Dr. Grace Adams-Square, assistant professor of political science at MGA, presented at the 70th Annual Conference of the Education Law Association (ELA) November 6-9. ELA celebrated the Association’s 70th birthday and the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision, Brown v. Board of Education, that found racially segregated public schools unconstitutional.
As a presenter, Dr. Adams-Square examined the impact of the Brown landmark decision and evaluated the trends through the lens of her own research on cyberbullying. Exploring Brown was an extension of her dissertation on cyberbullying.
The Brown v. Board decision didn't stem from a single case. The challenge to racial segregation in public schools arose several times from communities across the country. Five of those communities, along with the NAACP, bravely sought the elimination of segregation in the United States in pursuit of true equality.
In the early 1950s, five cases that addressed racial segregation in education were heard in various states throughout the nation. These cases were Briggs v. Elliott (1952) in South Carolina; Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1952), Kansas; Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (1952), Virginia; Gebhart v. Belton (1952), Delaware; and Bolling v. Sharp (1954), Washington, DC. The rulings in these cases were appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court consolidated the cases and used Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka to address the separate but equal doctrine in public schools (Yell, M. (2022)).
Dr. Adams-Square traced the federal legislation for each of the states represented in Brown to the current federal, state and local legislation and education policy applied to cyberbullying to determine how each of these states and local school districts were helping students to address cyberbullying and discuss any deficiencies in cyberbullying policies.
The Education Law Association (ELA) welcomes members that address the intersection of law and our education system, both K-12 and higher education. Dr. Adams-Square has subject matter expertise in education policy. It is the goal of Dr. Adams-Square to return to the ELA conference in the fall of 2025 to address the diversity, education and inclusion (DEI) policies impacting higher education.
In the meantime, Dr. Adams-Square has been invited to present additional research on cyberbullying at the Western Political Science Association (WPSA) in Seattle Washington. The WPSA is headquartered at California State University in Sacramento. The purpose of the association is to promote the study and teaching of government and politics, to foster research and to facilitate the discussion of public affairs. The focus this time, Dr. Adams-Square will address federal, state and local legislation and education policy on cyberbullying in California and Georgia.