Brown v. Board, 70 years later

There’s still work to do, 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education

Seventy years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, many Black students still don’t have access to crucial educational resources such as early childhood education, experienced teachers, advanced courses, and college affordability and success. These gaps in opportunities hold students back. Brown’s Promise, an organization housed at the Southern Education Foundation, points out that school funding tends to favor schools that mostly serve White students. Higher levels of racial segregation, school by school, can take badly needed resources from schools that serve mostly children of color or children from low-income families. By one measure, U.S. schools have become more racially segregated than in 1968, just before many southern states desegregated their public schools. 

We have come so far in education in the South, but have many miles to go before every child has the opportunities they deserve. As political divisions threaten justice and equity, SEF is poised to make our greatest impact in decades on our mission to ensure more students have equitable access to high-quality educational opportunities across the South and our Nation.