Perhaps more than any other Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision declaring the segregation of public schools unconstitutional, highlighted both the possibilities and the limitations of American democracy. This collection of sixteen original essays by historians and legal scholars takes the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Brown to reconsider the history and legacy of that landmark decision. From the Grassroots to the Supreme Court juxtaposes oral histories and legal analysis to provide a nuanced look at how men and women understood Brown and sought to make the decision meaningful in their own lives.
The contributors illuminate the breadth of developments that led to Brown, from the parallel struggles for social justice among African Americans in the South and Mexican, Asian, and Native Americans in the West during the late nineteenth century to the political and legal strategies implemented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (naacp) in the twentieth century. Describing the decision's impact on local communities, essayists explore the conflict among African Americans over the implementation of Brown in Atlanta's public schools as well as understandings of the ruling and its relevance among Puerto Rican migrants in New York City. Assessing the legacy of Brown today, contributors analyze its influence on contemporary law, African American thought, and educational opportunities for minority children.
Contributors
Tomiko Brown-Nagin
Davison M. Douglas
Raymond Gavins
Laurie B. Green
Christina Greene
Blair L. M. Kelley
Michael J. Klarman
Peter F. Lau
Madeleine E. Lopez
Waldo E. Martin Jr.
Vicki L. Ruiz
Christopher Schmidt
Larissa M. Smith
Patricia Sullivan
Kara Miles Turner
Mark V. Tushnet

Peter F. Lau is an independent scholar who earned his doctorate in history from Rutgers University. He has taught at Rutgers and the University of Rhode Island. Currently he is teaching history at Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island.

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction / Peter F. Lau 1
Part I: Historical Contexts: Views from the Grassroots
Plessy and Early Challenges to the Doctrine of “Separate, but Equal” / Blair L. M. Kelley 19
Tapestries of Resistance: Episodes of School Segregation and Desegregation in the Western United States / Vicki L. Ruiz 44
Within the Shadow of Jim Crow: Black Struggles for Education and Liberation in North Carolina / Raymond Gavins 68
“Liberating Lifescripts”: Price Edward County, Virginia, and the Roots of Brown v. Board of Education / Kara Miles Turner 88
From the Periphery to the Center: Clarendon County, South Carolina, Brown, and the Struggle for Democracy and Equality in America / Peter F. Lau 105
Part II: Advocates, Judges, and the Making of Brown
A Civil Rights Vanguard: Black Attorneys and the NAACP in Virginia / Larissa M. Smith 129
Prelude to Brown: Education and the Struggle for Racial Justice during the NAACP’s Formative Decades, 1909-1934 / Patricia Sullivan 154
J. Waties Waring and the Making of Liberal Jurisprudence in Postwar America / Christopher W. Schmidt 173
Brown v. Board of Education: Law of Politics? / Michael J. Klarman 198
Part III: Historical Impact: Views from the Grassroots
The Impact of Lawyer-Client Disengagement on the NAACP’s Campaign to Implement Brown v. Board of Education in Atlanta / Tomiko Brown-Nagin 227
“The New Negro Ain’t Scared No More!”: Black Women’s Activism in North Carolina and the Meaning of Brown / Christina Greene 245
The Rural-Urban Matrix in the 1950s South: Rethinking Racial Struggles in Memphis / Laurie B. Green 270
New York, Puerto Ricans, and the Dilemmas of Integration / Madeleine E. Lopez 300
Part IV: Life, Law, and Culture in Post-Brown America
“Stretching Out”: Living and Remembering Brown , 1945-1970 / Waldo E. Martin Jr. 321
The Supreme Court’s Two Principles of Equality, From Brown to 2003 / Mark V. Tushnet 340
Brown v. Board of Education and its Impact on Black Education in America / Davison M. Douglas 361
Conclusion: Brown and Historical Memory / Peter F. Lau 383
Bibliography 387
Notes on the Contributors 391
Index 395