Desegregation of Higher Education in Deep South

This legal research paper discusses the history of the federal cases dealing with desegregation of publicly-supported higher education in the Deep South, primarily the Ayers/Fordice cases in federal courts in Mississippi and the appeals and subsequent proceedings therefrom cited below, and their implications for the continued existence and functioning of historically black universities (HBUs), sometimes referred to as historically black institutions (HBIs) or historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

After the Civil War, HBIs served a unique and critical function in educating young blacks (African-Americans) in the Southern states, but they were severely handicapped by and served as an integral part of a pattern of legally-sanctioned de jure racial segregation, educational deprivation and political, economic and social subordination of blacks in the South. HBIs were separate but far from equal. After the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) that racial segregation in public elementary and secondary schools was inherently unequal and mandated that it end, a series of legal actions were initiated by the federal government and private parties under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and Title VI to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to challenge the legality of and to end de jure racial segregation in higher education in the South. The

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nts seeking higher education had 'real freedom' to choose the institution of their choice, the State need do no more." The Court, therefore, declined to follow the Bazelon standard. It acknowledged that because of the presence of free student choice, colleges and universities differed from lower public schools and that there were differences which desegregation law should take into account. However, in its view, as it stated at 729, "if policies traceable to the prior de jure system are still in force and have discriminatory effects, those policies must be reformed to the extent practicable and consistent with sound educational practices." Indeed, the continuation of such discriminatory practices, in fact, said the Court at 733 "substantially restrict a person's choice of which institution to enter, and they contribute to the racial identifiability of the eight public universities in Mississippi" which the State must either "justify . . . or eliminate." Other areas of concern were the widespread duplication of programs and facilities among HWIs and HWIs and the differential system of missions assigned to HWIs and BWIs. The University of Mississippi and other HWIs were designated as 'flagship' or 'comprehensive' universities, and
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Approximate Word count = 5736
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)

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