We are still separate and definitely unequal: reflections of urban school leaders

Abstract

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education overturned the “separate but equal” principle promulgated in 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson. Yet, almost 70 years after Brown, schools continue to be segregated, and the structure of the public education system has fostered inequities across the nation. Although there have been legal challenges to the conditions and disparities within schools, many urban districts are still impacted by Plessy-like logic and policies that reflect white supremacy, essentially legitimizing social inequity. Stories of racial segregation, as well as unequal instruction and funding, continue to define many urban school districts. This paper will offer findings from in-depth interviews with urban school leaders. Their perspectives, examined through a critical race theory lens, highlight continued disparities and obstructions in access to literacy, education, and opportunity affecting Black students—demonstrating a separate and unequal public school system in the urban context.

Keywords:

• Racial segregation in schools
• critical race theory
• inequality in education
• Brown v. Board
• Plessy v. Ferguson

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Court’s latest (and controversial) ruling on race and education, which dismantled the foundation of Affirmative Action in the university context (Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and University of North Carolina, 2023), included an impassioned dissenting opinion by Justice Sonia Sotomayor reminiscent of Justice Breyer’s concerns in Dowell. Justice Sotomayor’s dissent stated that the decision to restrict the use of race in college admissions “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress … The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education” (p. 2).

2 BIPOC is a term that stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, which was created to be a more inclusive and descriptive manner in which to discuss the lives and experiences of groups that have been marginalized by racism in the U.S.—though it has its critics (García, 2020; Harmon, 2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tiffany Puckett

Tiffany Puckett is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations at Northern Illinois University. She teaches education law and leadership courses for the College of Education and the College of Law. Her research interests include education law, education finance, and cultural competence. She has a J.D. and Ph.D. in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a former school attorney.

Miltonette Olivia Craig

Miltonette Olivia Craig is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Sam Houston University. She teaches criminal law, criminal justice ethics, and seminars in American courts and legal aspects of criminal justice. Her research interests include racial disparities in policing, sentencing disparities, and intimate partner violence. She has a J.D. from Georgia State University College of Law and a Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Florida State University.