Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy

Pivotal Moments in American History

by James T. Patterson

2004 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's unanimous decision to end segregation in public schools. Many people were elated when Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in May 1954, the ruling that struck down state-sponsored racial segregation in America's public schools. Thurgood Marshall, chief attorney for the black families that launched the litigation, exclaimed later, "I was so happy, I was numb." The novelist Ralph Ellison wrote, "another battle of the Civil War has been won. The rest is up to us and I'm very glad. What a wonderful world of possibilities are unfolded for the children!"

Here, in a concise, moving narrative, Bancroft Prize-winning historian James T. Patterson takes readers through the dramatic case and its fifty-year aftermath. A wide range of characters animates the story, from the little-known African Americans who dared to challenge Jim Crow with lawsuits (at great personal cost); to Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Justice himself; to Earl Warren, who shepherded a fractured Court to a unanimous decision. Others include segregationist politicians like Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas; Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon; and controversial Supreme Court justices such as William Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas.

Most Americans still see Brown as a triumph--but was it? Patterson shrewdly explores the provocative questions that still swirl around the case. Could the Court--or President Eisenhower--have done more to ensure compliance with Brown? Did the decision touch off the modern civil rights movement? How useful are court-ordered busing and affirmative action against racial segregation? To what extent has racial mixing affected the academic achievement of black children? Where indeed do we go from here to realize the expectations of Marshall, Ellison, and others in 1954?

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Education, American History, Law, Politics, African American

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

James T. Patterson is an American historian, who was the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Brown University for 30 years. He was educated at Harvard University. His research interests include political history, legal history, and social history, as well as the history of medicine, race relations, and education.

Reviews

[Cynda is still foggy after knee surgery. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 Stars.
Plessy v Ferguson (1896) established the legal principle of US race relations: Separate but Equal. After WWII, returning black veterans and their families refused to be ignored, to be separated from the mainstream of society, and instead insisted that their children receive the same education of white citizens. At times before and after Brown v Board of Education, individual cases were tried in the US Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall and his colleagues wanted to present a case that would more clearly addressed the national problem.

The problem included different emphasizes different groups of people sought. When school boards realized that court cases concerning segregation could end segregation based on the "equal/unequal" part of "separate but equal" clause, some school districts improved the facilities and teaching staff. Whether the improvement happened to not, sometimes black communities wanted to keep their schools separate so their children would be not be different at the desegregated schools, so their children could learn and have a shared culture. Some black communities wanted desegregation so that their children possibly could have the same advantages of the white children. After WWII, education was seen as a way to improve one's path through life, so discussions about education could become heated.

Important. Patterson points out that education was the topic chosen to to begin a desegregation process. It was because of the perceived value of an education that made education the topic used to end "separate but equal".

Problem with Brown. Indefinite language. No set date to be desegregated. No plan of how to desegregate.

Problem with Brown. No definitions or criteria for what desegregation means. Later court case established that the demographics of a school do not have to match the demographics of the community. So how is a school district to know when it is adequately desegregated?

Many Ways of Desegregation Tried. Selective desegregation where a small number of black students were asked to attend the white school. Not enough black students invited, Magnet Schools attract students by having many classes on one subject, such as music or science. Testing is used to determine who enters, and testing may be biased. Busing students from their communities to other communities that have a large population of the other side of the white/black line. Interested community members are often concerned that young children bear the worst of the situation. The list continues, all with their own problems. And no one can seem to agree on how to desegregate.
Brown does have a certain stipulations that sometimes get ignored. Busing or otherwise transporting groups of students as a way desegregation is prohibited.

If a school district cannot determine when desegregation has been achieved, then resegregation can happen. It did in the 1990s.
Desegregation is a work in progress.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Patterson adds an excellent addition to the Pivotal moments in American history series with Brown v. Board of Education. This book explores the results of Brown and how it shaped civil rights in the post Brown era. While of course focusing primarily on schools, Patterson also takes a look at how Brown emboldened groups like the NAACP, caused the rise of the more militant civil rights group by the failure to implement Brown and shows how Brown changed the views of those who went through it. The book does not just end with Brown II but goes on to look at the busing cases and the efforts of several legislatures to implement plans to uphold school desegregation. It examines the tactics of extremist white southerners to keep schools segregated and posits some interesting ideas about how Brown changed urbanization and may (at least in the south) have encouraged a second wave of white migration to the suburbs. Overall though it is a thorough analysis of the post actions that the Brown decision derived.

My one complaint about this book and the reason for the four stars is that it says very little about the actual arguments of the case. While providing a background of the key players in the case there is little information about the oral and written arguments presented to the Supreme Court. That being said given that the series tries to give the most amount of information in the shortest number of pages possible I would bump it to 4.5 stars.

[Melissa Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gave an absolutely fantastic overview of the historic Brown v. BOE ruling. I opened the book knowing a good deal about the case already, but Patterson provides substantial background of the events leading to the Brown ruling as well as insight into the lives of the supreme court justices responsible for the ruling. The book is definitely crafted with a bias sympathetic towards the liberal agenda--there's an implication that the conservatives were the "bad guys" while the liberals were all, by nature of their being liberals, "good" (and let's face it, it's far more complicated than this), and Patterson is quick to paint, in sweeping strokes, those whose political agenda was in favor of segregation. Through the book though you get a sense of Brown's significance in the larger scheme of the civil rights struggle, and Patterson illuminates the long (drawn out?) path between Brown's inception and its application. It's well-written, quite fluid, and a fantastic, very thorough overview appropriate either for those who know virtually nothing about Brown or those who are already fairly familiar with the ruling.

[Mrs. Danvers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very thorough overview of the history and repercussions of one of the most well known Supreme Court cases of all time. I think that, if one is not directly impacted by the rulings, it is easy to believe that the decision was unambiguously embraced by anyone who was not an out-and-out racist. While I knew to some extent that this was not true, and that there are and always have been questions about the effectiveness and desirability of enforced desegregation in schools, this book gave me a much better grounded view of opinions on all sides for the 50 years following Brown. In a nutshell, the two competing values in this discussion are equality and community. The search for equal opportunity and equal treatment drives integration analyses, and the values of community, of not being racially isolated, of being taught by Black teachers in a school with Black administrators as models drives the (non-racist) segregation analyses. I mean, it kind of stands to reason, right, that being one of maybe 10 or 15 Black kids in an otherwise all-white school isn't going to suddenly make a positive difference to the Black kids.

The thing is, this is a really really hard question. Thurgood Marshall always believed that the first step toward equality is school integration. And in some ways, you can't help but agree with him, at least in principle. But the history of the Supreme Court decisions on educational integration is just fraught with missteps. Even so, one of the takeaways from this book is that, whether coincidental or causal, Brown heralded an era of Black activism and empowerment.

The only reason this isn't a 5-star read is that it is densely packed with data. It is a worthy read, but not one that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

[Teddee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the conservative cultural climate of the country in the 1980s where racial explanations were not favored, people such as myself growing up in that era were not made aware of the ongoing battles to enforce the Brown decision in the 1970s and 1980s with mandates requiring the busing of children in certain regions of the country. Most kids growing up in the 1970s and 1980s were led to believe that with the end of de jure segregation, the problem was solved. In fact, it felt to many of us as if the problem of segregation was several generations removed, a problem of the 1950s.

The efforts of right wing fanatics to terrorize and obstruct in the face of the civil rights and desegregation movement had given rise to further mainstream support for the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Still, whites were not ready to immediately live in close quarters with low income uneducated blacks just as they were being liberated from Jim Crow. While de jure segregation offended the sensibilities of the country at that time, it appears de facto segregation was not nearly as objectionable.

The nation's ambivalence towards racial issues was also clearly evident in the way that desegregation mandates were not uniformly applied across the country. Because formal de jure segregation had primarily existed in the south, and the virulent resistance to desegregation had also been in the south, the south was forced to desegregate its schools and institutions more strictly. Meanwhile, many school districts in the north were allowed to continue their de facto segregation many years after the south had already desgregated.

[Stephen Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly as advertised. It analyzes the Brown v. Board decision and how it was implemented. Patterson traces how the NAACP Legal Defense Fund carefully laid the groundwork for the case for over a decade and then caused the Supreme Court to rule segregation unconstitutional. The part about the build up to Brown is interesting, but the more interesting part was its implementation and effects.

For the decision itself, Patterson emphasizes that attacking schools was attacking the heart of segregation because it put white children next to black children. As such, it caused more push back than attacking segregation in restaurants and public facilities (although those still face significant hostility as well). Thurgood Marshall thought that this would be a major blow not only for education but for all aspects of segregated society. Patterson also brings up that the African-American community was not wholly in favor of desegregation. Many leaders thought they should focus on bringing up the quality of black schools rather than forcing integration.

Implementation proved problematic for several reasons. First, in a futile effort to avoid a strong southern backlash, it set no official time table, allowing local school boards to dither with gradualist or on nominal desegregation. Second, there were no real guidelines for what the ruling meant. Was it simply that de jure segregation must be ended or that schools needed to actually be integrated. Third was that few African-Americans wanted to go to white schools, meaning integration was slow.

For the time table, it took until the 1960s for SCOTUS to really push district courts to enforce Brown. Patterson attributes this largely to the more vocal civil rights action beginning in that decade (sit-ins, freedom rides, marches) that pushed public opinion. Desegregation was largely enforced by the early 1970s.

For the guidelines, white southerners came up with different plans for desegregation, almost all of which were meant as delaying actions. They included integrating incoming first grade classes, but leaving existing classes segregated and integrating a few African-American student in each grade level and harassing them in hopes of getting them to leave. Some school systems began paying for "private" schools that whites could attend in lieu of integrated public schools. A few even shut down for a year to avoid integration. Eventually the court embraced force busing as a way to cause blacks and whites to attend school together. This accelerated white flight to the suburbs with independent school systems. Starting in the 1970s, because of a rightward move in the country and the court, busing was scaled back.

Another drawback was that few African-Americans actually wanted to switch schools, leaving their friends so they could be abused by whites who didn't want them there. This made it easier for southern whites to drag their feet.

Patterson spends a lot of time looking at the legacy of the decision. Almost everyone associated with the decision, especially Marshall, was disappointed and disheartened by the lack of change. There is no question that de facto segregation continues despite the decision. That said, integrated education has increased dramatically since Brown and has at least allowed African-Americans the choice. In addition, the violent reaction for many southern whites to the decision is something that is no longer acceptable by most Americans. It is not possible to trace that directly to Brown, but it surely contributed, as well as gave a legal basis to the Civil Rights Movement that followed.

Patterson finishes with a conclusion that the decision itself was a good step but not nearly enough. The only way to achieve actual integration is: a) by concerted effort from all races, including those not directly affected. b) addressing the underlying issues of economic disparity and de facto segregated housing.

This is a great book. It raised a lot of interesting issues that require further thought. The only drawback is that it is 20 years old, so it doesn't cover the more recent changes in American society. But it is mainly a work of history, so that isn't much of an issue.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it is hard overestimate the immense importance of the "Brown v. the Board of Education" court case which served as a "watershed" moment in American history. In terms of what it accomplished for the civil rights movement, "Brown" is major turning point on the road to ending segregation. There was a bitter fight to see the "Brown" ruling enacted in the old southern system of Jim Crow, but in the end this court case was essential to securing many of the hard won rights that African Americans obtained in the 1960's. This is one of a few books I have read in the "Pivotal Moments in American History" series and I have found each work to be well researched and pleasant to read. In this book James Patterson traces the develop of Brown, the case itself and the after effect of this case. The legacy of Brown in terms of the school system itself has been debated and Patterson tries to approach this debate with an honest and fair evaluation of its enduring victory. He follows Brown and the court system throughout the decades to see how this 1954 ruling has left a lasting imprint on the court. Here are a few things I like about this book:

I loved the solid way that Patterson went about to scaffold the reader's understanding of the case by talking about many of the issues in the south that gave rise to the need for Brown. I also appreciate that Patterson did not ignore the racist perspective of many northerners during the Jim Crow period. He not only discusses the case but makes sure to communicate the rationale of the civil rights leaders that were leading the charge in this case; most notably, Thurgood Marshall. Many of the things Patterson discusses here were very helpful in helping my students to understand why Brown v. the Board was so critical in undermining the racist attitudes that were so prevalent at the time. Many whites saw African Americans as "oversexed, lazy,stupid and uninterested in reading or writing." In addition to the viewpoint, many African Americans suffered from an inferiority complex and psychological studies at the time showed that a lot of African American children preferred playing with white dolls as opposed to black dolls; the psychologists concluded there was shame about skin color. Marshall saw these effects, recognized that this was a violation of the 14th amendment and won a hard-fought victory in the supreme court.

One thing I wish he would have spent more time discussing is the effects of World War II on this movement. He does talk about it briefly but it would have been nice if he taken a section of book to develop the change that occurred due the hard-won battles that African Americans engaged in during World War II. The effect not only changed the perception of some white soldiers but gave African Americans a sense of pride that made them stand up and refused to be considered second-class citizens. He talks about many of the other issues such as rising prosperity, demographic change, and higher levels of education but fails to spend anytime on this issue. I realize this was not the focus of the book but a bigger section on this aspect would have been a nice addition to the book. I love the way he focused the book around Thurgood Marshall and wished he would have talked about him in more detail throughout the book. He gave a lot of information and it certainly whetted my appetite for more information about Marshall.

The 1954 ruling was not immediate in its results and the episodes of the civil rights movements were imperative to pressing the law for results. In fact, Patterson points out that in practice 'Brown' had no influence over the segregation system in southern schools and by itself would have been something of a failure. The movement of the 60's and the legislation passed during this period began to see some changes in the education field where segregation was concerned. Kennedy and Johnson for all their faults did do some good thing for the civil rights movement. One of the big boons was when Kennedy appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court and Johnson also made some federal court appointments and passed new legislation to turn the tide. The appointment of these men set people in the court who be caretakers of the Brown legacy. However, by the seventies people were growing more cynical of the government and were increasing tired of the civil rights movement. The unemployment rate coupled with inflation distracted whites from the civil rights movement which they perceived as creating lots of costly programs. African Americans often saw 'Brown' as insulting to suggest that their kids will perform better performing alongside white kids. More arguments surfaced that the government needed to spend more on making better schools in African American communities instead of busing kids into white schools; despite the fact that the evidence showed test scores improving due to integration.

Ultimately, Patterson argues that Brown has a mixed legacy causing big reform in some places and little in others. He argues that the government can only do so much to fix this issue. For example: the government cannot control the effects that "white flight" had in this matter. Busing kids over 10 miles or more in order to integrate did not make a great deal of sense to many African American parents and whites alike. Ultimately, Patterson makes some excellent arguments and he takes some very practical stances on Brown. There were parts of the book that moved along quickly and were very engaging; there were other sections of the book that were a little boring even though I am sure that the information was crucial to the formation of the book. Overall, it was very well done and it will be interesting to see school integration in the future and to see if Marshall's vision will play out. Will we look at Brown in 100 years and still see schools with less integration or will we eventually see a greater coming together? Only time will tell....

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Patterson's style is quite engaging, which made this a relatively easy read, but his attempt to portray the Brown vs. Board of Education events/history was lacking. He certainly detailed a lot of history, but mostly from some sort of awkward left of center/statist framework. He often pointed out the desegregationist side, and then hastily breezed through objections from segregationist and/or non-statist arguments.

He attempted to remain neutral and not let bias enter his work, but historians who attempt to do so fail to make compelling arguments. If Patterson clearly sided with one camp over the other, fine, and perhaps he did overall, but he never states that explicitly.

Either way, by the end of the book Patterson makes the case that the issues are not yet settled. He argues that the governmental fixes have largely been failures, but we need more of them essentially. How completely insane can more of the same fixes be?

[Jordan Witt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this book for class this semester. Overall, Patterson established the many instances of how a segregated south and the national government dealt with the effects of Brown v. Board. The book attests to the many instances in which institutionalized racism created violent and often systematic attempts to continue the segregation within the Deep South.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very educational and a very good look at the Supreme Court and the law in regards to desegregation.

[Daniel Silliman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid research, but sometimes a scattered narrative.

[cam_omile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid

[Julie Mccoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf

[Byron · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading a book about Trumann and Eisenhower recently, I became interested in knowing more about the Brown v. Board of Education supreme court case that was such a milestone in the 20th century. I chose this book as the most promising of the selections on Audible, and I got what I wanted. The book did three key things very well:

1) Gave you enough information about the several cases that made up the Brown case so that you knew what the case was about, but the author did not load you down with legal details or other extraneous data;
2) Gave lots of historical context to the years before and after Brown, all the way through 2000, so that you understood how the decision fit into the history of the time
3) Gave plenty of info on the men and women who made up the Supreme Court since 1950, including who appointed them and what their judicial philosophy was, and how those judicial philosophies were reflected in the decisions made.

But, most importantly to me, Patterson kept his account factual and reasonably unbiased. At times, I would find myself thinking he was about to become partisan, but he was just being thorough so that you could understand the points of view. I thought he provided a very balance discussion of the key issues related to the Brown case, including whether it made a difference and what was its effect, and whether the court was off base in its decision.

I have but one criticism of the book, and that was that it was not as tight as it could have been. Beginning in the prelude, Patterson would at times start rambling, so much so that I start feeling like he was repeating himself. He follows a generally chronological map in telling his story, but at times he is tieing together incidents and cases across the decades in such a way that I felt he was not getting to his point.

Patterson effectively makes the point that a lot has not changed since Brown, but that a lot has. And Brown had some undesirable consequences.

The other thing that struck me about the story of this case is how similar the reaction to Obamacare is to the reaction to Brown. Governors posturing and saying this is the worst thing in history. Part of the reason Brown was so painful was because the reaction to it was so severe. If the leaders at the time had said, "you know, this is a problem, let's work together and fix it," maybe things would have changed more smoothly, and less painfully. Certainly, there was a lot of the process of desegregation that was difficult, but there were severe injustices that had to be addressed. It is embarrassing that our country was so resistant to doing the right thing in this case.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historian James T. Patterson published the book entitled Brown vs. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and its Troubled Legacy in 2001. The book is part of the Pivotal Moments in American History series. The book contains illustrations and maps. James T. Patterson is a Professor Emeritus at Brown University in Rhode Island. He specialized in modern American history. Petterson’s book is older. The book stops following the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education of 1954 at the end of the presidency of Bill Clinton in January 2001. The last court case, Patterson looks at that affects the legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education is Missouri vs. Jenkins in 1995. The book has different chapters on different of parts of preparing and arguing the different parts of Brown vs. Board of Education of 1954. The book also includes different chapters on the legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education from 1954 until 1995. I know that since 1995, many Supreme Court cases have affected the legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education. The book has two appendixes one is of “Key Cases” mentioned in the book (Patterson 225-226). The other appendix is “Table and Figures” which are relevant to the book (Patterson 227-236). The book includes a “bibliographical essay” (Patterson 263-269). I agree with the Goodreads reviewer named Brian’s review of Patterson’s book. I thought James T. Patterson’s book on the aftermath of Brown vs. Board of Education was interesting but older.

[Harker US Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book, Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy, contextualizes the landmark Supreme Court case, establishes the prerequisite stance of African Americans, and analyzes the effects of the court case educationally, socially, politically, and economically. James T. Patterson excellently supports his arguments with a variety of evidence, such as pictures, primary evidence, secondary evidence, and charts. For example, Patterson cites a shocking statistic regarding the huge investment difference for African Americans and white students prior to the court case - 228.05 vs. 570 dollars. However, the book would have been even stronger if he expanded more on the effects of Brown v. Board on other underrepresented groups and movements, such as the feminist wave. Nevertheless, a Brown University professor, Patterson is clearly an expert in the subject. The book is a must-read for all Americans, especially historians, to greatly appreciate the civil rights movement and better understand the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Case. - review by Zina J. '14

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fine. It was on sale for basically a dollar at the Kindle store, and it's on a subject I love to read about, so why not. About halfway through it occurred to me that I may have read this book before, during a college course on 20th century US history course. I'm not sure. That's kind of my overall impression: it's really fine historical writing, covering the subject thoroughly and dispassionately... but there's nothing memorable about it, and it certainly doesn't offer new insights to an informed reader. I wish there was more about the "troubled legacy" which the title promises.

[Marcus Vinicius · Rating 5 out of 5]

The context of Brown vs Board of Education and its legacy are well explained by James Patterson. The deep roots of racism in society cannot be simply overcame by a judicial decision, even by a Supreme Court one. The importance of the American Supreme Court decision though, most not be underestimated. The Court, overcoming an older precedent, opened the way for a more just society, one in with prejudices played a lesser role and new ways of social arrangements can be imagined. James Patterson told the history of Brown vs Board of Education, pointing the challenges faced by men and women that fought against racism and inequality.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patterson's book is a short, informative look at the Brown decision, one that sets it into the context of its times and examines its impact -- and limits -- over the half-century that followed. Though there are more detailed studies of the decision, Patterson's book is a fine starting point for anyone seeking an introduction to the subject.

[McKel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one for school then read it again after I graduated. It's really remarkable the amound of prejudice that existed- even among the Supreme Court that granted integration. This book does a great job at showing the details of what went on and how the landmark decision was made.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pedestrian

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong for the most part, but at end spends too much time approaching modern history. Certainly opened my eyes...

[David Horney · Rating 3 out of 5]

read it for school. "Lawyers can do right, they can do good, but they have their limits. The rest of the job is up to society." --Jack Greenberg

[Delores]

it was great

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok to read. The storyline never stay straight on course. Lot of good infos.

[Ann Hite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good review of this history; thought provoking questions at the end.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very balanced read of this decision and the subsequent actions and decisions. Touched on segregated schools and their repercussions but some of the societal reasons for poor performance.

[Yunis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The case that truly changed the course of history of the United States.

[Whtyac · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book afforded much background that would not be known. However, it was extremely wordy.