Historical Parallels: Arkansas’ School Voucher Fight and the Battle Against Desegregation
During the desegregation era, white schools attempted to maintain racial segregation by converting into private academies. These schools were not accessible to African American students and served to undermine the integration process. Today, the voucher system can be seen as allowing white families to opt out of desegregated public schools and instead access elite private education financed by public funds, thereby perpetuating racial and socioeconomic inequalities within public education. The Little Rock historian maintains that this parallel is essential to understanding the current movement, given the historical context of Arkansas’ struggle with desegregation.
In the 1950s, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the National Guard to block the integration of Little Rock Central High School. The event drew national attention and eventually required federal intervention to ensure the safe integration of nine African American students. This poignant chapter in American civil rights highlights the nation’s continual struggle to ensure equal access to quality education for all students, regardless of race. Now, the historian’s comparison of vouchers to segregation academies invites scrutiny and introspection on how such policies might be hindering the very ideals of equal opportunity and education that past generations have fought so hard to establish.
