1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:21,316 Speaker 1: Bushkin. On the campus of the University of Michigan, there's 2 00:00:21,356 --> 00:00:24,556 Speaker 1: a gorgeous building called the Raca Auditorium, built in the 3 00:00:24,636 --> 00:00:28,516 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties in the Classical Renaissance style. And in January 4 00:00:28,556 --> 00:00:31,036 Speaker 1: of two thousand and four, on one of those cold 5 00:00:31,116 --> 00:00:34,276 Speaker 1: Michigan days, a woman takes the stage in front of 6 00:00:34,356 --> 00:00:37,916 Speaker 1: a big crowd. She's in her sixties. Her name is 7 00:00:37,916 --> 00:00:38,716 Speaker 1: missus Thompson. 8 00:00:40,116 --> 00:00:44,956 Speaker 2: Good evening, It's indeed a pleasure to be with you 9 00:00:45,076 --> 00:00:49,276 Speaker 2: this evening here on the campus of the University of Michigan, the. 10 00:00:49,156 --> 00:00:50,396 Speaker 3: Home of the Wolverines. 11 00:00:50,476 --> 00:00:55,556 Speaker 2: Is that right? And I heard you had a game 12 00:00:55,636 --> 00:01:01,196 Speaker 2: last night you only lost it by two points. Huh. 13 00:01:01,556 --> 00:01:03,556 Speaker 1: She tells a funny story about how she was once 14 00:01:03,636 --> 00:01:06,356 Speaker 1: invited to speak at NASAU and thought she was going 15 00:01:06,356 --> 00:01:09,636 Speaker 1: to the Bahamas, only to discover that it was NASA County, 16 00:01:09,676 --> 00:01:12,956 Speaker 1: Long Island. She talks a little bit about her childhood 17 00:01:12,996 --> 00:01:16,436 Speaker 1: and her family. Then right in the middle of her talk, 18 00:01:16,796 --> 00:01:19,836 Speaker 1: she starts reading a notice of termination sent many years 19 00:01:19,876 --> 00:01:22,556 Speaker 1: ago to a teacher named Darla Buchanan. 20 00:01:22,836 --> 00:01:27,476 Speaker 2: Dear Miss Buchanan, due to the present uncertainty about enrollment 21 00:01:27,556 --> 00:01:30,796 Speaker 2: next year, it is necessary for me to notify you 22 00:01:30,916 --> 00:01:34,396 Speaker 2: now that your services will not be needed for next year. 23 00:01:35,596 --> 00:01:38,556 Speaker 1: The students in the auditorium are wrapped. This is not 24 00:01:38,596 --> 00:01:42,796 Speaker 1: what they expected. But Missus Thompson goes on and reads 25 00:01:42,836 --> 00:01:43,796 Speaker 1: all the way to the end. 26 00:01:44,316 --> 00:01:46,396 Speaker 2: I think I understand that all of you must be 27 00:01:46,476 --> 00:01:51,316 Speaker 2: under considerable strain, and I sympathize with the uncertainties an 28 00:01:51,316 --> 00:01:55,996 Speaker 2: inconvenience which you must be experiencing during this period of adjustment. 29 00:01:57,236 --> 00:02:01,276 Speaker 1: This period of adjustment, remember that line. It's a nice 30 00:02:01,276 --> 00:02:09,076 Speaker 1: bit of condescension and understatement. My name is Malcolm Gladwell. 31 00:02:09,636 --> 00:02:13,756 Speaker 1: You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things Overlooked 32 00:02:13,796 --> 00:02:20,596 Speaker 1: and misunderstood. This episode is about that euphemism in the 33 00:02:20,636 --> 00:02:30,356 Speaker 1: letter read by Missus Thompson. This period of adjustment. Not 34 00:02:30,436 --> 00:02:34,676 Speaker 1: that long ago. Americans set out to do something revolutionary 35 00:02:35,196 --> 00:02:39,116 Speaker 1: to change the world. But we botched it, and we 36 00:02:39,156 --> 00:02:41,876 Speaker 1: didn't want to admit that fact. So we swept the 37 00:02:41,956 --> 00:02:45,356 Speaker 1: whole episode under the rug and wrote letters to everyone 38 00:02:45,436 --> 00:02:49,156 Speaker 1: concerned to try and absolve ourselves of the whole business. 39 00:02:49,716 --> 00:02:54,076 Speaker 2: I believe that whatever happens will ultimately turn out to 40 00:02:54,116 --> 00:02:57,556 Speaker 2: be the best for everyone concern. 41 00:03:02,956 --> 00:03:03,236 Speaker 4: Yeah. 42 00:03:03,356 --> 00:03:03,516 Speaker 5: Right. 43 00:03:06,476 --> 00:03:09,476 Speaker 1: The letter of termination to Darla Buchanan, was written by 44 00:03:09,516 --> 00:03:13,316 Speaker 1: the superintendent of schools in Topeka, Kansas, the capital of Kansas, 45 00:03:13,676 --> 00:03:15,956 Speaker 1: a medium sized city in the upper right hand corner 46 00:03:15,956 --> 00:03:18,596 Speaker 1: of the state. Like a lot of cities and towns 47 00:03:18,636 --> 00:03:22,156 Speaker 1: in the United States, particularly those in the South, Topeka 48 00:03:22,196 --> 00:03:25,156 Speaker 1: had segregated public elementary schools. In the Jim Crow era, 49 00:03:26,156 --> 00:03:29,956 Speaker 1: White children went to neighborhood schools. Black children went to 50 00:03:29,996 --> 00:03:33,036 Speaker 1: a separate system of schools scattered around the city with 51 00:03:33,116 --> 00:03:36,716 Speaker 1: their own black teachers and black principles. In the years 52 00:03:36,716 --> 00:03:39,476 Speaker 1: after the Second World War, the leading civil rights group 53 00:03:39,516 --> 00:03:44,156 Speaker 1: of the day, the NAACP, decided to start challenging segregation. 54 00:03:44,916 --> 00:03:48,796 Speaker 1: Topeka was one of their test cases. They found thirteen 55 00:03:48,836 --> 00:03:50,956 Speaker 1: black families and asked them to go down to their 56 00:03:50,956 --> 00:03:54,876 Speaker 1: neighborhood white school and try and enroll their children. One 57 00:03:54,876 --> 00:03:57,716 Speaker 1: of the couples they asked was Oliver and Leola Brown. 58 00:03:58,756 --> 00:04:02,076 Speaker 1: Oliver Brown worked for the Santa Fe Railroad. Later he 59 00:04:02,156 --> 00:04:05,356 Speaker 1: was a pastor. This is Leola Brown from an interview 60 00:04:05,396 --> 00:04:07,996 Speaker 1: she gave in nineteen ninety one to the Kansas State 61 00:04:08,156 --> 00:04:09,276 Speaker 1: Historical Society. 62 00:04:09,676 --> 00:04:12,996 Speaker 6: My husband Oliver Brown. He was a heavyweight fighter. He 63 00:04:13,076 --> 00:04:14,436 Speaker 6: used to bit golden gloves. 64 00:04:15,436 --> 00:04:18,356 Speaker 1: The Browns had a seven year old named Linda. The 65 00:04:18,436 --> 00:04:21,076 Speaker 1: black elementary school she was supposed to go to was 66 00:04:21,116 --> 00:04:24,716 Speaker 1: cal Monroe. To get there, she had to walk seven blocks, 67 00:04:24,876 --> 00:04:28,116 Speaker 1: often in freezing weather, and cross a busy road, then 68 00:04:28,156 --> 00:04:32,276 Speaker 1: get on a bus. The local white elementary school was Sumner, 69 00:04:32,836 --> 00:04:36,236 Speaker 1: just four blocks on the Browns. Linda's playmates from the 70 00:04:36,276 --> 00:04:39,956 Speaker 1: neighborhood all went there. So one day, as instructed by 71 00:04:39,956 --> 00:04:43,876 Speaker 1: the NAACP, Oliver Brown took his daughter by the hand 72 00:04:44,236 --> 00:04:47,036 Speaker 1: and walked her over to enroll at Sumner Elementary. 73 00:04:47,316 --> 00:04:49,476 Speaker 6: As Linda said, when they got over there and that 74 00:04:49,596 --> 00:04:52,236 Speaker 6: building looked so big, there being a little kid going upstairs. 75 00:04:52,636 --> 00:04:55,196 Speaker 6: And then when they got ready to talk, they had 76 00:04:55,236 --> 00:04:57,476 Speaker 6: her sit on the outside of the office. Dad went 77 00:04:57,516 --> 00:04:58,636 Speaker 6: in was tungue to the principal. 78 00:04:59,196 --> 00:05:02,956 Speaker 1: You could imagine how uncomfortable the conversation was. Oliver Brown 79 00:05:03,116 --> 00:05:06,396 Speaker 1: was not supposed to be there, and the principal would 80 00:05:06,396 --> 00:05:08,156 Speaker 1: have had no idea what to say to him other 81 00:05:08,236 --> 00:05:11,236 Speaker 1: than I'm sorry, this is the way it is in Topeka. 82 00:05:11,756 --> 00:05:14,396 Speaker 1: With little Linda waiting out in the hall, if she. 83 00:05:14,316 --> 00:05:16,956 Speaker 6: Said, you could hear the voters kinda get a little loud, 84 00:05:17,116 --> 00:05:18,916 Speaker 6: and he said, well, it wasn't him, it was the 85 00:05:19,396 --> 00:05:22,716 Speaker 6: school board. That was a policy of the school board. 86 00:05:22,796 --> 00:05:25,196 Speaker 6: You couldn't do nothing about it, you know. So he 87 00:05:25,236 --> 00:05:27,636 Speaker 6: couldn't no way, he could not enroll Landon and that 88 00:05:27,836 --> 00:05:29,036 Speaker 6: school without. 89 00:05:28,676 --> 00:05:32,356 Speaker 1: Their preval All the black families got the same answer, 90 00:05:33,196 --> 00:05:37,636 Speaker 1: your child is not welcome. So the local NAACP chapter 91 00:05:38,076 --> 00:05:41,276 Speaker 1: sued the school board. Oliver Brown's name was put first, 92 00:05:41,636 --> 00:05:44,676 Speaker 1: Brown versus to peak a Board of Education. It was 93 00:05:44,716 --> 00:05:47,396 Speaker 1: bundled with a number of other desegregation cases from all 94 00:05:47,436 --> 00:05:50,516 Speaker 1: around the country. More than two hundred plaintiffs in all, 95 00:05:51,196 --> 00:05:53,716 Speaker 1: went all the way to the Supreme Court, and on 96 00:05:53,756 --> 00:05:56,876 Speaker 1: May seventeenth, nineteen fifty four, in one of the most 97 00:05:56,956 --> 00:06:00,716 Speaker 1: famous legal decisions in American history, the Court ruled in 98 00:06:00,836 --> 00:06:05,996 Speaker 1: Oliver Brown's favor. The practice of educating black and white 99 00:06:05,996 --> 00:06:09,556 Speaker 1: school children separately was ruled unconstantal. 100 00:06:11,596 --> 00:06:16,956 Speaker 5: It was a unanimous decision and had the broadest possible language, 101 00:06:17,036 --> 00:06:20,356 Speaker 5: which should set for rest, once and for all the 102 00:06:20,476 --> 00:06:24,516 Speaker 5: problem as to whether or not a second class citizenship 103 00:06:25,156 --> 00:06:28,956 Speaker 5: segregation could be consistent any longer with the law of 104 00:06:28,996 --> 00:06:30,316 Speaker 5: the country. 105 00:06:30,916 --> 00:06:32,996 Speaker 1: I'm guessing you were taught about the Brown decision in 106 00:06:33,076 --> 00:06:37,396 Speaker 1: school or have watched a documentary on it. It's a milestone, 107 00:06:38,076 --> 00:06:41,436 Speaker 1: but at the same time it's a strange case. You 108 00:06:41,436 --> 00:06:43,756 Speaker 1: could fill an auditorium with all the scholars who have 109 00:06:43,796 --> 00:06:46,596 Speaker 1: a quarrel with Brown. I mean, just go back and 110 00:06:46,636 --> 00:06:49,196 Speaker 1: read it. It's supposed to be a ruling in favor 111 00:06:49,276 --> 00:06:52,116 Speaker 1: of Oliver and Liola Brown and the families of Topeka, 112 00:06:52,676 --> 00:06:55,956 Speaker 1: but the court actually says something entirely different from what 113 00:06:55,996 --> 00:06:57,556 Speaker 1: the black people of Topeka were saying. 114 00:06:58,236 --> 00:07:02,676 Speaker 6: I went to Monroe School. You're Intopeka from grade one 115 00:07:02,716 --> 00:07:03,196 Speaker 6: through eight. 116 00:07:03,716 --> 00:07:06,236 Speaker 1: Listen again to Leola Brown's interview with the Kansas State 117 00:07:06,356 --> 00:07:11,316 Speaker 1: Historical Society. On several occasions, Liola is asked about Monroe, 118 00:07:11,556 --> 00:07:14,596 Speaker 1: the black school that her daughter had been attending. Leola 119 00:07:14,676 --> 00:07:17,356 Speaker 1: grew up in Topeka, she went to Monroe as well, 120 00:07:17,596 --> 00:07:20,836 Speaker 1: and Leola Brown makes it very clear that she loved Monroe. 121 00:07:21,876 --> 00:07:24,756 Speaker 6: Oh it was wonderful. I tell you, it was wonderful. 122 00:07:25,276 --> 00:07:29,196 Speaker 6: And had it not been through this walking, you know, 123 00:07:29,356 --> 00:07:31,676 Speaker 6: school and going to a part of school were possibly 124 00:07:31,836 --> 00:07:34,956 Speaker 6: never wady. You know, that's what we did. 125 00:07:35,676 --> 00:07:38,636 Speaker 1: Later in the interview the issue comes up again. The 126 00:07:38,636 --> 00:07:42,716 Speaker 1: interviewer asked Leola specifically, you didn't want your daughter to 127 00:07:42,756 --> 00:07:44,636 Speaker 1: go to the white school because the white school was 128 00:07:44,676 --> 00:07:47,756 Speaker 1: better than the black school. And Leola is adamant. Oh No, 129 00:07:48,396 --> 00:07:51,636 Speaker 1: that never came up. We were getting a quality education 130 00:07:51,676 --> 00:07:52,236 Speaker 1: at Monroe. 131 00:07:52,476 --> 00:07:53,556 Speaker 4: We didn't have any. 132 00:07:55,036 --> 00:07:57,036 Speaker 6: Going to pick with our schools for as education was 133 00:07:57,076 --> 00:08:00,276 Speaker 6: sponsor and no the teachers, because they were qualified and 134 00:08:00,356 --> 00:08:01,636 Speaker 6: they did what they were supposed to do. 135 00:08:02,796 --> 00:08:05,596 Speaker 1: For Leola and Oliver Brown, the lawsuit was a matter 136 00:08:05,636 --> 00:08:08,756 Speaker 1: of principle. They didn't think there was anything wrong with 137 00:08:08,756 --> 00:08:12,476 Speaker 1: the qual education at Monroe, the all black school. They 138 00:08:12,636 --> 00:08:15,196 Speaker 1: just thought that the Tapeka school Board shouldn't be telling 139 00:08:15,196 --> 00:08:17,636 Speaker 1: them where they could or couldn't send Linda to school, 140 00:08:18,356 --> 00:08:20,956 Speaker 1: particularly if the only reason the school board could come 141 00:08:21,036 --> 00:08:27,436 Speaker 1: up with was the color of Linda's skin. Now, listen 142 00:08:27,476 --> 00:08:30,476 Speaker 1: to the argument the Supreme Court makes in the Brown decision. 143 00:08:31,236 --> 00:08:33,476 Speaker 1: They agreed that the Browns ought to be able to 144 00:08:33,476 --> 00:08:37,556 Speaker 1: send Linda to Sumner, but their reasoning is different. I'm 145 00:08:37,636 --> 00:08:43,036 Speaker 1: quoting segregation of white and colored children in public schools 146 00:08:43,276 --> 00:08:48,036 Speaker 1: has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The Court's 147 00:08:48,116 --> 00:08:52,476 Speaker 1: conclusion was that segregation was de facto unequal. That simply 148 00:08:52,516 --> 00:08:56,156 Speaker 1: the act of educating black children separately from white children 149 00:08:56,436 --> 00:09:01,356 Speaker 1: caused harm, serious harm. The court goes on, segregation with 150 00:09:01,436 --> 00:09:04,516 Speaker 1: the sanction of law has a tendency to retard the 151 00:09:04,676 --> 00:09:10,316 Speaker 1: educational and mental development of Negro children. This was light 152 00:09:10,436 --> 00:09:14,876 Speaker 1: years away from Leola Brown's position. Leola Brown said that 153 00:09:14,956 --> 00:09:18,476 Speaker 1: black run schools like Monroe were good schools, but as 154 00:09:18,516 --> 00:09:20,796 Speaker 1: a matter of principle, she ought to be able to 155 00:09:20,956 --> 00:09:25,796 Speaker 1: enroll into a sumner. The Court said, actually, Monroe is 156 00:09:25,836 --> 00:09:28,316 Speaker 1: not a good school at all. It can't be a 157 00:09:28,316 --> 00:09:34,436 Speaker 1: good school because segregation makes it inherently inferior. Leola Brown said, 158 00:09:34,556 --> 00:09:37,596 Speaker 1: we're fine, We just want some control over our lives. 159 00:09:38,236 --> 00:09:41,876 Speaker 1: The Court said, you're not fine at all. Your educational 160 00:09:41,996 --> 00:09:53,676 Speaker 1: and mental development has been retarded by your inferior schooling. Now, 161 00:09:53,756 --> 00:09:56,756 Speaker 1: the court could have said something much more straightforward, how 162 00:09:56,756 --> 00:10:00,156 Speaker 1: about this. Schools are where people make the connections that 163 00:10:00,196 --> 00:10:02,716 Speaker 1: allow them to get ahead in the world. You cannot 164 00:10:02,756 --> 00:10:05,396 Speaker 1: lock black people out of the place where social power 165 00:10:05,396 --> 00:10:09,916 Speaker 1: and opportunity reside. That argument would have done the job right, 166 00:10:09,956 --> 00:10:12,956 Speaker 1: but the court doesn't say that. In order to condemn 167 00:10:13,036 --> 00:10:16,276 Speaker 1: the discrimination of Brown's face, the court instead makes the 168 00:10:16,316 --> 00:10:22,916 Speaker 1: case that black people are psychologically crippled. The historian Darryl 169 00:10:22,956 --> 00:10:26,116 Speaker 1: Scott wrote a brilliant book a while back called Contempt 170 00:10:26,156 --> 00:10:28,796 Speaker 1: and Pity, in which he points out that there's been 171 00:10:28,796 --> 00:10:32,516 Speaker 1: a long history behind this talk of psychological damage. It 172 00:10:32,556 --> 00:10:35,556 Speaker 1: goes back to the days of slavery. It's always been 173 00:10:35,556 --> 00:10:38,796 Speaker 1: incredibly useful for white people to explain the problems of 174 00:10:38,836 --> 00:10:43,516 Speaker 1: black people as the result of something personal internal. It 175 00:10:43,596 --> 00:10:45,196 Speaker 1: makes their problems their fault. 176 00:10:45,636 --> 00:10:48,796 Speaker 7: If you go even back to an Antebellum period, you 177 00:10:48,836 --> 00:10:51,516 Speaker 7: would see planners who would talk about how they have 178 00:10:51,636 --> 00:10:54,276 Speaker 7: no sense of family. Now, of course, these are the 179 00:10:54,356 --> 00:10:58,716 Speaker 7: very people who are selling people's families at the auction block, right. 180 00:10:58,756 --> 00:11:01,516 Speaker 7: You know, they're destroying families, but they were justify it 181 00:11:01,596 --> 00:11:04,236 Speaker 7: in their minds by saying they have no sense of families. 182 00:11:04,716 --> 00:11:08,596 Speaker 1: Another historian, Charles Payne, makes a very similar argument in 183 00:11:08,636 --> 00:11:12,196 Speaker 1: his essay The Whole United States Is Southern, which you 184 00:11:12,196 --> 00:11:14,316 Speaker 1: should read, by the way, if you ever want to 185 00:11:14,316 --> 00:11:18,396 Speaker 1: be grabbed by the lapels. Paine argues that in the 186 00:11:18,476 --> 00:11:21,876 Speaker 1: decades after the Civil War, Southern whites attempt to sell 187 00:11:21,956 --> 00:11:24,636 Speaker 1: the rest of America on this way of thinking about race. 188 00:11:25,156 --> 00:11:28,916 Speaker 1: They've basically imposed apartheid on the South through brute political 189 00:11:28,956 --> 00:11:33,596 Speaker 1: and economic force. But they want quoting pain to frame 190 00:11:33,676 --> 00:11:37,356 Speaker 1: the issue in a language of separation. Customs are way 191 00:11:37,396 --> 00:11:41,796 Speaker 1: of life and social equality, language that constructed race in 192 00:11:41,796 --> 00:11:46,836 Speaker 1: interpersonal and not structural terms. They want to pretend racial 193 00:11:46,876 --> 00:11:51,636 Speaker 1: conflict is just a psychological problem. So what does the U. S. 194 00:11:51,636 --> 00:11:54,676 Speaker 1: Supreme Court do in nineteen fifty four in the Brown decision? 195 00:11:55,316 --> 00:11:58,036 Speaker 1: It buys into the Southern way of thinking about race. 196 00:12:00,396 --> 00:12:03,116 Speaker 1: Leo Le Brown and the other plaintiffs say, we have 197 00:12:03,236 --> 00:12:07,036 Speaker 1: a structural problem. We don't have the power to send 198 00:12:07,076 --> 00:12:11,036 Speaker 1: Linda to the school down the street. The court says, no, no, no, 199 00:12:11,396 --> 00:12:15,636 Speaker 1: it's a psychological problem. Little Linda has been damaged in 200 00:12:15,756 --> 00:12:20,516 Speaker 1: her heart. That may seem like a small distinction. Believe me, 201 00:12:20,916 --> 00:12:27,076 Speaker 1: it's not. We're still dealing with the consequences. This is 202 00:12:27,116 --> 00:12:29,276 Speaker 1: a little bit of a tangent, but I think it 203 00:12:29,356 --> 00:12:33,676 Speaker 1: helps to explain why personalizing racial discussions is so problematic. 204 00:12:34,356 --> 00:12:36,596 Speaker 1: It's about a wonderful bit of research done by two 205 00:12:36,636 --> 00:12:41,236 Speaker 1: political scientists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Jason Grissom and 206 00:12:41,316 --> 00:12:45,196 Speaker 1: Christopher Reading. Grissom and Reading start with a well known 207 00:12:45,236 --> 00:12:48,116 Speaker 1: fact white students are far more likely to be in 208 00:12:48,196 --> 00:12:52,196 Speaker 1: gifted and talented programs than black students. If your kid 209 00:12:52,236 --> 00:12:54,636 Speaker 1: isn't a gifted in towented program, you've probably observed this. 210 00:12:55,316 --> 00:12:58,196 Speaker 1: We're the black kids right now. You might say, well, 211 00:12:58,276 --> 00:13:00,556 Speaker 1: that's simply a reflection of the fact that white kids, 212 00:13:00,836 --> 00:13:03,716 Speaker 1: for whatever reasons, have higher test scores on average than 213 00:13:03,756 --> 00:13:06,596 Speaker 1: black kids. So Grissom and Reading look at a large 214 00:13:06,676 --> 00:13:10,556 Speaker 1: national sample of elementary school kids and let's equalize for 215 00:13:10,636 --> 00:13:11,156 Speaker 1: test course. 216 00:13:11,516 --> 00:13:14,316 Speaker 8: In other words, let's compare two students, one black and 217 00:13:14,356 --> 00:13:17,316 Speaker 8: one white, but they both are very high achieving. 218 00:13:17,676 --> 00:13:18,396 Speaker 1: This is grisome. 219 00:13:18,676 --> 00:13:22,636 Speaker 8: Would that difference in probability that they are identified by 220 00:13:22,636 --> 00:13:24,916 Speaker 8: the system as gifted? Would that persist? And the answer 221 00:13:24,996 --> 00:13:27,796 Speaker 8: is that it does. In fact, you know, it's still 222 00:13:27,836 --> 00:13:29,836 Speaker 8: the case that even when you look at two students 223 00:13:29,876 --> 00:13:33,596 Speaker 8: who are similar on math and reading achievement in elementary school, 224 00:13:34,156 --> 00:13:36,316 Speaker 8: a white student and a black student, that white student 225 00:13:36,396 --> 00:13:39,316 Speaker 8: is still more than two times as likely to be 226 00:13:39,516 --> 00:13:42,076 Speaker 8: receiving gifted services as that black student is. 227 00:13:42,636 --> 00:13:46,396 Speaker 1: Gifted. Programs are supposed to be meritocracies, places where the 228 00:13:46,396 --> 00:13:49,836 Speaker 1: brightest children are given a chance to shine. Grisom's saying 229 00:13:50,036 --> 00:13:52,076 Speaker 1: that's not the way things work in practice. 230 00:13:52,596 --> 00:13:54,636 Speaker 8: And you can go a little further because you can 231 00:13:54,676 --> 00:13:57,516 Speaker 8: throw other things into the equation that aren't just achievement. 232 00:13:57,556 --> 00:13:59,836 Speaker 8: You can look at differences in income, the data have, 233 00:14:00,636 --> 00:14:03,756 Speaker 8: how healthy the parent says that child is. We know 234 00:14:03,836 --> 00:14:07,436 Speaker 8: what age that child entered kindergarten. You know, on average, 235 00:14:07,436 --> 00:14:10,156 Speaker 8: white students and black students enter kinder garden at different ages. 236 00:14:10,196 --> 00:14:12,836 Speaker 8: Because of the phenomenon of red shirting, white parents are 237 00:14:12,876 --> 00:14:15,916 Speaker 8: more likely to hold their kids back at the start 238 00:14:15,956 --> 00:14:18,556 Speaker 8: of schooling than black students are. That doesn't explain the 239 00:14:18,596 --> 00:14:19,276 Speaker 8: gifted gap. 240 00:14:19,796 --> 00:14:22,316 Speaker 1: In other words, you match up bright black kids with 241 00:14:22,396 --> 00:14:25,076 Speaker 1: equally bright white kids, then you make sure the two 242 00:14:25,116 --> 00:14:28,276 Speaker 1: groups are similar in age, class and the health of 243 00:14:28,316 --> 00:14:31,156 Speaker 1: their parents, and you still find that the white kids 244 00:14:31,396 --> 00:14:33,596 Speaker 1: are far more likely to be admitted to gifted and 245 00:14:33,596 --> 00:14:38,516 Speaker 1: talented programs. Kind of a puzzle, right. Finally, Grissom and 246 00:14:38,556 --> 00:14:42,516 Speaker 1: Reddings say, look, in many cases, teachers play a big 247 00:14:42,596 --> 00:14:46,356 Speaker 1: role in which students get into gifted programs. They encourage them, 248 00:14:46,396 --> 00:14:50,036 Speaker 1: they recommend them. So they think maybe the answer here 249 00:14:50,316 --> 00:14:53,356 Speaker 1: lies with not who the child is, but who the 250 00:14:53,436 --> 00:14:54,516 Speaker 1: child's teacher is. 251 00:14:54,996 --> 00:14:58,356 Speaker 8: In the overwhelming majority of school districts in the United States, 252 00:14:58,716 --> 00:15:01,036 Speaker 8: the way that a kid ever gets to be identified 253 00:15:01,076 --> 00:15:04,436 Speaker 8: as gifted is if someone in the school, usually a 254 00:15:04,436 --> 00:15:06,836 Speaker 8: classroom teacher, has to look at that kid and say, 255 00:15:07,236 --> 00:15:08,836 Speaker 8: I think this kid might be gifted. 256 00:15:09,436 --> 00:15:12,636 Speaker 1: So Grissom does something really simple. He looks at the 257 00:15:12,716 --> 00:15:15,436 Speaker 1: race of the teacher, and what he finds is that 258 00:15:15,516 --> 00:15:18,956 Speaker 1: for white kids, there's no effect. It doesn't matter, but 259 00:15:19,076 --> 00:15:20,076 Speaker 1: not for black students. 260 00:15:20,516 --> 00:15:23,636 Speaker 8: For a black student, the world looks different. So if 261 00:15:23,676 --> 00:15:26,076 Speaker 8: I am a black student and I have a black 262 00:15:26,116 --> 00:15:29,876 Speaker 8: classroom teacher, the probability that I'm assigned to giftedness in 263 00:15:30,356 --> 00:15:33,516 Speaker 8: the next year it looks very much like the probability 264 00:15:33,556 --> 00:15:36,676 Speaker 8: for a white student. But if I am a Black 265 00:15:37,196 --> 00:15:41,996 Speaker 8: student and I have a white classroom teacher, my probability 266 00:15:42,036 --> 00:15:45,116 Speaker 8: of being identified as gifted is substantially lower. 267 00:15:45,676 --> 00:15:46,476 Speaker 7: How much lower? 268 00:15:46,636 --> 00:15:50,596 Speaker 8: Okay, So for very high achieving black students, the probability 269 00:15:50,596 --> 00:15:54,196 Speaker 8: of being assigned to gifted services under a white teacher 270 00:15:54,436 --> 00:16:00,236 Speaker 8: is about half the probability as an observably similar black 271 00:16:00,276 --> 00:16:01,836 Speaker 8: student taught by a black teacher. 272 00:16:02,636 --> 00:16:05,756 Speaker 1: If you're black, having a black teacher makes a difference, 273 00:16:06,356 --> 00:16:09,356 Speaker 1: and not just for getting into gifted programs. Having a 274 00:16:09,356 --> 00:16:12,196 Speaker 1: black teacher raises the test scores of black students, It 275 00:16:12,316 --> 00:16:16,116 Speaker 1: changes the way black students behave, and it dramatically decreases 276 00:16:16,156 --> 00:16:22,476 Speaker 1: the chances a black male student would be suspended. A 277 00:16:22,516 --> 00:16:25,036 Speaker 1: group of social scientists recently went over the records of 278 00:16:25,036 --> 00:16:28,116 Speaker 1: one hundred thousand black students in North Carolina over a 279 00:16:28,156 --> 00:16:31,396 Speaker 1: five year period. They found that having even one black 280 00:16:31,436 --> 00:16:34,876 Speaker 1: teacher between the third and fifth grade reduced the chance 281 00:16:34,916 --> 00:16:36,956 Speaker 1: that an African American boy would later drop out of 282 00:16:36,996 --> 00:16:41,676 Speaker 1: high school by how much? By thirty nine percent one 283 00:16:41,716 --> 00:16:46,396 Speaker 1: black teacher. Now, does this mean that white teachers are 284 00:16:46,436 --> 00:16:50,516 Speaker 1: diabolical racists trying to hold down black students. No, this 285 00:16:50,556 --> 00:16:54,716 Speaker 1: isn't conscious discrimination. The point is that teachers have power, 286 00:16:55,436 --> 00:16:59,436 Speaker 1: the gatekeepers. They control the classroom. They decide who gets 287 00:16:59,476 --> 00:17:02,836 Speaker 1: recommended for prizes like gifted programs and who doesn't. They 288 00:17:02,876 --> 00:17:06,076 Speaker 1: decide who stays and who gets suspended. By directing their 289 00:17:06,076 --> 00:17:09,956 Speaker 1: attention to a child, a teacher can inspire by ignoring 290 00:17:09,996 --> 00:17:12,596 Speaker 1: another or sending him more often to the principal's office. 291 00:17:12,756 --> 00:17:18,956 Speaker 1: Teachers can discourage. Listen to Leola Brown again about why 292 00:17:19,036 --> 00:17:21,636 Speaker 1: she liked her elementary school Monroe so much. 293 00:17:22,236 --> 00:17:22,916 Speaker 6: I loved it. 294 00:17:23,516 --> 00:17:24,156 Speaker 4: I loved it. 295 00:17:24,236 --> 00:17:28,276 Speaker 6: The teachers who were fantastic. We got a fantastic education there. 296 00:17:28,316 --> 00:17:30,636 Speaker 6: It wasn't, as you say, this case wasn't based on that, 297 00:17:31,316 --> 00:17:34,756 Speaker 6: because we had fantastic teachers and we learned. We learned 298 00:17:34,796 --> 00:17:36,676 Speaker 6: a lot, and they were good to us, more like 299 00:17:36,716 --> 00:17:39,796 Speaker 6: an extended family like mothers and so forth. Because they 300 00:17:39,796 --> 00:17:41,516 Speaker 6: took an interest in you, you know, and. 301 00:17:43,076 --> 00:17:46,076 Speaker 1: They took an interest in you. That's what all the 302 00:17:46,116 --> 00:17:48,996 Speaker 1: research on blacks and whites and gifted programs comes down to. 303 00:17:49,836 --> 00:17:52,636 Speaker 1: You need to have someone who takes an interest in 304 00:17:52,676 --> 00:17:55,916 Speaker 1: you if you want education to work and be fair. 305 00:17:56,876 --> 00:18:00,956 Speaker 9: They made one serious mistake which I will have to 306 00:18:01,036 --> 00:18:03,436 Speaker 9: hold them responsible for. 307 00:18:04,236 --> 00:18:06,956 Speaker 1: I came across another archive of interviews from the Brown 308 00:18:06,996 --> 00:18:11,276 Speaker 1: era Duke Universities behind the Veil Oral History Project. The 309 00:18:11,356 --> 00:18:14,476 Speaker 1: interview you're hearing is from Richmond, Virginia. It's with an 310 00:18:14,476 --> 00:18:18,436 Speaker 1: African American teacher named Celestine Porter, and she says that 311 00:18:18,476 --> 00:18:21,316 Speaker 1: once you grant this idea that a teacher is a 312 00:18:21,356 --> 00:18:23,996 Speaker 1: gatekeeper and that a child needs someone to take an 313 00:18:23,996 --> 00:18:26,956 Speaker 1: interest in them, then that means integration should have been 314 00:18:26,956 --> 00:18:28,276 Speaker 1: pursued very differently. 315 00:18:28,796 --> 00:18:33,276 Speaker 9: They made students do the integration. They should have had 316 00:18:33,316 --> 00:18:38,956 Speaker 9: teachers first, and they didn't do that at every one 317 00:18:39,156 --> 00:18:42,116 Speaker 9: of those white schools, at every one of the black schools. 318 00:18:42,356 --> 00:18:44,396 Speaker 9: If they were going to sign white children into the 319 00:18:44,396 --> 00:18:47,276 Speaker 9: black school they should have had white teachers. If they 320 00:18:47,276 --> 00:18:49,756 Speaker 9: were gonna send black children unto the white schools, they 321 00:18:49,796 --> 00:18:53,396 Speaker 9: should have had some black teachers there. Now, the first 322 00:18:53,636 --> 00:18:56,796 Speaker 9: people that should have been integrated should have been teacher 323 00:18:56,876 --> 00:18:58,196 Speaker 9: and administrations first. 324 00:18:59,116 --> 00:19:00,116 Speaker 4: But they didn't do that. 325 00:19:00,316 --> 00:19:01,556 Speaker 9: They moved the children. 326 00:19:02,356 --> 00:19:06,556 Speaker 1: She's absolutely right. Read the Brown Decision for yourself. The 327 00:19:06,596 --> 00:19:09,676 Speaker 1: court goes on and on about kids, but they have 328 00:19:09,796 --> 00:19:13,676 Speaker 1: virtually nothing to say about teachers. The word teacher comes 329 00:19:13,756 --> 00:19:16,076 Speaker 1: up once in the main text and a few times 330 00:19:16,076 --> 00:19:19,236 Speaker 1: in the footnotes. That's it. How on earth can you 331 00:19:19,316 --> 00:19:22,956 Speaker 1: undertake the greatest transformation of public education in American history 332 00:19:23,236 --> 00:19:25,036 Speaker 1: and barely mentioned teachers. 333 00:19:25,556 --> 00:19:30,036 Speaker 9: Young people did not know business moved first to have 334 00:19:30,236 --> 00:19:36,476 Speaker 9: borne the brunt oh the segregation process, and it did 335 00:19:36,476 --> 00:19:40,636 Speaker 9: something to the Elstons. It did something to them, It 336 00:19:40,716 --> 00:19:45,516 Speaker 9: made them hay, It gave them a sense of nobody's share. 337 00:19:45,636 --> 00:19:49,116 Speaker 9: Farm Me and most of the students that had moved 338 00:19:49,276 --> 00:19:52,516 Speaker 9: from the black schools into the white situation. We as 339 00:19:52,636 --> 00:19:55,836 Speaker 9: teachers had been there to nurture there to help them along, 340 00:19:56,156 --> 00:20:00,996 Speaker 9: to recognize their difficulties, to work with them when they 341 00:20:01,116 --> 00:20:04,996 Speaker 9: moved into the white situation. Teachers didn't know. They didn't 342 00:20:05,036 --> 00:20:05,676 Speaker 9: know teachers. 343 00:20:05,676 --> 00:20:09,476 Speaker 1: The teachers were afraid of them. The Brown Decision was 344 00:20:09,516 --> 00:20:13,076 Speaker 1: all about children. The signature memories of the Brown era 345 00:20:13,316 --> 00:20:16,556 Speaker 1: are all about black children being escorted into previously all 346 00:20:16,556 --> 00:20:24,916 Speaker 1: white schools. We should have been talking about teachers. About 347 00:20:24,956 --> 00:20:27,196 Speaker 1: three and a half hours deue east of Topeka on 348 00:20:27,316 --> 00:20:31,556 Speaker 1: I seventy, there is a little town called Moberly. Moberly 349 00:20:31,716 --> 00:20:34,436 Speaker 1: is in the area of Missouri called Little Dixie because 350 00:20:34,476 --> 00:20:36,476 Speaker 1: it was settled by margrants from the South before the 351 00:20:36,476 --> 00:20:39,196 Speaker 1: Civil War. There was a lot of slave owning in 352 00:20:39,196 --> 00:20:41,916 Speaker 1: Little Dixie compared with the rest of Missouri, a lot 353 00:20:41,996 --> 00:20:44,756 Speaker 1: of racial hostility in that part of the state. And 354 00:20:44,836 --> 00:20:46,836 Speaker 1: I don't think you can understand what happened after the 355 00:20:46,836 --> 00:20:51,876 Speaker 1: Brown Decision without first understanding what happened in Moberly. In 356 00:20:51,916 --> 00:20:55,636 Speaker 1: the early nineteen fifties, Moberley had a school system employing 357 00:20:55,676 --> 00:20:59,396 Speaker 1: around one hundred teachers across eight schools. One of those 358 00:20:59,436 --> 00:21:04,436 Speaker 1: schools was black. It was called Lincoln. Lincoln had eleven teachers. 359 00:21:05,236 --> 00:21:08,956 Speaker 1: The year after the Brown decision. Moberley integrates. They do 360 00:21:08,996 --> 00:21:12,676 Speaker 1: that by closing the one black school, Lincoln. I'm busting 361 00:21:12,836 --> 00:21:17,436 Speaker 1: all the black students there to white schools. After closing Lincoln, 362 00:21:17,516 --> 00:21:20,516 Speaker 1: the Mobiley school system then says, wait, if we combine 363 00:21:20,556 --> 00:21:23,476 Speaker 1: all the students in Mobile into one school system, we 364 00:21:23,556 --> 00:21:25,836 Speaker 1: don't think we need as many teachers as we had before. 365 00:21:26,396 --> 00:21:29,556 Speaker 1: So they say, let's evaluate all the teachers from the 366 00:21:29,596 --> 00:21:33,436 Speaker 1: two newly combined systems. Keep the best ones, let the 367 00:21:33,516 --> 00:21:36,916 Speaker 1: mediocre ones go. I think you can see what's coming. 368 00:21:38,156 --> 00:21:40,596 Speaker 1: They decide to fire every one of the eleven black 369 00:21:40,636 --> 00:21:43,756 Speaker 1: teachers who used to work at Lincoln. So the black 370 00:21:43,796 --> 00:21:47,356 Speaker 1: teachers sue and they lose. They appeal, they lose again. 371 00:21:47,836 --> 00:21:50,276 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty nine, they asked the Supreme Court to 372 00:21:50,276 --> 00:21:54,396 Speaker 1: consider the case. The Supreme Court says, no, Brown is 373 00:21:54,436 --> 00:21:58,516 Speaker 1: the great victory, Moberly is the great defeat, and they're connected. 374 00:22:01,716 --> 00:22:04,316 Speaker 1: Let me give you a flavor of the case. The 375 00:22:04,356 --> 00:22:07,716 Speaker 1: black teachers say, you can't possibly say that we were 376 00:22:07,756 --> 00:22:10,596 Speaker 1: the absolute worst of all teachers in the combined system. 377 00:22:11,276 --> 00:22:14,516 Speaker 1: We've been evaluated for years by our superintendent and have 378 00:22:14,596 --> 00:22:18,796 Speaker 1: been given high marks. The white school board counters with sure, 379 00:22:19,436 --> 00:22:22,756 Speaker 1: but you are being compared to other black teachers. You 380 00:22:22,796 --> 00:22:25,716 Speaker 1: need to be compared to white teachers. So the black 381 00:22:25,756 --> 00:22:29,156 Speaker 1: teachers say, yeah, but we stack up really well against 382 00:22:29,156 --> 00:22:32,116 Speaker 1: white teachers. And by the way, this was not a stretch. 383 00:22:32,756 --> 00:22:36,596 Speaker 1: Virtually every profession except teaching was closed to educated African 384 00:22:36,596 --> 00:22:39,476 Speaker 1: Americans in those years. If you were smart and liked 385 00:22:39,556 --> 00:22:43,236 Speaker 1: learning in that era, you became a teacher. The court 386 00:22:43,316 --> 00:22:48,636 Speaker 1: then says, so what I'm quoting human capabilities cannot be 387 00:22:48,676 --> 00:22:56,636 Speaker 1: reduced to a mathematical formula. Intangible factors such as personality, character, disposition, industry, 388 00:22:56,676 --> 00:23:01,316 Speaker 1: and adaptability vitally affect the work of any teacher. I 389 00:23:01,356 --> 00:23:04,716 Speaker 1: think there's one intangible factor missing in that list, don't 390 00:23:04,756 --> 00:23:08,396 Speaker 1: you what could it be? Dispose? It begins with an r. 391 00:23:12,676 --> 00:23:14,836 Speaker 1: Forgive me for going on and on about this one 392 00:23:14,836 --> 00:23:17,676 Speaker 1: obscure case, but you have to get the flavor of it. 393 00:23:18,916 --> 00:23:22,396 Speaker 1: The plaintiffs say, wait, one of miss is a superstar 394 00:23:22,916 --> 00:23:27,196 Speaker 1: graduate degrees qualifications ratings to the roof. Her name is 395 00:23:27,276 --> 00:23:31,556 Speaker 1: mary Ala Timminy. And the white superintendent agrees she's a star, 396 00:23:32,316 --> 00:23:36,076 Speaker 1: but he says, I'm still not hiring her because and 397 00:23:36,156 --> 00:23:39,756 Speaker 1: when quoting here from the judge's decision because she gave 398 00:23:39,916 --> 00:23:43,756 Speaker 1: the impression that she considered herself superior to other teachers 399 00:23:44,476 --> 00:23:50,876 Speaker 1: and was resentful towards authority. Resentful towards authority, You think 400 00:23:51,076 --> 00:23:55,396 Speaker 1: she just got fired. The judge simply can't get mary 401 00:23:55,396 --> 00:23:59,156 Speaker 1: Ella Timony out of his head. I'm quoting again. It 402 00:23:59,276 --> 00:24:02,956 Speaker 1: is unfortunate when teachers have an attitude such as this 403 00:24:03,076 --> 00:24:05,756 Speaker 1: teacher has. And I do not mean to say that 404 00:24:05,796 --> 00:24:08,356 Speaker 1: such attitude is limited to any race or color, but 405 00:24:08,436 --> 00:24:11,796 Speaker 1: when it does it exist, it vitally affects the teaching 406 00:24:11,876 --> 00:24:17,396 Speaker 1: ability of the individual. She's upity, an appity negro. Of course, 407 00:24:17,436 --> 00:24:20,236 Speaker 1: they don't want to keep her because they understand the 408 00:24:20,276 --> 00:24:23,356 Speaker 1: same thing that Leola Brown understands, and all the many 409 00:24:23,396 --> 00:24:26,356 Speaker 1: academics who have studied what actually happens to black kids 410 00:24:26,396 --> 00:24:30,276 Speaker 1: in the classroom understand, which is that educational equality is 411 00:24:30,316 --> 00:24:34,876 Speaker 1: a function of who holds the power in the classroom. 412 00:24:35,236 --> 00:24:38,836 Speaker 1: So mobili misery gets rid of its black teachers, and 413 00:24:38,876 --> 00:24:43,316 Speaker 1: by the way, so does almost everybody else across the 414 00:24:43,476 --> 00:24:47,356 Speaker 1: entire South. Black teachers just get fired left and right. 415 00:24:48,036 --> 00:24:51,436 Speaker 1: It wasn't something done secretly, it was done right out 416 00:24:51,476 --> 00:24:54,636 Speaker 1: in the open. There was something like eighty two thousand 417 00:24:54,676 --> 00:24:57,676 Speaker 1: African American teachers in the South before the Brown Decision. 418 00:24:58,316 --> 00:25:02,076 Speaker 1: Within a decade, as the decision was slowly implemented across 419 00:25:02,116 --> 00:25:04,476 Speaker 1: the country, about half have been fired. 420 00:25:05,036 --> 00:25:08,636 Speaker 3: What surprises me is the kind of historical amnesia there 421 00:25:08,796 --> 00:25:12,636 Speaker 3: is surrounding that issue that many many people today who 422 00:25:12,636 --> 00:25:16,196 Speaker 3: are searching for black teachers have no understanding of the 423 00:25:16,236 --> 00:25:18,116 Speaker 3: fact that many of them lost their jobs. 424 00:25:18,396 --> 00:25:20,716 Speaker 1: One of the few scholars who has paid any attention 425 00:25:20,796 --> 00:25:24,796 Speaker 1: to what happened is Michelle Foster, an education professor at 426 00:25:24,796 --> 00:25:28,676 Speaker 1: the University of Louisville. Twenty years ago, Foster tracked as 427 00:25:28,716 --> 00:25:31,116 Speaker 1: many black teachers from that era as she could find. 428 00:25:31,756 --> 00:25:35,036 Speaker 3: What role did teachers did black women play in the 429 00:25:35,116 --> 00:25:39,036 Speaker 3: South relative to children? They were nurse maids, they were housekeepers, 430 00:25:39,076 --> 00:25:42,156 Speaker 3: they were domestics. That's the role they played. You know, 431 00:25:42,396 --> 00:25:44,116 Speaker 3: every Southern or I meet a lot of stuff they said, 432 00:25:44,156 --> 00:25:45,756 Speaker 3: I had a black somebody who took care of them. 433 00:25:46,036 --> 00:25:48,476 Speaker 3: But that's a motherl You know, that's a little different position. 434 00:25:48,996 --> 00:25:51,516 Speaker 3: When you're a teacher. You're evaluating, you're judging. 435 00:25:52,156 --> 00:25:54,356 Speaker 1: Even those who got to keep their jobs told one 436 00:25:54,436 --> 00:25:59,036 Speaker 1: story after another of humiliation. It was too much. One 437 00:25:59,076 --> 00:26:01,916 Speaker 1: of the teachers Foster interviewed went for a meeting with 438 00:26:01,956 --> 00:26:04,836 Speaker 1: the superintendent with all of the other black teachers who 439 00:26:04,836 --> 00:26:08,396 Speaker 1: were being kept on. I'm quoting. They were fifteen of us, 440 00:26:08,596 --> 00:26:10,716 Speaker 1: and not a single one of them in there as 441 00:26:10,796 --> 00:26:13,596 Speaker 1: dark as I am. Not one that ought to tell 442 00:26:13,636 --> 00:26:17,436 Speaker 1: you something. By the way, the remaining black teachers couldn't 443 00:26:17,556 --> 00:26:28,236 Speaker 1: use the teacher's bathroom. They had to use the children's bathroom. 444 00:26:28,476 --> 00:26:30,596 Speaker 1: To this day, the ranks of black teachers in the 445 00:26:30,716 --> 00:26:34,276 Speaker 1: United States have not recovered from the humiliations and mass 446 00:26:34,316 --> 00:26:38,676 Speaker 1: firings of the nineteen fifties and sixties. As a percentage, 447 00:26:38,876 --> 00:26:41,756 Speaker 1: there are far fewer black teachers than there are black students. 448 00:26:42,316 --> 00:26:44,876 Speaker 1: And when you think back to studies on how important 449 00:26:44,956 --> 00:26:48,516 Speaker 1: black teachers are for the performance of black students, that's 450 00:26:48,596 --> 00:26:55,356 Speaker 1: a tragedy. Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, one classroom after 451 00:26:55,356 --> 00:27:00,476 Speaker 1: another was purged of its black teachers and topeaka Kansas, 452 00:27:00,476 --> 00:27:03,916 Speaker 1: of course, Topeka made a show of it. They assigned 453 00:27:03,916 --> 00:27:06,596 Speaker 1: a black teacher to a half time position at the 454 00:27:06,596 --> 00:27:11,476 Speaker 1: formerly all white Randolph School. Principal, a man named Stanley Stalter, 455 00:27:11,996 --> 00:27:14,156 Speaker 1: had the task of calling up white parents to see 456 00:27:14,156 --> 00:27:18,716 Speaker 1: if they objected to this one halftime black teacher, and 457 00:27:18,796 --> 00:27:19,516 Speaker 1: of course they did. 458 00:27:20,116 --> 00:27:25,236 Speaker 4: Some were adamant. Nope, some of them had a very 459 00:27:26,636 --> 00:27:31,916 Speaker 4: peculiar reasons for not wanting this child in the black 460 00:27:31,956 --> 00:27:32,676 Speaker 4: teacher's room. 461 00:27:33,236 --> 00:27:36,956 Speaker 1: That's the principal stalter interviewed by the Kansas Historical Society. 462 00:27:37,396 --> 00:27:41,876 Speaker 4: Another one said, my child is now twelve years of age, 463 00:27:42,956 --> 00:27:47,636 Speaker 4: and it is beginning her mantrual period, and this is 464 00:27:47,676 --> 00:27:50,396 Speaker 4: not the time of her life to be put in 465 00:27:50,436 --> 00:27:58,036 Speaker 4: here with a black teacher, a male. Hey, that one 466 00:27:58,156 --> 00:27:59,116 Speaker 4: topped everything. 467 00:28:00,876 --> 00:28:02,796 Speaker 1: There's a limit to how many times a school board 468 00:28:03,116 --> 00:28:05,596 Speaker 1: is going to try and talk white tax paying parents 469 00:28:06,036 --> 00:28:09,316 Speaker 1: out of their fear of placing a menstruating adolescent in 470 00:28:09,356 --> 00:28:12,516 Speaker 1: class with a black teacher. Far easier just not to 471 00:28:12,596 --> 00:28:13,956 Speaker 1: hire any black teachers at. 472 00:28:13,836 --> 00:28:20,436 Speaker 2: All, Dear Miss Buchanan, due to the present uncertainty about 473 00:28:20,516 --> 00:28:24,956 Speaker 2: enrollment next year in schools for Negro children, it is 474 00:28:24,996 --> 00:28:28,596 Speaker 2: not possible at this time to offer you employment for 475 00:28:28,676 --> 00:28:32,956 Speaker 2: next year. If the court should rule that segregation in 476 00:28:32,996 --> 00:28:37,796 Speaker 2: the elementary grades is unconstitutional, our board will proceed on 477 00:28:37,836 --> 00:28:40,956 Speaker 2: the assumption that the majority of people in Topeka will 478 00:28:40,956 --> 00:28:45,196 Speaker 2: not want to employ Negro teachers. Next year for white children. 479 00:28:50,236 --> 00:28:52,596 Speaker 1: I said at the beginning. The woman reading that letter 480 00:28:52,676 --> 00:28:55,356 Speaker 1: at the conference of the University of Michigan was a 481 00:28:55,396 --> 00:29:00,196 Speaker 1: Missus Thompson. That's her married name. Her first name is Linda. 482 00:29:00,716 --> 00:29:03,756 Speaker 1: Her maiden name is Brown, Linda Brown, the Brown of 483 00:29:03,836 --> 00:29:08,556 Speaker 1: Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. This is a little girl, 484 00:29:08,596 --> 00:29:12,076 Speaker 1: Oliver Brown tried and failed to enroll at Sumner Elementary School. 485 00:29:12,636 --> 00:29:15,596 Speaker 1: She was invited to Michigan to speak in celebration of 486 00:29:15,636 --> 00:29:19,396 Speaker 1: the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision. And what 487 00:29:19,436 --> 00:29:22,996 Speaker 1: does Linda Brown Thompson do. In the middle of her talk, 488 00:29:23,516 --> 00:29:27,996 Speaker 1: she interrupts her eyewitness account to remind her audience who 489 00:29:28,036 --> 00:29:32,996 Speaker 1: bore the cost of integration, not white people, black people. 490 00:29:35,156 --> 00:29:37,196 Speaker 2: I think I understand that all of you must be 491 00:29:37,276 --> 00:29:42,036 Speaker 2: under considerable strain, and I sympathize with the uncertainties an 492 00:29:42,116 --> 00:29:46,796 Speaker 2: inconvenience which you must be experiencing during this period of adjustment. 493 00:29:48,596 --> 00:29:52,916 Speaker 2: I believe that whatever happens will ultimately turn out to 494 00:29:52,956 --> 00:29:59,876 Speaker 2: be the best for everyone. Concern Sincerely, Yours, Wendel Godwin, 495 00:30:00,396 --> 00:30:02,356 Speaker 2: Superintendent of Schools. 496 00:30:12,676 --> 00:30:16,396 Speaker 1: Revision's History is produced by Emil LaBelle and Jacob Smith, 497 00:30:16,516 --> 00:30:21,236 Speaker 1: with Camille Baptista, Stephanie Daniel and Sillmarra Martinez White. Our 498 00:30:21,356 --> 00:30:25,796 Speaker 1: editor is Julia Barton. Lawn Williams is our engineer. Original 499 00:30:25,876 --> 00:30:29,476 Speaker 1: music by Luis Sciarra. Special thanks to Andy Bauers and 500 00:30:29,596 --> 00:30:38,996 Speaker 1: Jacob Weisberger Panoply. I'm Malcolm Gladwell.