School segregation

School segregation is the division of people into different groups in the education system by characteristics such as race, religion, or ethnicity. As race is a prominent factor in the United States, segregation is also linked with religious separation or ethnic exclusion of groups in other countries such as in Europe.

Before the mid-20th century, racial segregation in public schools was legally enforced in many parts of the United States, particularly in the South. Although the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education ruled that mandated school segregation was unconstitutional, progress toward integration was not immediate. Black/African American students, especially in the South, would continue to attend predominantly Black schools for more than a decade after the ruling, while White students attended schools with a majority of white people. Supreme Court decisions like Green v. County School Board of New Kent County in 1968 started to mandate school desegregation and forced schools to implement measures to accelerate racial integration.

School segregation has also been associated with health disparities in the U.S., often among Black communities. These disparities are often correlated with unequal access to education and economic opportunities, since education could play a larger part in developing future health outcomes.