Why did the decision in Brown v Board of Education not end segregation?

Answer 1

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)

Brown v. Board of Education II, 349 US 294 (1955)

The US Supreme Court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional in their decision for Brown v. Board of Education, (1954), but had no plan for implementing integration. The Court asked both sides to develop a strategy for dismantling the old educational infrastructure and addressing the logistics of integrating the schools.

The Court convened in April 1955 to hear arguments related to integration in Brown v. Board of Education II, 349 US 294 (1955), the planned second phase of the landmark civil rights case. In Brown II, the schools requested more time to make changes, preferring to phase in integration over an extended period of time. Civil rights activists wanted more rapid changes.

The Supreme Court attempted to forge a compromise and issued an order for US District Courts to oversee creation of racially nondiscriminatory school districts "with all deliberate speed," indicating an expectation of diligent haste, but leaving the time frame vague, open to interpretation, and more difficult to enforce.

Some school districts, including Topeka, Kansas, the city where the named case originated, responded quickly; other districts, particularly those in the South, resisted integration and were obstructionist, rather than cooperative.

The federal government under the Eisenhower administration was less than proactive about enforcing the Brown decisions on a national basis, only intervening in isolated cases (such as the Little Rock Nine). This allowed the process to extend more than a decade in some areas, until Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, legislation that finally assisted the progress of civil rights.

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Answer 2

There was massive resistance by the states to the order to desegregate the schools in accordance with the Brown decision. Some states simply closed down all public schools instead of desegregating them.