The Story of the 1954 Project

Finding Inspiration in Every Turn

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court legally ended segregation in public schools with the historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

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The case held the promise of an educational system where all our nation's students could learn alongside each other, motivated and led by talented educators from all backgrounds. This would allow our country to benefit from its greatest gift—its diversity.

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Instead, Black teachers and school leaders were fired, and their potential to transform the lives of Black and non-Black children was eliminated in the years following 1954.

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This devastating loss spurred a ripple effect our nation has felt in the generations since, with a serious lack of Black school administrators, nonprofit leaders, and professionals with proximity to the challenges students face and access to the capital to make measurable change.

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