From Deseret News archives:
Brown set the tone for change in Utah
"They . . . would probably be at a black school, and I'd be at a white school," said Adelena Duran, 8, pointing to two boys one of Laotian descent, one of Mexican descent across the table. "I'm friends with David and Joseph."
"I'd be at the Asian school," replied Joseph Lee, 8. "I'd be in the black school," said David Landa, 8.
"Martin Luther King, he gave a speech," said third-grader Cheyanna Burk, 9. "It means a lot to me, because we wouldn't have this kind of world if Martin Luther King didn't have that speech, and I wouldn't have all the friends that I have."
But before there was a King or a Rosa Parks, there was the U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed public school segregation. Today marks the 50th anniversary of that landmark decision.
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People argued that equality in education could not be achieved until segregation in the schools was ended.
Craig Fuller, Utah State Historical Society historian, said the state's black population at that time was "pretty minimal."
Blacks and other minorities made up too small a fraction of Utah's population to ever fill up their own schools, so the public schools weren't segregated, Fuller said.
Blacks, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders together comprised 1.7 percent of the state's total population, according to the 1950 census, Fuller said. Hispanics, which today comprise the state's largest minority group 9 percent of the population in 2000 were not counted in 1950. Today about 11 percent of the state's population are minorities, according to the census.
Opportunities denied
While the state did not separate its minority students, there were instances of black college graduates who were denied employment as teachers. As of May 1954, the NAACP reported that no black teacher had taught at any level in the Utah education system, said Ross Peterson, professor of history at Utah State University. His account of Brown v. Board's impact will be published later this year in the Utah Historical Quarterly.
Comments
- Soccer MVPs know how to win 1:56 a.m.
- Alta's Ohai is Ms. Soccer 2009 1:56 a.m.
- High school soccer: Past MVPs 1:37 a.m.
- Senators want food tax restored 1:27 a.m.
- Utah women lag in higher education 1:16 a.m.
- Hatch empathizes with Muslims 1:14 a.m.
- Matheson gets no thanks from GOP 1:13 a.m.
- Mitchell seeks to block witnesses 1:12 a.m.
- Party insiders may take on Bennett 1:11 a.m.
- Input sought on nondiscrimination 1:11 a.m.
- TCU showdown has big implications
- Seniors helped BYU regroup
- Lambert surprisingly tops news
- Hope for single moms
- Bystanders framed for child porn
- Korver and Miles to be evaluated
- Soccer MVPs know how to win
- Utah Jazz Extra: Whose hot/not
- Matheson gets no thanks from GOP
- Newhouse Hotel, an explosive end
- House passes health care bill
228 - TCU showdown has big implications
183 - Lobo suspended
182 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
154 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
131 - TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
118 - Thousands protest health bill
114 - RSL rallies to advance
103 - No 'backlash' for pioneers, gays analogy
97 - Utes pound winless Lobos
89
Meghan McCain, the daughter of former presidential candidate John...
Why do so many people live so close to refineries in Utah and elsewhere?
Sounds like a good option if you can't or won't switch to AT&T for the...
I worked with and around Bill Sederburg for 5 years while he was at...
hand. He needs to work on his moves to the basket and rebounding. Lateral...
play Fez or Koufos tonight. He went with a smaller line up and Boozer, Okur...
I've met Bennett before and he is a nice man. He also knows the Constitution...
That's never been a secret. Everyone will pay for it except those that don't...
I agree with NonMormon. I am active LDS, and I enjoy Ash's articles, and I...
I kept saying don't resign Milsap, especially after Portland offered that...
BYU is the slowest team that has ever been in the top 25. Utah will put up a...
i think u have the cowboys ranked too low! at least an A- LOL nice work!



You can be the first to comment on this story.