FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A new report by Zoë Burkholder, a professor of educational foundations at Montclair State University, examines the trajectory of Black teachers in the North before and after 1954—finding notable distinctions between the Southern and Northern contexts.
WASHINGTON, DC (June 25, 2024) - In the two decades following the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, some 38,000 Southern Black teachers lost their jobs—a phenomenon that some scholars have argued was not an “unintended consequence” of desegregation, but an integral part of the resistance to it.
However, few scholars have studied how Brown impacted Black teachers in the North (this report refers to all regions outside of the South as part of the larger “North” that was not part of the Jim Crow “South”).
In “The Impact of Brown v. Board of Education on Black Teachers Outside of the South, 1934-1974,” Professor Zoë Burkholder traces this complex history before and after Brown.
Leading up to the decision’s 70th anniversary on May 17, 2024, the report was commissioned by the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) as part of a larger research project entitled “Leveraging Title II of ESSA and Redressing the Post-Brown Decimation of the Black Educator Workforce in the South to Support School Integration and Educator Diversity,” supported by American Institutes for Research’s Equity Initiative.
“As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board, it's important to recognize how this ruling has shaped the long struggle for Black educational equality since 1954,” said Zoë Burkholder. “One thing that is clear is that we are still grappling with its complex legacy today.”
Using a wide array of sources and historical materials, Burkholder finds that Northern Black teachers generally did not lose their jobs directly or indirectly due to Brown, in contrast to their Southern peers (who, in 1966, accounted for roughly 85% of the U.S. Black teaching force). Prior to the Brown ruling, the number of Northern Black teachers had actually been slowly rising, in concert with Black population growth resulting from the Great Migration, during which some six million Black Americans relocated to the North and West, almost entirely in cities.
Before 1954, there were few Black teachers in the North in the first place. The history of racial discrimination in teacher education, hiring, and placement prevented Northern Black teachers from even attaining teaching jobs, Burkholder notes. When Black teachers did manage to secure teaching positions, it was often in (illegally) segregated schools or classrooms.
Even though most Northern states had outlawed school segregation by the late 19th century, school leaders used discriminatory student assignment and transfer policies to isolate Black students in certain schools. As the Black population in the North surged during the first wave of the Great Migration, illegal school segregation in Northern communities increased.
The Black teaching force grew following Brown, though many civil rights advocates did not focus on Black teacher employment. Burkholder finds that the number of Black teachers increased across the North in cities as varied as Stamford, Connecticut; Waterloo, Iowa; Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Tacoma, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California.
Initially, many Northern Black educational advocates believed that integration would ensure that Black students had fair access to high-quality teachers, as it was well documented that majority Black schools in the North had less experienced teachers and higher percentages of full-time substitute teachers. However, in the mid to late 1960s, advocates began to make demands for more Black teachers, specifically urging that they be assigned to work with Black students.
Importantly, the post-Brown gains in the Northern Black teaching force did not last. The overall percentage of Black teachers as part of the U.S. teaching force started to decline two decades after 1954—and this history continues today in the widespread underrepresentation of Black teachers in schools.
“Professor Burkholder’s research challenges us to broaden our perspective as we consider what it will truly take to achieve educator diversity at scale,” said Gina Chirichigno, director of NCSD. “A more nuanced understanding of this history helps us appreciate how far we have to go, and why.”
As we continue to reflect on what is required to truly fulfill the promise of Brown—what progress has been made and where have we fallen short or gotten stuck—we invite educators, researchers, policymakers, and advocates to engage with this timely and insightful report.
About NCSD
Founded in 2009, the National Coalition on School Diversity is a cross-sector network of 50+ national civil rights organizations, university-based research centers, and state and local coalitions working to expand support for school integration. NCSD supports its members in designing, enacting, implementing, and uplifting PK-12 public school integration policies and practices so we may build cross-race/cross-class relationships, share power and resources, and co-create new realities.
Contact:
Zoë Burkholder, Author: burkholderz@montclair.edu
Jenna Tomasello, NCSD Communications Manager: jtomasello@prrac.org
###
Comments