On April 19, 1960, a landmark study by the National Education Association (NEA) revealed that more than 30,000 Black teachers and principals had lost their jobs across 17 Southern and Border states since the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. The very ruling that mandated desegregation in schools had also, paradoxically, displaced thousands of Black educators due to discriminatory hiring practices by newly integrated school systems. Many white school boards refused to retain Black teachers, citing fabricated qualifications or eliminating their positions altogether. This mass job loss had lasting effects on Black communities, depriving students of culturally affirming role models and destabilizing Black middle-class economic foundations.
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