How did education improve after the Brown v Board of Education decision?

Answer 1

Public schools were gradually desegregated, or integrated.

This didn't happen as quickly as some people believe because the order for desegregation wasn't formulated until the year after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, in Brown v. Board of Education II, 349 US 294 (1955).

In Brown II, the Supreme Court declined to set a firm deadline for desegregation, so many school districts, particularly in the South, delayed making changes for years, petitioned the court for exception and extensions, and attempted to circumvent the order by redistricting. A few cities, like Little Rock, Arkansas, openly defied the Supreme Court, allowing bigoted members of the community to block integration with intimidation and threats of violence.

President Eisenhower responded to the crisis in Little Rock by sending a National Guard troop to protect the nine African-American students enrolled at the "white" high school, but otherwise did little to enforce the Court's decision.

Desegregation didn't begin in earnest until Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Case Citation:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Answer 2

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)

The decision in Brown stated that "separate but equal" schools, being separate but not at all equal, were unconstitutional. Although it required a great deal of effort over several years, the desegregation of "separate but equal" school districts increased funding for black students and exposed white students to a healthy dose of diversity. [I say this as the product of an integrated school system.] An unintended consequence was the proliferation of private (read white) schools in some hard-core segregationist communities.

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Answer 3

Integration of schools, especially in the south, began to occur. The first school to be integrated was the Little Rock High School in Arkansas. President Eisenhower overrode the orders of the Governor of Arkansas, sent in the National Guard, and made sure that nine African-American students could attend the school. They became famous as "The Little Rock Nine".