Although the court decision itself did not radically change the racial make-up of many schools, it had a dramatic impact on black communities and how they interacted with schools that were no longer theirs. However, what initially had the potential to be quite beneficial for black students in America was implemented in such a way that continues to systemically disadvantage these students. Board of Education was arguably the most important legal decision of the 20th century because of how it created exponential and lasting change within America’s educational system. The pivotal social science brief in that case explicitly speaks to the damage to the moral character development of those who are ostensibly privileged by segregation.Brown v. Only recently, reading Heather McGhee’s 'The Sum of Us,' I learned that this argument was presented directly to the Supreme Court. The ruling talks about the harm of segregation to African American children, but I also wondered: Why weren’t we also addressing the toll racism takes on the psychological and moral development of white Americans? Segregation also hurt white children

The opinion famously relies on social science evidence submitted by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark and other eminent scholars establishing that segregation harms the psychological development of Black children, and that official segregation “generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”Įven as I revered Brown and its cause of vindicating the rights of Black Americans, it always struck me as necessary but not sufficient.

Brown v board of education impact today