Author: United States Commission on Civil Rights

Publisher:

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13:

On the twentieth anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, it seems appropriate for the Commission on Civil Rights to commemorate the Supreme Court's decision with an examination of the civil rights progress between 1954 and 1974. The first report in the series provided a brief historical background. This second report covers equality of educational opportunity. Among the report's findings are the following: school desegregation has progressed substantially in the South; progress in the North has been minimal; without positive action, segregation in urban areas (both North and South) appears likely to increase, and urban-suburban racial subdivisions will be intensified; most fears about school desegregation have proved groundless, and desegregation is working where it has been genuinely attempted; "freedom of choice" has proved a totally ineffective method of school desegregation; the federal government's commitment to desegregation must include the termination of federal assistance to school systems maintaining segregated schools; desegregation of dual school systems has often resulted in displacement or demotion of black school staff; and, there is evidence that disciplinary action against minority pupils in some desegregated schools has resulted in high numbers of expulsions and suspensions