Faith Woodruff-Blinn
HIST 5070
1 October 2014
Article Review #1 – “The Cost of Brown: Black Teachers and School Integration” In “The Cost of Brown,” Adam Fairclough attempts to uncover the belief that integration, due to the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), destroyed something valuable with the closing of black schools in the Jim Crow south. Many discuss integration in a celebratory manner, arguing that African Americans were making progress in the fight for equality. Although a myriad of blacks were involved in the equalization and integration of the nation, Fairclough argues that a great number chose to support school integration. Those who did not support integration legislation believed that segregated schools …show more content…
Many did not support the destruction or loss of black schools, both public and private, through racial integration due to the belief that black schools nurtured the identity of the black community. Ambivalence toward integration developed because of the belief that schools were vital to the advancement of the black communities. For example, in one interview, a retired principal from Louisiana vocalized his beliefs that integration “threw the blacks back a hundred years.” This bold statement illustrates the lack of support among some toward this process of integration. Fairclough continues to express educators’ discontentment with legislation in regards to integration by explaining that many felt that the role of educators had been shattered. Teachers no longer served as supportive figures with the ability to offer an understanding for the struggle and knowledge of their own communities. The process of integration undermined such roles of black educators because they were no longer given the opportunity to serve as role models to their …show more content…
Black schools and churches were associated within the black communities where they desired black preachers exactly as they preferred black teachers. In such communities, “black schools and black churches were often closely linked; the church served as the schoolhouse, and the preacher was also the teacher.” (48) As illustrated by the support of separate churches, black schools served as “agencies of race sentiment and community identity.” Integration of such institutions was deemed unnecessary in that these institutions were expected to unify African Americans and strengthen their communities. Some supporters of segregation went as far to express that it was a God-given duty for black teachers to “redeem their race from ignorance and degradation.” (49) Ultimately, in order to promote independence within the black community and schools, black educators, parents, and students needed to to bar the influence of white