‘Brown’ Devastated the Black Teaching Force. It’s Long Past Time to Fix That
It’s been 70 years since the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education ruling that declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. We recognize that Brown was a seminal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Yet we also acknowledge its profound consequences.
Before Brown, in the 17 states that had segregated school systems, 35% to 50% of the teaching force was Black. Even in the face of systemic inequities, Black teachers held kids to high expectations, and Black communities came together to build schools that helped move young people into greater opportunity. But in the aftermath of the decision, tens of thousands of Black teachers and school leaders lost their jobs or were forced out of the field due to resistance of some white people to integration. This had a profound impact on who was teaching students, and a detrimental economic effect on the tenuous, emerging Black middle class.
Read the full article at The 74.
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Imali Ariyarathne, seventh-grade teacher at Langston Hughes Academy, introduces her students to the captivating world of science.
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