Abstract
This article examines the legacy of segregation and desegregation in the town of Parsons, Kansas. We argue that school desegregation, the goal of which was to increase access and equalize educational opportunities for African Americans, did not have that desired affect. Fifty years after the closing of the all-Black Douglass School, Parsons’ citizens had not openly acknowledged the effects this event had on the African American community. Three generations later, African American student achievement still lags behind that of White students. These unresolved issues have contributed to a number of losses in the Black community, including loss of Black teachers and loss of talented Black young people. We use theories of social capital and cultural capital as a framework to illustrate how White, middle class students had greater access to school resources, and to identify the social and cultural resources within the Black community that the school district could build upon, such as strong leadership and a sense of resolve and resiliency.
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Notes
We use “Black” and “African American” interchangeably. Most of our study participants used “Black” when referencing their own racial identity, as well as to designate a particular community within Parsons. The U.S. Census Bureau and other government organizations that disaggregate data into racial categories use both terms.
The district had adopted a school configuration known as 6-4-4, which meant that elementary school was first through sixth grade, junior high school was 7th through 10th grade, and the last 4 years were 11th and 12th grades of high school and 2 years of junior college. The senior high school and junior college were housed in the same building and were not officially racially segregated. This practice continued until the 1960s.
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Patterson, J.A., Niles, R., Carlson, C. et al. The Consequences of School Desegregation in a Kansas Town 50 Years After Brown . Urban Rev 40, 76–95 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-007-0074-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-007-0074-6