On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court struck down racial segregation laws in America’s public schools in a landmark ruling:
Brown v. Board of EducationThis decision repealed the “separate but equal” doctrine and effectively ended legal racial segregation in American education.

The ruling 70 years ago was a defining moment in the country’s progress on the racial issue – and at the same time it marked the beginning of what turned out to be a slow and arduous process of integrating black students into predominantly white schools.

In 1974, Boston made national headlines for the
violent reaction for bus transport of black students. And only
1988more than 30 years after the Brown decision, before nearly half of black students were in desegregated schools. Since then, the numbers have dropped significantly.

On the occasion of this 70th anniversary Under the radar examines the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education in Boston and across the country.

GUESTS

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and Professor of History at Harvard University

Michael N. Turnage Young, Senior Counsel and Co-Manager of the Equal Protection Initiative at the Legal Defense Fund

Alisa R. Drayton, Executive Director of the Yawkey Club of Roxbury