Almost 40 years after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision, African-Americans are still attempting to understand its meaning and significance in their daily lives. Unaware of the potential for divergent constructions of equality, citizens who were barred from equal access to schooling continue to struggle with poor-quality schooling. This article argues that a restrictive form of equality, rather than an expansive one, limits the ability of African-Americans to benefit equally from schooling in the nation `public schools. The article also suggests that the Brown decision represents the Supreme Court's attempt to apply a largely mathematical solution to a social problem. The failure of the court to provide a verbal interpretation of the mathematical model it constructed left individual school districts free to develop educational responses that failed to address the needs of African-American students. The article concludes with an expansive vision of a desegregated/integrated school that reconsiders student diversity, curriculum, instruction, and parent-community involvement.
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