Sixty years ago, the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, unanimously ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
The reaction was massive resistance, both in the South and also in many Northern communities.
Later Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s gave the government the ability to enforce the end of segregation in all areas of public life, but in schools, the movement toward integration succeeded in some ways, but failed in the sense of promoting equal educational opportunity.
Many state governments continued to promote unequal spending and facilities provided to urban schools, as compared to suburban schools, and this continues today.
Young people have learned to accept each other, despite racial differences, and society has become much more integrated, but still a tone of racism, and a desire to revive the old segregation through new, devious methods still prevails.
And of course, despite having an African American President in Barack Obama, there is still great division and controversy over everything racial. We are not in a post racial America!
So while some progress has been made, there is still a great sense of disappointment in the reality of much segregation that still exists today, and is still encouraged in many political circles!