Jackson State University              
   Mississippi's Urban University
   Department of________________________
   History and Philosophy

Giving A Voice to a Shared Past:
Public Education and (De)segregation in Mississippi, 1868-2000
  

  Unit Overview and Lesson Plan
  Articles
  Acknowledgments

Unit Title:  Giving A Voice to a Shared Past:  Public Education and (De) segregation in Mississippi, 1868-2000

Mississippi Social Studies Competencies:

        Mississippi Studies Framework: Competencies 3 and 5.

Unit Objectives:
        1.  The student will trace the development of public education in the State of Mississippi, giving particular
             attention to the differences between the educational opportunities for white and black students. 

        2.  The student will examine the history of public education in Mississippi, noting significant events and trends
             that emerged from four distinct periods in Mississippi history:  Reconstruction to 1900, 1900 to 1953,
             1954 to 1970, and 1970 to the present.

         3.  The student will identify strategies utilized by the State of Mississippi to hinder the education of black children  
              and resist desegregation, as well as the counter-measures taken by blacks to overcome such obstacles.

Unit Overview:
         This unit may be divided into four lessons according to the time periods used to frame the natural divisions of the
         history of public education in Mississippi.  Those four periods are:

          1868-1900 -  The Origins of Public Education in Mississippi
                        This period covers the early efforts of the State to educate its children, dating from Reconstruction
                        through the Constitution of 1890 and up to the beginning of the 20th Century.

          1900-1953 - Sustaining the Infrastructure of Public Education in Mississippi
                         This period covers the struggle to build and maintain funding for white and black schools.  This was
                         a period of dramatic growth, change, and challenge as the state moved from the progressive period
                         into the Great Depression, World War II and up to the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown vs.
                         Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas.  Special emphasis will be given to the efforts of black families
                         to support their schools through a combination of charity, philanthropy, and private donations from
                         their own resources.

          1954-1970 - Brown and Beyond: Rising Expectations
                         The landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education set off shock waves across the state.  This lesson will
                         examine the white social and political responses to the decision and the efforts of black Mississippians to
                         obtain equal education opportunities for their children in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement.

          1970-present - Progress and Enduring Legacies:  Mississippi Public Education since 1970.
                          Even with the passage of Brown vs. Board of Education, Mississippi schools were not fully integrated
                          until the early 1970s.  This lesson will cover the implementation of Brown I and II, and note the white
                          response to federal court orders to integrate Mississippi's public schools "with all deliberate speed."

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