Segregation, Desegregation, and Resegregation in Cincinnati: The Perspective of an African American Principal

• Published in: Journal of school leadership 2006-05, Vol.16 (3), p.265-291
• Main Authors: Brown, Lionel H, Beckett, Gulbahar H, Beckett, Kelvin S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; African American Education; African American Leadership; African American Students; Brown v Board of Education; Court Litigation; Critical Theory; Educational Quality; Equal Education; Ohio; Principals; Race; School Desegregation; School Resegregation; School Segregation; Urban Schools
• ISSN: 1052-6846
• DOI: 10.1177/105268460601600303

Recent research on "Brown v. Board of Education" has emphasized continuing disparities in the education of White and African American students. This research has used the failure of desegregation to account for persisting gaps in White and Black school funding, teacher qualifications, and student achievement. But the current focus on the failure of desegregation has overshadowed an equally significant but underreported success in the area of improving education for African American students. According to the most recent findings on student achievement, for example, the gaps between African American and White students are again narrowing, in some cases approaching zero. The present article shows that the failure of desegregation is not the only, nor is it likely to prove to be the most enduring, legacy of "Brown." At the same time that desegregation was being resisted and ultimately reversed in Cincinnati, as elsewhere, "Brown" was inspiring an emphasis on quality education that resulted in two of the city's worst-performing Black schools' being transformed into schools of excellence.