The Unforeseen Consequences:
How School Integration Failed Black Students and Drove Black Educators from the Profession
Posted By Niara Savage | Published on: July 6, 2020 CommentsComments (0)
“We are playing poker right now and the little chips we are offering at the table is not enough to call the other player’s bluff.” — Dr. Daniel Upchurch, psychologist
After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the period of legal racial segregation in the school system came to a close. At first glance, this decision may look like a step in the right direction: The racist “separate but equal” doctrine that had physically divided Americans for decades was finally overturned, and children — Black and white — would sit side-by-side in classrooms across the country. In reality, while school integration did end an era of state-sanctioned segregation, it also paved the way for other harmful forms of discrimination to take root and produced unforeseen consequences and disparities. School integration came at a high price — and Black America is still paying for it today.
Dr. Daniel Upchurch, a psychologist with the Nashville school system and adjunct professor at Fisk University, spoke to Atlanta Black Star about the historical context surrounding school integration and explained how the shock waves of this momentous decision can still be felt in the education system today — often at the expense of Black students and teachers.
