Symposium Introduction - <i>Brown v. Board of Education</i> After Fifty Years: Context and Synopsis

For white Southerners, the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education was important because it challenged racial discrimination in the most important governmental function of their communities: public education. As a consequence, the significance of Brown is not limited to the legal strategies of the parties or the decision-making process on the Supreme Court, however critical those activities were. Of additional usefulness in understanding Brown is the experience of the people who would either defy or support it. The essential political nature of Brown requires an effort to consider its impact at the local level.

The experience of Macon, Georgia, past and present, provides appropriate context for a summary of the Brown litigation. This approach advances the highest purpose of studying Brown, which is to connect formal legal developments with broader currents in ideas, society, and politics.