Democratizing the National Identity

Abstract

The Supreme Court’s historic Brown in 1954 not only declared school segregation unconstitutional but also mandated the integration of the nation’s schools. Citing social science data, the Court noted the psychological damage school segregation did to Black children. Efforts to equalize school outcomes, however, were met with many objections including a culture of poverty affecting Blacks and a lower IQ. By the time of the Court’s Bakke decision in 1978, the rationale for integration had completely reversed, with Justice Powell arguing that White students benefited from “diversity.” Black Studies played a key role in the ensuing “culture wars” contending that color blindness and a return to a traditional curriculum represented a “closing” rather than an “opening” of the American mind.