for students of all races to learn alongside each other in freedom. 

Although the ruling was intended to right historical wrongs, segregationists circumvented the law from the beginning. Even now, students continue to face systemic prejudice and discrimination both in K–12 and higher education, as states are passing laws restricting such topics as critical race theory and the examination of historical racial inequities. 

We joined four BU Wheelock faculty members, Dean David Chard, senior lecturers Laura Jiménez and Michelle Vital, and assistant professor Jerry Whitmore, Jr., to discuss the significance of Brown v. Board of Education and where we stand today.

What Our Faculty Have to Say

Dean David Chard

Many educators and others in the public look back at Brown v. Board of Education as a decision to right the wrong of segregation in public schools and in our society. It was an important step. Nevertheless, though segregation is unlawful, it remains, in the words of Justice Sonya Sotomayor, “endemic in our society.” 

So, while Brown v. Board eliminated the “separate but equal” doctrine laid out in Plessy v. Ferguson, we have a long way to go to achieve full education equity. In fact, last summer’s Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, which made race-based admission decision-making unconstitutional, illustrates that many people, including our legal experts, can’t distinguish equality from equity and therefore continue to support policies that further segregation.

Michelle Vital, senior lecturer in higher education administration

We think of Brown v. Board as a historic landmark and necessary decision, but we’re still dealing with some of those ills that those students had to deal with. Equity gaps in education persist. In many school systems across the country, Black and brown students are still receiving educational experiences that are not equal to those who are not Black and brown.

And now we have legislation saying we should not look at history, let’s not look at race. We’re poking holes in legislation that says that separate isn’t actually equal. We have school districts that can’t examine the impact of race. 

Laura Jiménez, senior lecturer in literacy education and associate dean of equity, diversity & inclusion

In many ways the decision was too little to change the very fabric of our society. Instead of true integration in which white students would be schooled alongside Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous students, we experienced a violent white flight. According to Dr. Carol Anderson, author of White Rage, “white authorities . . . saw only a threat and acted accordingly, shutting down schools diverting public money into private coffers, leaving millions of citizens in educational rot, willing even to undermine national security in the midst of a major crisis—all to ensure that [B]lacks did not advance.”

The heartbreak of Brown v. Board is that it was a choice. There was a brief glimmer that our schools could serve all our nation’s students, provide them with the resources they need and deserve, and yet the dedication to white supremacy in the form of policing students’ languages and bodies, along with the deeply held belief that allowing students to learn actual histories has effectively gutted the court’s decision and given us the school system we have today.

Jerry Whitmore, Jr., assistant professor in higher education administration

Researchers are still trying to decide what these 70 years have meant. We’ve made great strides, great progress. However, some would argue that the most vulnerable populations are Black and brown students as far as education and achievement are concerned, since that gap has nonetheless widened since that decision. There’s a study from Stanford and USC that shows us, via analysis of public data, that segregation of Black and white students has increased by 64% since 1988. 

People see Brown v. Board as a landmark decision to make things better, but in order to have that view, one has to imagine a world in which all people are operating in good faith, and the law cannot do that by itself. We have to continue to push for equity and inclusion—and closing the economic and educational gaps. Brown v. Board of Education was something that was needed for that time, but I believe we need another moment for our time that meets our needs.