Out of the three topics I chose to focus my research on, I decided to go foreword with researching the public education system in the District of Columbia. My focus for the research topic will be based around the integration of primarily African Americans going to public school along with other ethnic minorities starting in the 19th century. My reason for focusing on this topic is because I want to see how the education system in the District of Columbia has changed throughout the decades whether it be for good, bad or both.
I think it is important to understand the dynamic of thinking that the government was going through when they decided to finally integrate different ethnic groups within the public school system that was originally dominated by white men and women. What were the pressures the government was facing? What actions had to be taken in order for integration within the public school system be allowed? Overall why was it such a big ordeal but various ethnicities to go to school together to receive the same education?
A main focus will be looking at the case of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. Schools were segregated by race, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The point of the case to let black children attend the same public schools as white children. I’m going to review this case and figure out how it has made an impact in the public school education system in Washington D.C.
To begin research for this topic I’m going to focus on books and journals that have been published about pre integration in D.C. public schools and post integration. I am going to look at how different the public schools were before and after integrating students from various backgrounds. The time period of focus will be in the middle of the 19th century to present. I want to look at present day public education in D.C. to view how the schools are doing academically with their students and socially.
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