Composition: History & Theory: 1950 - 1959
Civil Rights
Description
In The American School From the Puritans to No Child Left Behind (2008), Joel Spring explains that by 1955, the Civil Rights movement attempted to end all forms of segregation and discrimination. According to Spring, “[t]he federal government increased its involvement with and power over local school systems” (390). In 1954, court-ordered desegregation was instated following the decision in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. The National Association of Colored People had to prove two objectives in the case: “that the climate of the times required an end to segregation laws and […] that the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine contained a contradiction in terms—that is, that separate facilities were inherently unequal” (424). Until additional legislation passed in 1960, integration was slow because federal judges “resisted attempts at speedy desegregation” (424).
Date of Upload
3/14/09