Harvard Law Review
Journal Article

Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma

Derrick A. Bell, Jr.
Harvard Law Review
Vol. 93, No. 3 (Jan., 1980), pp. 518-533
Published by: The Harvard Law Review Association
DOI: 10.2307/1340546
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1340546
Page Count: 16

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Topics: School desegregation, African Americans, Public schools, Racial segregation, White people, Civil rights, School segregation, Boards of education, Racial equality
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Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma
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Abstract

After Brown v. Board of Education was decided, Professor Herbert Wechsler questioned whether the Supreme Court's decision could be justified on the basis of "neutral" principles. To him Brown arbitrarily traded the rights of whites not to associate with blacks in favor of the rights of blacks to associate with whites. In this Comment, Prof. Derrick Bell suggests that no conflict of interest actually existed; for a brief period, the interests of the races converged to make the Brown decision inevitable. More recent Supreme Court decisions, however, suggest to Professor Bell a growing divergence of interests that makes integration less feasible. He suggests the interest of blacks in quality education might now be better served by concentration on improving the quality of existing schools, whether desegregated or all-black.
Harvard Law Review © 1980 The Harvard Law Review Association