The Consequences of School Desegregation in a Kansas Town 50 Years After Brown Jean A. Patterson Æ Rae Niles Æ Cameron Carlson Æ William L. Kelley Published online: 7 December 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract This article examines the legacy of segregation and desegregation in the town of Parsons, Kansas. We argue that school desegregation, the goal of which was to increase access and equalize educational opportunities for African Americans, did not have that desired affect. Fifty years after the closing of the all-Black Douglass School, Parsons’ citizens had not openly acknowledged the effects this event had on the African American community. Three generations later, African American student achievement still lags behind that of White students. These unresolved issues have contributed to a number of losses in the Black community, including loss of Black teachers and loss of talented Black young people. We use theories of social capital and cultural capital as a framework to illustrate how White, middle class students had greater access to school resources, and to identify the social and cultural resources within the Black community that the school district could build upon, such as strong leadership and a sense of resolve and resiliency. Keywords School desegregation Á Cultural capital Á Social capital Á Black education On May 17, 2004, the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that outlawed racially segregated schools, was commemorated. In 1954 the Brown decision was celebrated as a victory for African Americans seeking equal educational opportunities. Yet, in recent years the high price that African Americans paid for school desegregation has come to light (Bell 2004; Guinier 2004; Shujaa 1996), and as Guinier noted, Brown’s ‘‘legacy has become complicated and ambiguous’’ (} 1). Educational researchers have documented that African Americans bore the burden of desegregation and made J. A. Patterson (&) Á R. Niles Á C. Carlson Á W. L. Kelley Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount, Box 142, Wichita, KS 67260-0142, USA e-mail: jean.patterson@wichita.edu 123 Urban Rev (2008) 40:76–95 DOI 10.1007/s11256-007-0074-6