Sixty years ago in the Brown vs Board of Education ruling, the Supreme Court declared racially segregated unconstitutional. Ten years later President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act which guaranteed all Americans equal protection under the law. Under Johnson, the federal government began an aggressive push to integrate schools. But the racial divide in schools has grown over the past couple decades.
Tonight's episode of FRONTLINE examines issues surrounding race and education. In the first part, the program travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where a group of citizens wants to form their own city with separate schools. The second part focuses on a young girl from the Bronx who overcomes a difficult family life to make it into an elite New England prep school.
Mary Robertson produced and co-wrote FRONTLINE's two-part episode, Separate and Unequal and Omarina's Story. She joined Dakota Midday and discussed the issues raised in the program.
