Forgotten Voices of Black Educators: Critical Race Perspectives on the Implementation of a Desegregation Plan

The conceptualization and implementation of desegregation educational policies are incomplete when they ignore the voices of Black educators. Through in-depth interviews with 21 African American educators in St. Louis, this article highlights how elements of what is being defined today as critical race theory were embedded in these educators' analyses of a 1983 court settlement that resulted in a 16-year desegregation plan. Through rich and detailed accounts, these educators illustrate how the desegregation plan ultimately protected the overall interests of Whites. Their analyses of the plan-seemingly pessimistic-were realistic. The ending of the plan in 1999 continued to place the onus on Black people to rectify the inequitable education in the city. Suggested is the need for courts and policy makers to begin listening to the voices of African American educators when framing educational policies' intent on improving the education of African American students.