Editor's Comment

In 1994, The Journal of Negro Education (The JNE) published a special issue titled, "Brown v. Board of Education at 40" (Harris & Russo, 1994). A decade later, The JNE now observes the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). In commemorating "Brown v. Board of Education at 50," this special issue of 16 articles discusses pre-Brown historical and legal events as well as post-Brown meanings, challenges, consequences, contributions, and disappointments.

It is worth noting that Brown was not a single, isolated legal event, but it was the culmination of decades of racial struggle and lawsuits by African Americans and other persons of color for educational access, opportunity, and equality in the United States. Immediately following the U.S. Supreme Court decision of May 17, 1954, Professor Charles H. Thompson, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Negro Education, reflected on the meaning and implications of Brown in his editorial comment, "Next Steps in Racial Desegregation in Education" (Thompson, 1954):

Undoubtedly, the recent decision outlawing racial segregation in public education is one of the most important rendered by the Court since Dree Scott. It represents a dramatic climax of a 25-year struggle, however, rather than a fait accompli. The difficult social-engineering job of implementation still remains, for the most part. (p. 201)

It is also worth noting that African American lawyers who argued Brown and other racial desegregation cases were not the only heroes of the struggle for quality education and racially desegregated public schools and universities, but there were the courageous African American students who braved White hostilities to desegregate schools and universities. Moreover, there were the resolute parents who sent their children to all-White schools to pioneer a legal and social movement for positive change in the U.S.-regardless of the risks and threats.

Historically, The JNE has been the leading scholarly forum and resource for monitoring events leading up to Brown as well as reporting empirical research, scholarly dialogue, and educational thoughts that followed the Brown decision. The JNE's dialogue of and commitment to quality education for Blacks and its ongoing debates regarding desegregated schools vis-à-vis segregated schools span more than seven decades of publications. For example, who could have foreseen its significance when W. E. Burghardt Du Bois (1935) published an article in The Journal of Negro Education almost 70 years ago titled, "Does the Negro Need Separate Schools?"

The JNE continues its legacy, commitment, and dialogue in this special issue of "Brown v. Board of Education at 50." As Guest Editor of this special issue, Professor Frank Brown has pulled together a fine collection of articles authored by leading authorities on Brown v. Board of Education, equal educational opportunity, and education law. Howard University, its School of Education, and The Journal of Negro Education acknowledge and thank all persons who contributed to make this special issue a reality.

REFERENCES

Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1935). Does the Negro need separate schools? The Journal of Negro Education, 4, 328-335.

Harris III, J. J., & Russo, C. J. (Eds.). (1994). Brown v. Board of Education at 40: A commemorative issue dedicated to the late Thurgood Marshall [Special issue]. The Journal of Negro Education, 63 (3).

Thompson, C. H. (1954). Editorial comment: Next steps in racial desegregation in education. The Journal of Negro Education, 23, 201-202.

Frederick D. Harper

Editor-in-Chief

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