Black, White, and Us: The Meaning of 'Brown v. Board of Education' for Latinos

Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

Y

4

Equal Education; School Desegregation; Court Litigation; Educational History; United States History; Hispanic Americans; Racial Segregation; African Americans; Whites; Educational Experience

10.1207/s15327892mcp0604_7

1521-0960

May 17, 1954, the day that the "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" decision was handed down, was a watershed event not only in educational history but in U.S. history as well. It also helped to seal the Black-White paradigm into the popular consciousness, a paradigm that even today remains fixed in the minds of Americans. In most current accounts of "Brown," for example, segregation, integration, desegregation, and resegregation are still largely framed in terms of African Americans and Whites. The history of segregation and challenges to it has been a more complicated and diverse one, but this history has gotten lost somewhere along the way. In this article, the author discusses the meaning of "Brown" for Latinos. In so doing, she also wants to suggest that the Black-White binary is not only incorrect but that it helps to obscure the common struggles of African Americans, Latinos, and others for equal education. She briefly explains how Latinos have been left out of the story--while at the same time acknowledging that many others have been left out as well. She offers a brief analysis of the impact of "Brown" on Latinos, that is, on those who are in fact identified as "Brown." She addresses some of the ways in which the experiences of Latinos helped to shape "Brown" as well as the influence of "Brown" on Latinos and education.

ERIC

17

2011

EJ939717