U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a segregation academy that were set up so that white parents could avoid having to send their children to schools with black students, a yearbook reveals.
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In the 1970s and 1980s, and under federal court supervision, many school districts started implementing mandatory busing plans within their district. This busing system would force children of Pasadena, who attended public schools, to take the bus in order to encourage integration of all the different races that lived in the city.
Public schools are increasingly divided by race and class. John Oliver discusses the troubling trend towards school resegregation.
Behind the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education was a girl named Linda Brown, whose story led to states being ordered to desegregate schools, mostly against their will. Ms. Brown died on Sunday. Who was she, and what has changed in the nearly 64 years since the case was decided?
On today’s episode:
• Nikole Hannah-Jones, an investigative reporter covering race and civil rights for The New York Times Magazine.
Background reading:
• The New York Times obituary of Linda Brown.