Mr. Winkle

Mr. Winkle gave us a great history of Brown vs. Board and the process of desegregation in Mississippi. One of the things that i found interesting about the Brown vs. Board decisions was the certainty and uncertainty of various aspects of the ruling. For instance, although the supreme court judges were adamant about having a unanimous decision to outlaw segregation, they failed to establish any timeline under which desegregation was enacted. This failure, resulted in the continuance of segregated schools for another 14 years in Mississippi. The fact that the supreme court was adamant about ruling in favor of desegregation yet extremely lenient in following through shows a stark contradiction on the part of the Supreme court justices.

Another interesting topic was the manner in which southern states responded to Brown vs. Board. The fact that Mississippi went as far as to eliminate compulsory attendance in public schools for a period of time shows the strong racism that was present in the state. This institutional racism is still one of the largest issues in Mississippi as shown by the differences in education provided for blacks and whites. Although no longer legally segregated, de facto segregation still causes educational disparities between blacks and whites which aren't very different from those suffered during legal segregation. Although Mississippi has come a long way since the Brown vs. Board years, speakers like Mr. Barksdale and Dr. Mullins have shown that change is slow to come.

Brown vs. Board was a moumental case in the history of the United States, but it was not a miracle decision. The problems that came with segregation still linger in Mississippi 45 years later, and a vast amount of change needs to occur before there is true educational equality in Mississippi and across the nation.