Christopher O'Brine & Dr. William Kritsonis

1. Leadership and Change through the eyes of Brown vs. the Board of Education
Christopher Rashard O’Brine
PHD Student in Educational Leadership
The Whitlowe R. Green College of Education
Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View, Texas

2. Abstract
In this life change is going to happen whether or not we want it to or if we are ready to
embrace it. Since the beginning of time this world has been changing and evolving just as we
have. Utilizing Michael Fullan’s Eight Laws of Leadership and Change to dissect and
comprehend what transpired and should have transpired in the well known case of Brown vs. the
Board of Education, we will develop a better understanding of what change really is and what it
encompasses.

3. Introduction
In this life change is going to happen whether or not we want it to or if we are ready to
embrace it. Since the beginning of time this world in which we live has been changing and
evolving; just as the world has been changing so have each of us. In order for one to survive in
this world they must embrace change and this is extremely true for educators and leaders.
Through a further expounding on Michael Fullan’s Eight Laws of Leadership and Change, you
will have an opportunity to experience each lesson over change through the eyes of Brown vs.
the Board of Education.
Laws of Leadership and Change
Lesson I – You Can’t Mandate What Matters
(The more complex the change, the less you can force it.)
One does not have to believe that Brown vs. the Board of Education was a landmark
case; however, because of this one case the face of education changed tremendously. Prior to
this case education was segregated – whites attending white educational facilities, while colored
students went to colored schools. The problem with segregated schools was that the Supreme
Court ruled that separate but equal was unconstitutional. It was said that there was no way that a
child attending a colored school could receive the same education as a student attending a white
school. Since the historic victory in 1954 of Brown vs. the Board of Education school have been
growing more and more segregated each year (Feldman, 2005). “It is stated that Public school
are more segregated now than they were when Thurgood Marshall wrote his dissent in 1974.”
(Ogletree, 2007) Urban schools are educating more minority students and suburban schools are
educating white and middle class students (O’Brine & Kritsonis, 2008). Despite the wonderful

4. attempts of Brown vs. the Board of Education it seems that we are not any better off than we
were 60 years ago in regards to an equal education for minority students.
Lesson II – Change is a Journey, not a Blueprint
(Change is non-linear, loaded with uncertainty and excitement and sometimes perverse.)
According to what Brown vs. the Board of Education was suppose to accomplish the
perverse is what happened. The verdict in this case was to ensure that all children would receive
and equal education under the law but how can they when schools are just a segregated now as
they were years ago. “Critical Race Theory (CRT) begins with the notion that racism is ‘normal,
not aberrant, in American society’, and, because it is so enmeshed in the fabrics of our social
order, it appears both normal and natural to people in this culture.” (Taylor, Gillborn & Ladson-
Billings, 2009, p.21) Looking to CRT we can understand why white flight happened; it is not to
say that these individuals who left the inner cities to flock to the suburbs were wrong. They saw
an opportunity to educate their children in a different environment and they capitalized on it.
“The Constitution and the courts have been, and continue to be, the gate-keepers” of education
and “non-White access to education has never been a de facto legal or social right.” (Taylor et
al., 2009, p.7) As long as individuals have choices there will always be “separate but equal”
education and children of a lesser means will find themselves consistently having to fight for
their education.
Lesson III – Problems are Our Friends
(Problems are inevitable and you can’t learn without them.)
Taylor 2009 discuss that we avoid talking about the historic reason that Whites and
people of color have had separate and unequal educations. Brown vs. the Board of Education
was not the first case of this kind, “Charles Hamilton Houston also known as the ‘Moses’ of the

5. struggle fought this same fight seventy years prior to Brown.” (O’Brine & Kritsonis, 2008, p. 1)
Houston fighting this fight only served as a lesson to Brown, because this battle was not a new
battle it was a continuation of something great. Even though Brown vs. the Board of Education
was found unconstitutional there are still problem arising because “too many children of color
begin a tragic journey in segregated, impoverished schools.” (O’Brine & Kritsonis, 2008, p. 2)
A prime example of this is in Rochester, New York.
‘Ninety-one percent of student in Rochester suburbs are white and only 16 percent
are poor.’ ‘In the Rochester school system, the picture is reversed. More than 80
percent are nonwhite and an astonishing 90 percent are poor in the Rochester
school system.’ The stats in this situation show that 84 percent of the suburban
high school seniors graduate on time while 27 percent of their counterparts did.
The courts agreed that this was an issue; however refused to take action, because
‘it could not do so without ‘subvert[ing]…local control.’’ (O’Brine & Kritsonis,
2008, p. 2)
As in the example above, we must also be reminded that segregation is not just by race or
ethnicity but is increasingly by language. High levels of segregation are also very
dramatically linked to social and economic differences (Lee, 2004). Now understanding
the new problem and problems that are arising because of this case we must now learn
from them and better the education system or we will continue to perpetuate this cycle of
minority and less fortunate students being left behind receiving a far less education.
Lesson IV – Vision and Strategic Planning Come Later
(Premature vision and planning blinds)
We left off in lesson three with a problem that has risen because of desegregation.
Understanding why the Supreme Courts ruled in favor of Brown, they did not have a vision or a
plan for integrating schools nor making sure that this problem would not manifest itself again in
other ways. “According to the Civil Rights Project at Harvard, the proportion of black children

6. attending predominantly minority school increased from 66% in 1991 to 73 percent in 2003.”
(Ogletree, 2007, p. 2) Equally as important,
in the South, especially, districts that had been legally segregated under Brown
have been released from court order and quite rapidly resegregated. In other
words, more than a half century after Brown, too many school districts look
exactly as they did during the shameful pre-Brown period in history during which
intentional segregation was perfectly legal. (Olgetree, 2007, p. 2)
To better understand this problem of planning blind we can look to the Supreme Court’s
decision. The ruling was that school should be integrated; however, that is not what really
happened. Most colored schools were closed and those students were then bused to the “white
school;” therefore, integration was not integration it was merely closing of colored schools. If
the schools were to be truly integrated the “colored schools” should not have closed some white
students should have been bused to them and vise verse. The issue with the Supreme Court was
they did not say how schools should be integrated and there was “no enforcement provisions in
the ruling and many White schools simply closed for the year.” (Taylor et al., 2009, p. 6)
Lesson V – Individualism and Collectivism Must Have Equal Power
(There are no one-sided solutions to isolation and group thinking.)
With this case there was no equal power, because as stated earlier colored schools
closed and the children were bused to the white schools. Once there they had to deal with a
feeling of inferiority. For example, in Cleveland, TX, I remembered being told by my cousin
that on their first day at the “white high school” they were welcomed with a sign sprayed on the
side of the school that said, “NIGGERS.” Additionally, there were many fights that day between
the students, because there was not an effective plan of action. The colored students in
Cleveland gave up everything just like other children of color. According to Taylor, students
know notice how they are treated in relations to others (Fullan, 2007).

7. In Cleveland, they had to give up their style of marching in the band because the “white
school’s” band was trained in military precision while the black students were use to the
marching styles of today’s Historical Black Colleges and Universities.; also, a vast majority of
their teachers and staff loss their jobs because of integration (Taylor et al., 2009). Many of the
artifact from the colored school that had meaning, focused on school pride, tokens of student
accomplishments (trophies) and other important artifacts were all lost when the schools were
integrated. Students also lost their sense of community, because the colored school was located
in the center of the community. It served as a meeting place for those in the community and it
was accessible for the families. Now with the verdict of Brown, colored students found
themselves having to be bused miles from their home and school leaving behind their “ways.”
As painful as it is for me to say, if you were to visit Cleveland Independent School District’s
Central Office you would see these beautiful portraits in equally beautiful frames of student who
have been a part of the graduating classes since the 1950’s; however, what is very saddening
about this is there are no portraits of African American students prior to the integration of the
school district. The history of those students and that time period is lost. It would appear that
someone or group does not want to remember the pre-integration period and the colored school
and its students.
Lesson VI – Neither Centralization Nor Decentralization Works
(Both top-down and bottom-up strategies are necessary.)
In U.S. this case again went all the way to the highest court in the land, The Supreme
Court. We know this to be accurate and true because on May 17, 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren
so eloquently stated
Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even
though the physical facilities and other “tangible” factors may be equal deprive

8. the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe
that it does… We concluded that in the field of public education that doctrine of
‘separate but equal’ has no place. (Cozzen, p. 2)
Now we know that it did not start there, it started in the lower courts. Initially it started with a
few who felt the injustice of public education. The injustice was felt by the colored community
but in terms of this case the Brown family, because their third-grader, Linda Brown, was forced
to walk a mile to her black elementary school when the white school was only seven blocks from
her house. When her father was refused the opportunity to enroll her in the school he went to the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and asked for help (Cozzen). This
was the bottom-up approach that started the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education. The top-
down approach was the court stating that separate but equal was unconstitutional and ordering
the schools to integrate.
Lesson VII – Connection with the Wider Environment is Critical for Success
(The best organizations learn externally as well as internally.)
It has been said the desegregation ruling was more of a political ploy, motivated by
foreign policy concerns (Taylor et al., 2009). During the time of Brown the world was dealing
with other turmoil, “height of the Cold War, and technological advances, television and
photography had beamed startling images of racial abuses throughout the world.” (Taylor et al.,
2009, p. 6) With this issue of the Ku Klux Klan in the States and all that surrounded them and
the oppression of Colored Americans, other places in the world carried these stories about what
was taking place in the U.S. “Just as the U.S. was attempting to position itself as the leading
force of anticommunism, this reporting threatened to undermine America’s image as the model
of democracy.” (Taylor et al., 2009, p. 6) Because of this possibility, the U.S. knew something

9. had to be done. In a since, we learned from the other nations around the world and were forced
to desegregate, because it was “in the national interest.” (Taylor et al., 2009, p. 6)

10. Lesson VII – Every Person is a Change Agent
(Change is too important to leave to the experts, personal mind set and mastery is the ultimate
protection.)
Brown vs. the Board of Education wasn’t left up to the experts at all. It was ordinary
every day people who realized that social injustices were not allowing them/their children to
experience a quality education. As parents is it not ones desire for their children to have the best
opportunities life has to offer and an education is the start to what’s all possible for children. If it
were not for those individuals that saw these injustices would school have ever integrated?
Since the integration of public schools we still find ourselves fighting this war of
education in terms of students of color achieving. Just eighteen years ago Rev. Jackson began
fighting yet again but this time for black children in New York City, CFE v. the State of New
York. “Jackson said the lawsuit was filed because he realized back in 1991 that students ‘were
being cheated out of billions of dollars and denied the right to a sound, basic education.’” (Allen,
2006, p. 2) In 2005 Supreme Court Judge Leland DeGrasse agreed with Jackson and granted an
additional “$5.63 billion in operating aid and $9.2 billion for facilities to provide their students
their constitutional right to the opportunity for a sound education.” (Allen, 2006, p. 2)
In closing we must not forget that change is inevitable; however, is can be very
perplexing but there must be a beginning point and Michael Fullan’s Eight Laws of Leadership
and Change are just the place to begin. If change is to happen it will take careful planning,
timing, and commitment. Just as the Brown’s worked tirelessly with a since of urgency we too
must work diligently, because if we are to truly bring about a change we might find ourselves
nervously anticipating how individual will perceive and judge our beliefs, values, and morals in
terms of the change we are proposing.

11. References
Allen, Z. (2006). The Man behind New Yourk’s Brown v. Board of Education. Retrieved October
6, 2007 from Website: www.eric.gov
Cozzen, L. (n.d.). Early Civil rights Struggle: Brown v. Board of Education. Retrieved December
2009, from Website: http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-
civilrights/brown.html
Feldman, J. (2005). Integraged Public Education Is Still Worth Fighting For. Human Rights:
Journal of the Section of Individual rights & Responsibilities , 13-14.
Fullan , M. (4th). (2007). The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York, NY: Teachers
College Press.
Oglegree Jr., C. J. (2007, January). The Demise of BROWN vs. Board of Education?: Creating a
Blueprint to Achieving Racial Justice in the 21 Centry. 114 .
Lee, Chungmei (2004). Racial Segregation and Educational Outcomes in Metropolitan Boston.
Retrieved December 4, 2009, from Website: www.eric.gov
O’Brine, Christopher and Kritisonis, William (2008). Segregation through Brown vs. the Board
of Education: A Setback or Landmark Case. Retrieved December 4, 2009, from
Website: www.eric.gov
Taylor, E., Gillborn, D. & Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). Foundations of Critical Race Theory in
Education. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.