School Segregation Impact on Student Success

Abstract

Writer’s Statement: Since learning about slavery, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement in elementary school, I have always been interested in the injustices that Black Americans have faced over the course of United States history. I have always felt that it was very important to be educated about the injustices in this country. It had always disappointed me that my educational institutions had rarely talked about the effects of slavery, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement, and how they have shaped the current world we live in. I took the opportunity to write a research paper about these topics, and I wanted to specifically investigate the effect of Brown v. Board in the U.S. today and how the Supreme Court ruling has shaped the country. As I began my research, the secondary question arose of whether Black Americans today are still negatively impacted by the segregation that had ended decades ago. This question was very interesting to explore as I found that there are indeed still negative impacts of segregation, and that there is still progress to be made in the way of equality. As my interest in this topic grew, I wanted to specify my area of research to the impacts on academic success of people of color. My goal is to bring awareness to readers of the injustices that are still going on everywhere, but specifically academically for Black students. I hope that readers can engage with the article and become more well-versed — and hopefully interested — in the way the United States is operating after segregation and how the end of segregation was not the end of inequality.