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In Brown's Wake: Legacies of America's Educational Landmark
What is the legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education ? While it is well known for establishing racial equality as a central commitment of American schools, the case also inspired social movements for equality in education across all lines of difference, including language, gender, disability, immigration status, socio-economic status, religion, and sexual orientation. Yet more than a half century after Brown, American schools are more racially separated than before, and educators, parents and policy makers still debate whether the ruling requires all-inclusive classrooms in terms of race, gender, disability, and other differences.
In Brown's Wake examines the reverberations of Brown in American schools, including efforts to promote equal opportunities for all kinds of students. School choice, once a strategy for avoiding Brown, has emerged as a tool to promote integration and opportunities, even as charter schools and private school voucher programs enable new forms of self-separation by language, gender, disability, and ethnicity.
Martha Minow, Dean of Harvard Law School, argues that the criteria placed on such initiatives carry serious consequences for both the character of American education and civil society itself. Although the original promise of Brown remains more symbolic than effective, Minow demonstrates the power of its vision in the struggles for equal education regardless of students' social identity, not only in the United States but also in many countries around the world. Further, she urges renewed commitment to the project of social integration even while acknowledging the complex obstacles that must be overcome. An elegant and concise overview of Brown and its aftermath, In Brown's Wake explores the broad-ranging and often surprising impact of one of the century's most important Supreme Court decisions.
In Brown's Wake examines the reverberations of Brown in American schools, including efforts to promote equal opportunities for all kinds of students. School choice, once a strategy for avoiding Brown, has emerged as a tool to promote integration and opportunities, even as charter schools and private school voucher programs enable new forms of self-separation by language, gender, disability, and ethnicity.
Martha Minow, Dean of Harvard Law School, argues that the criteria placed on such initiatives carry serious consequences for both the character of American education and civil society itself. Although the original promise of Brown remains more symbolic than effective, Minow demonstrates the power of its vision in the struggles for equal education regardless of students' social identity, not only in the United States but also in many countries around the world. Further, she urges renewed commitment to the project of social integration even while acknowledging the complex obstacles that must be overcome. An elegant and concise overview of Brown and its aftermath, In Brown's Wake explores the broad-ranging and often surprising impact of one of the century's most important Supreme Court decisions.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2005
About the author
Martha Minow
38 books13 followersMartha Louise Minow is an American legal scholar and the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She served as the Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law School since 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 12, 2016
Minow's "In Brown's Wake" is a very interesting analysis of the famous Supreme Court case "Brown vs. Board of Education", decided in 1954. Minow's writing style is very scholarly and is probably written with the university law student in mind. Indeed, I never would have found the book, had I not been traipsing through the stacks on a recent visit to Yale University's bookstore.
This book definitely makes you think about the long complicated history of the case, both before the landmark decision and afterwards. I knew that this case was important, but I had no idea of the worldwide reverberations that this case has had, and continues to have in the legal world, now six decades later. A bitter irony, though, now 60 plus years later, is that the Brown case has resulted in improvements in just about every facet of American education, except for racial integration. Minow's book does a great job outlining the many and varied affects of the case and is a good read for anyone interested in legal history.
This book definitely makes you think about the long complicated history of the case, both before the landmark decision and afterwards. I knew that this case was important, but I had no idea of the worldwide reverberations that this case has had, and continues to have in the legal world, now six decades later. A bitter irony, though, now 60 plus years later, is that the Brown case has resulted in improvements in just about every facet of American education, except for racial integration. Minow's book does a great job outlining the many and varied affects of the case and is a good read for anyone interested in legal history.
March 31, 2013
Everyone knows Brown v. Board of Education is a landmark case, but just how has it affected education and civil rights? Martha Minow explores that question, looking at a number of educational policies and how they affect communities and children: racial segregation and integration; separate schools for boys and girls; access to education for disabled children; education of immigrant children; school choice, charter schools, vouchers. She concludes: "Inside the United States, Brown may turn out to have more influence on racial justice outside the context of schooling, more influence on schooling outside the context of racial integration, and more significance to law outside of both race and schooling."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews