Tens of Thousands of Black Teachers in the South and Border States Lost Their Jobs Post-Brown. What About Those Outside the South?

In the two decades following the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, some 38,000 Southern Black teachers lost their jobs—a phenomenon that some scholars have argued was not an “unintended consequence” of desegregation, but an integral part of the resistance to it.

However, few scholars have studied how Brown impacted Black teachers in the North (this report refers to all regions outside of the South as part of the larger “North” that was not part of the Jim Crow “South”).

In “The Impact of Brown v. Board of Education on Black Teachers Outside of the South, 1934-1974,” Educational Foundations Professor Zoë Burkholder traces this complex history before and after Brown.

About the Report

Leading up to the decision’s 70th anniversary on May 17, 2024, the report was commissioned by the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) as part of a larger research project entitled “Leveraging Title II of ESSA and Redressing the Post-Brown Decimation of the Black Educator Workforce in the South to Support School Integration and Educator Diversity,” supported by American Institutes for Research’s Equity Initiative.

“As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board, it’s important to recognize how this ruling has shaped the long struggle for Black educational equality since 1954,” said Zoë Burkholder. “One thing that is clear is that we are still grappling with its complex legacy today.”

Key Finding

In tracing the complex history of Black teachers outside the South before and after 1954, Burkholder found that Northern Black teachers generally did not lose their jobs directly or indirectly due to Brown, in contrast to their Southern peers (who, in 1966, accounted for roughly 85% of the U.S. Black teaching force). Prior to the Brown ruling, the number of Northern Black teachers had actually been slowly rising, in concert with Black population growth resulting from the Great Migration, during which some six million Black Americans relocated to the North and West, almost entirely in cities.

However, gains in the Northern Black teaching force did not last. The overall percentage of Black teachers as part of the U.S. teaching force started to decline two decades after 1954—and this history continues today in the widespread underrepresentation of Black teachers in schools.

Questions Addressed in the Report

• What were the consequences of Brown on Black teachers outside of the South and border states?
• How did desegregation efforts impact the teaching force in Northern regions of the country?
• What are the lasting effects of the loss of Black educators on communities and education systems?

“Professor Burkholder’s research challenges us to broaden our perspective as we consider what it will truly take to achieve educator diversity at scale,” said Gina Chirichigno, director of NCSD. “A more nuanced understanding of this history helps us appreciate how far we have to go, and why.”

Access the full report online here.

To schedule an interview with Zoë Burkholder, contact the Montclair State University Media Relations team.

For more information about the Educational Foundations program at Montclair State University, visit montclair.edu/educational-foundations.