Why are American public schools still segregated?

A reconstruction of two segregated classrooms in the South during Jim Crow displayed at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) As a child growing up in Los Angeles, Elise Boddie remembers being bused to a public school outside of her local school district. It was the late 1970s, more than two decades after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools, and the busing was part of a statewide effort to integrate those schools that were still segregated. "I have a picture of my kindergarten class, and it's very diverse, actually," Boddie recalled. "That was a very happy experience for me as a child." Rutgers law professor Elise Boddie is also the founder of The Inclusion Project, A new Jersey-based group working to advance racial inclusion. (Photo courtesy of Elise Boddie) Boddie moved to Texas and attended a high school that was predominately white. As one of the only students of color at the school, she felt alone and isolated.