Simple Justice 60 Years Later

In a unanimous decision on May 17th, 1964, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was illegal. With that one ruling, the walls of segregation in America began to crack, and about 10 years later, crumble.

Brown v. Board launched the career of Thurgood Marshall and for the first time ever made it a requirement that minority students have access to the same books and facilities as white students. You better believe there was resistance. There were threats against black students who went on to integrate Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, and those students became known as the Little Rock Nine. In 1960 there was the story of a 6-year-old girl who was subject to vicious taunts and threats from adults while being the only student in the classroom for nearly a year as she desegregated the New Orleans school district. Her name, was Ruby Bridges.

These days schools are still very much segregated here in the United States. A recent study just came out that said New York City has the most segregated public school system in the country. 60 years later, there is still work to be done.