The history of racism and the struggles of the marginalized, particularly the African Americans, in the United States have been a subject of study for many historians, anthropologists and social scientists, not to mention the myriad of fictional writings on the topic. Peter Irons, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, presents a thoroughly researched account of the history of black education in the United States in his highly provocative book “Jim Crow's Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision.” Tracing the history of black education from slavery to the present, Irons establishes the United States have failed in providing equal education to blacks; even the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) ordering desegregation of public schools in the South, have been a failure, a broken promise, to the African Americans in the United States.

Beginning from the time of the Dred Scott decision when Negroes were declared as property, when the black children were beaten to darkness for learning to read, Irons outlines the barriers faced by African Americans in gaining equal education as the whites in the United States, until the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which resolved the doctrine of “Separate but Equal” education. The historical account continues with the innumerable cases argued by Thurgood Marshall and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Legal and Educational Defense Fund (NAACP) strategy leading to the decision to desegregate education in Brown v. Board of Education. The later chapters of the book present Peter Irons’ crucial thesis – the broken promise and the troubled legacy of Brown decision, in providing equal education in the United States

Irons’ spends a considerable part of his research, trying to present and analyze the counter-reaction of the whites, not only in the South, but also in the North and across the West to the Supreme Court decision in Brown, often offsetting the legality of forced integration. He discusses such reactions as the busing controversies, white flight and the violent protests in cities like Cleveland, in trying to analyze the reason for the functional, de facto failure of desegregation legislation. In the concluding chapters, Irons delves into the consequences of desegregation, the reality of equal education and the status of blacks in America, by interviewing African American students and the plaintiffs in Brown.

His research confirms that while Brown’s case succeeded in invalidating federal approval of de jure segregation, the intent of the legislation, delivering equal education to Jim Crow’s children, the African American youth, remains an unfulfilled goal as America celebrates the 50 th anniversary of Brown case. revealing that Jim Crow's spirit, if not his body, lives on. While the advocates of civil rights and equal education to the blacks have fought their way to Brown v. Board of Education, the milestone decision facilitating desegregation of public schools in the South, the deep rooted racist influences that continue to plague the American society have failed the legendary decision as well as American blacks.

The blacks in the Americas have had a terrible history in every social sphere; education was no different. As the slave recounts in Irons’ commentary, during the years of Dred Scott decision, the white owners would “beat the daylights out” (p.1) of their slaves, if they ever knew of the latter’s attempt of learning to read. The whites well realized the power of education and the threat to their command as they negated and punished the blacks attempt to educate themselves.

As the American society emerged out of slavery, the racial society as it is, in the 1880s devised l aws – the Jim Crow Laws –that enforced racial segregation and denied black Americans their civil rights. Though the whites lost their right to beat or punish the black children for learning, education remained an elusive dream as t he Jim Crow laws excluded the blacks from virtually all-public accommodations -- education, housing, and health care were limited and often substandard. The Supreme Court's decision in the iniquitous case of Plessy v. Ferguson, in 1896 upheld the legality of the “separate but equal” doctrine in all public spheres including education; while “separation” was realized, “equality” remained elusive to the black children. That is to say, although the black Americans gained access to education, equal education was denied to them as they received second-rate education in substandard school.

The Challenge to Plessy v. Ferguson

The enactment of the 14th Constitutional Amendment in 1868, forbidding states from depriving citizens of their rights and privileges, defining citizenship was a blow to the Jim Crow legislations. However, the court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which approved de jure segregation, establishing “equal but separate” schools for blacks led to the elimination of black children from mainstream education. Also, though equality was professed, the segregated education was seldom equal.

Black schools often lacked amenities, drinking water and other conveniences such as transport facilities. The schools were in dilapidated condition and the quality of education was also substandard. Although the 14 th Amendment was inconclusive as to its anticipated effect on public education, segregation was alleged as depriving the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Advocates of social equity, such as NAACP, led by Thurgood Marshall, challenged the court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which legalized racism and racial practices in the predominantly white society. Irons presents an in-depth discussion on the five legal cases, by black parents and children in South Carolina, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Delaware and Kansas, represented by the legal defense fund of NAACP, challenging the legitimacy of Jim Crow (segregated) schools. These cases have substantially contributed to the desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

Clarendon County, S.C., filed in 1948, is reported as the first legal case that challenged the Plessy decision. Irons reports that Levi Pearson, the farmer who instituted the lawsuit, lived nine miles from the nearest black school and wanted only a bus to transport his children there. Towards establishing the unequal status of black schools, Irons states that the alleged school board, “spent $179 for each white student, but only $43 for each black child.” (p.79) Also the black students had to walk to school, the school board reserved all of its 30 buses for white children, the real reason that spurred the case. In Prince Edward County, Va., the second case that Irons report to have led to Brown decision, black students, “tired of tar-paper shacks,” (p. 80) campaigned for a new black school, as the county’s white electorate “refused to raise county taxes to pay for new black schools.” (p. 80-81)

Considering the merits of the different cases, while deciding on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren ruled against segregation, as it would deprive blacks “of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system” concluding that “in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place,” as separate schools are “inherently unequal”

The main thesis of Irons’ book—the failure of Brown in delivering equal education— concurs with James Patterson's argument in Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy. Both the works confirm that Brown did not end segregated education, equal education still continues to be an evasive dream to African Americans in the United States.

Irons blames the U.S. Supreme Court for the broken promise of Brown and its troubled legacy. While white resistance and growing residential segregation hindered court-ordered desegregation, the courts aggressively pursued integration in the early stages of Brown, by enforcing federal mandates, and imposing busing on the rest of the nation. However, by forcing integration the court messed up American cities by driving out the white taxpayers, destroying whites’ faith in the courts and facilitating class lines between liberals and finally conceding to the authority of the conservative Republicans like Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and William Rehnquist. By the 1970s and 1980s, the busing mandates were removed and white flights from heavily black districts began to be tolerated.

Troubled by the opposition to busing, in Milliken v. Bradley (1974), the court barred “multidistrict” busing carrying inner-city children to suburban schools, and vice versa, overthrowing desegregation. Irons argues that, by the 1990s, due to the rising resistance to school busing and the emergence of conservatism in the country, the courts began what he calls the “judicial burial” of Brown by setting precedents that continued to allow segregated schools. In the 1991 Dowell case, a Supreme Court, constituting the appointees of Presidents Reagan and Bush, held that desegregation orders were temporary and that school boards could return to segregated neighborhood schools, explicitly limiting desegregation rights. The further cases - Freeman v. Pitts in 1992 and Jenkins case in 1995 – further “buried” Brown. By limiting desegregation and validating re-segregation, the Courts have caused judicial burial of Brown, as conservatives stand to benefit from the preseravation of class enabled by segragated education.