One of the downsides of Brown v. Board is how it dismantled many black communities since many black high schools had to be downgraded into Junior High/Middle Schools. Black High Schools were educational and often times social epicenter of the community. Many of the black teachers lived in the same community their school was located in. There was a sense of community when the teachers knew and lived in proximity to their students parents. Often times the parents children would go to these said schools. To also add, many of these schools were mandated to be downgraded by the state. Only a few manage to remain by taking it to court on a state level or due to certain factors like a population boom.
Many black teachers would have to go to white high schools and may have to take different titles they're not accustomed to. Ex. A science teacher at a black high school, may now have to be a Phys. Ed teacher, or teach social studies. Some would prosper, some would end up quitting due to a loss of interest, some would end up fired since they're not adhering to these new quotas in an integrated school. Black students integrating into white schools faced hell by their new white classmates.
Businesses in the black community would also be impacted since students during that time were allowed to go off campus for lunch and would patronize the local restaurants in the community.
Black schools would receive hand me down books with torn up pages, hand me down desks that weren't in the best conditions and still prospered attending HBCUs. When I've done several oral history interviews about HBHS (Historically Black High Schools) many of the alumnis feel as if integration of our schools was just as impactful as the highways purposely running through black neighborhoods.
Props OP on this thread, hopefully it leads to a great topic of discussion on here.
5 stars plus rep
