Forgotten voices of Black educators: Critical race perspectives on the implementation of a desegregation plan

The conceptualization and implementation of desegregation educational polic ies are incomplete when they ignore the voices of Black educators. Through in-depth interviews with 21 African American educators in St. Louis, this a rticle highlights how elements of what is being defined today as critical r ace theory were embedded in these educators' analyses of a 1983 court settl ement that resulted in a 16-year desegregation plan. Through rich and detai led accounts, these educators illustrate how the desegregation plan ultimat ely protected the overall interests of Whites. Their analyses of the plan-s eemingly pessimistic-were realistic. The ending of the plan in 1999 continu ed to place the onus on Black people to rectify the inequitable education i n the city. Suggested is the need for courts and policy makers to begin lis tening to the voices of African American educators when framing educational policies' in tent on improving the education of African American students.