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THE
STATUS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SOUTH CAROLINA:
FIFTY YEARS AFTER BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
Publication
Link
A complete copy of the research publication,
"And Miles to Go Before I Sleep," a research
project of the Institute for Public Service and Policy
Research on the status of African-Americans in South
Carolina, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education,
is available through this
link.
Executive Summary
On May 17, 1954, the United States
Supreme Court issued a decision in Brown v. Board
of Education that declared separate schools
for whites and blacks were inherently unequal and, therefore,
unconstitutional. The impact of this decision went far
beyond education and coincided with the civil rights
movement in the mid-1950's and 1960's.
To observe the fifty-year anniversary
of this momentous decision, the Institute for Public
Service and Policy Research at the University of South
Carolina plans to conduct research and develop policy
recommendations related to the current status of African
Americans in South Carolina.
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Scott's
Branch School: This ten-room building in Clarendon
County housed grades 1-12 when the South Carolina
case of Briggs v. Elliott was filed.
Photo reproduced by permission from Quest for
Equality: Briggs Descendants Reunion. |
First Action Plan --
Conduct research on lifestyle factors of African Americans
in South Carolina
Researchers will examine the
status of lifestyle factors of African Americans in
the areas of education, participation in public life,
status of the family, economic status and the justice
system. The researchers will compare how African Americans
fare in these areas compared to fifty years ago and
compared to white South Carolinians.
Second Action Plan --
Conduct a statewide attitudinal survey
Using its Survey Research Laboratory,
the Institute for Public Service and Policy Research
will conduct telephone interviews to determine attitudes
about race relations and the perceived status of African
Americans in South Carolina. With national attention
brought to this state during the Confederate Flag debate,
the ensuing NAACP boycott, and other instances of racial
tension, race relations were brought once again to the
forefront.
Third Action Plan --
Develop public policy recommendations
Once the survey results and research
components are completed, we will assimilate public
policy recommendations and action plans for policy makers
in the State of South Carolina. The recommendations,
which will be published in May 2004, will tie together
the fiftieth anniversary of the desegregation ruling
and the resulting impact on one-third of our state's
population.
The ultimate goal
Our ultimate goal is to provide
our state's policy makers with well-documented research,
statistical survey results and sound public policy recommendations
which can improve the status of African Americans in
South Carolina for the next fifty years and beyond.
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