INTEGRATION IN CHICAGO 40 YEARS AFTER BROWN

Forty years after Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), and 30 years after the civil rights and Great Society legislation of the 88th and 89th Congresses, resources and options should have expanded greatly for blacks seeking integration and economic equality with whites. But in large metro areas like Chicago, de facto residential and school segregation remains very high, and the color gap in income has widened. The role of government and institutions in perpetuating segregation is examined through the outcomes of school desegregation and of fair housing cases in Chicago. These cases resulted in Supreme Court decisions in Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252 (1977); Gladstone Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91 (1979); and Hills v. Gautreaux, 425 U.S. 184 (1976). Defeats and token victories of school desegregation and fair housing plaintiffs in these cases reflect equivocation and impotence of the regulatory agencies and courts in the face of negative political feedback. This included a shift among black activists from a policy of integration to one of community autonomy.