1952: Racial segregation is legal, upheld by the Supreme Court decision of 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson. Schools, housing and employment and businesses in the South maintain separate facilities for Black and white people.

1954: The Supreme Court reverses the Plessy v. Ferguson decision with the decision, Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas. Declaring that separate facilities are inherently unequal, the court ordered the desegregation of schools throughout the country.

2000: Today, de facto segregation continues to frustrate the implementation of the court's 1954 decision.

1860: About forty percent of African Americans living in the city of New York would have to move in order to achieve racial integration. In New Orleans, about thirty-six percent of African Americans would have to move. (Massey and Denton)

1940: About eighty-seven percent of African Americans living in the city of New York would have to move in order to achieve racial integration. In New Orleans, about eighty-one...