Brown v Board

The Battle of Newburgh, White Citizens Councils & New York State

July 14, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Despite theoretically desegregating schools in 1938, New York State effectively continued to operate on the basis of an 1899 state ruling that upheld its segregated schools.

Then, in May 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education which required an end to racial segregation in public schools.

The decision contributed to a reordering of living patterns and an eventual realignment of the political parties across the United States. [Read more…] about The Battle of Newburgh, White Citizens Councils & New York State

A History of Education in New York: Twentieth-Century Trends

April 8, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

A major educational development of the early twentieth century was the rise of high schools. Public high schools gradually replaced the academies in the late 1800s. This change arose partly from the changing notion of “public,” with independent schools no longer seen as completely fulfilling public education responsibilities.

The rising cost of first-rate secondary education and the emerging urban middle class that desired it, also contributed to the move toward high schools. In city after city, academies were transformed into public secondary schools and architecturally impressive public high schools opened. [Read more…] about A History of Education in New York: Twentieth-Century Trends

A History of Segregation in NYC Public Schools

November 24, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The first schools in New York City were established in 1805 as the Free School Society, run by Quakers, and later by Baptist groups who renamed the school system, The Public School Society.

The Catholic Church dissuaded participation in The Public School Society believing it to be anti-Catholic, and with Irish Catholic immigration on the rise in the 1830s, the pressure to include their involvement in schools led to the establishment of the NYC Board of Education (BOE) in 1842. [Read more…] about A History of Segregation in NYC Public Schools

1927: Supreme Court Declares Asian Americans ‘Colored’ & Upholds Banning Them from White Schools

November 21, 2024 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

On November 21, 1927, in Gong Lum v. Rice, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Chinese American Lum family and upheld Mississippi’s power to force nine-year-old Martha Lum to attend a “colored school” outside the district in which she lived.

Applying the “separate but equal” doctrine established in 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision, the Court held that the maintenance of separate schools based on race was “within the constitutional power of the state legislature to settle, without intervention of the federal courts.” [Read more…] about 1927: Supreme Court Declares Asian Americans ‘Colored’ & Upholds Banning Them from White Schools

Freedom Day: The 1964 New York City School Boycott

September 4, 2024 by John Warren 1 Comment

Seventy years ago, in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

With the support of white supremacists and run-of-the-mill racists, many school districts, especially in the South, but also in the North, continued to maintain segregated school systems for decades to come, and some still do. [Read more…] about Freedom Day: The 1964 New York City School Boycott

Bending Toward Justice: Civil Rights in the Federal Courts

March 25, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

African Americans have historically used the court system to pursue equal rights. The cases span the history of the United States, beginning well before the Civil Rights Era.

The National Archives Catalog includes cases that famously went to the Supreme Court, such as Scott v. Sandford in 1857 (the Dred Scott case), Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, and Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. [Read more…] about Bending Toward Justice: Civil Rights in the Federal Courts

Brown v Board

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