1x3 - Equality: 1950-1980

September 17, 2001

In the 1950s, America’s public schools teemed with the promise of a new, postwar generation of students, over half of whom would graduate and go on to college. This program shows how impressive gains masked profound inequalities: 17 states had segregated schools; one percent of all Ph.D.s went to women; and "separate but equal" was still the law of the land. Interviews with Linda Brown Thompson and other equal rights pioneers bring to life the issues that prompted such milestones as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title IX, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.