Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, along with the Pritzker School of Law, held a two-day seminar Thursday and Friday featuring scholars, legal experts and policymakers to discuss the ever-evolving legacy of Brown v. Board of Education and what it’s meant for Black residents in Evanston.
On Friday, Nichole Pinkard, Alice Hamilton professor of learning sciences at Northwestern, moderated “The Influence of Brown in Evanston: Past to Present” at the Hilton Orrington Hotel, 1710 Orrington Ave. Pinkard was in conversation with longtime Evanston resident and equity and inclusion consultant Gilo Kwesi Logan, community activist and former educator Oliver Ruff, and founder and president of Evanston Latinos Rebeca Mendoza.
The Supreme Court ruling on May 17, 1954, one of the most famous decisions in modern court history, declared “separate but equal” school facilities unconstitutional.
During the discussion, Logan opened up about the impact Brown v. Board had on Black residents living in the Fifth Ward after schools had become integrated. Local entrepreneurs like Logan’s parents, who had once owned a convenience store at the corner of Church Street and Dodge Avenue, struggled to stay in business. Another convenience store, owned by a white resident, a former classmate of Logan’s father, had opened up across the street. With the rise in competition and lack of support from Black residents, who had once been loyal patrons, Logan’s parents would eventually lose their business.
For Logan, it was the beginning of the “unwinding of the business district in the Black community.” The effect of Brown v. Board, Logan said, went beyond the classroom and had reshaped the entire community.
“When I think about the Black community, I feel that with integration came a loss of our ethnic identity as a community,” Logan said.
Mendoza said the education and encouragement she’d received in Evanston, particularly at Evanston Township High School, helped prepare her for the University of Michigan, especially as a first-generation college student. But after graduating and returning to Evanston in 2003, Mendoza realized that many Latinos did not share her experience.
Mendoza said she was frustrated to see so few Latinos go off to college or even graduate from high school.
“We’re really still missing the mark on our Latino students here in Evanston,” Mendoza said.
‘Progress in our families’
Becoming a parent, however, was the reason Mendoza got involved and learned more about the academic achievement gap in Evanston.
“For many of us immigrants and non-immigrants, education is such a vehicle for progress in our families,” Mendoza said. “And I think that was when I realized how important early childhood is … to prepare my daughter.”
Ruff, who has lived in Evanston for 67 years and attended Foster School, said living next door to the school allowed him to be more involved and develop relationships with those in the community.
“That was my village,” Ruff said. “That was my home. That was my connection. Those were my family members.”
Brown v. Board, Ruff said, added diversity to some of the schools in Evanston but did very little to diversify the community. Logan agreed with Ruff and pointed out that “integration happened on the backs of Black and Brown students” in Evanston.
“Since 1967, the Fifth Ward is the only community without a community school,” Logan said.
Logan said that schools are so much more than a place to learn and that they should serve as cultural institutions as well.