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Sometimes history serves as a magnifying mirror - making momentous
what actually was not. But Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas, is the real thing: a Supreme Court decision that
fundamentally and forever changed America. It jump-started the modern
civil-rights movement and excised a cancer eating a hole in the
heart of the Constitution. So why is the celebration of its 50th
anniversary so bittersweet? Why, as we raise our glasses, are there
tears in our eyes? The answer is simple: Brown, for all its glory,
is something of a bust.
To read more, download
the full Ellis Cose essay here (pdf).
It is difficult for most people today to realize how brutal America
was to its Black citizens for throughout of our history. In the
South, lynching, intimidation, economic exploitation, social humiliation
and virtually complete segregation dominated the region; few Blacks
dared to vote. In the North, where Blacks could vote, discrimination
and segregation were also the norm.
To read more, download
the full Herman Schwartz essay here (pdf).
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