ABSTRACT
The past forty-five years have been momentous in the history of black America. In 1945, the majority of black Americans experienced life under the severest of restrictions, imposed by a racial caste system. In much of the country, blacks could not attend the same schools, eat at the same restaurants or stay at the same hotels as whites. Black Americans were also denied opportunities in education and employment and, in southern states, their voting rights. They lagged far behind whites in terms of earnings, health status and occupational achievement. However, 1954 brought a critical shift in their legal status, a shift many thought equal in importance to the Emancipation Proclamation. On 17 May 1954, the Supreme Court declared racial segregation in the public schools to be illegal. This epic decision provided yet another beacon of promise in the long history of struggle, offering black Americans the prospect of a new future filled with much greater opportunities.
