Social, political, and economic influences on legislation or Supreme Court decisions that allowed or denied black and other minority students greater access to public schools from 1866 to the 21st century

Professor Derrick Bell theorized that whites were only willing to grant blacks and minorities additional rights, such as greater access to primarily white public schools, when white policy makers were convinced that granting blacks and minorities these additional rights would further white interests. Bell referred to this theory as interest-convergence. When white interests converged with black interests, Bell postulated four conditions would likely be in existence and could impact legislation or Supreme Court decisions that allowed blacks and minorities additional rights.;Using Derrick Bell's four conditions for social reform as a lens, the purpose of this study was to analyze significant social, political, and economic events from 1866 to the 21st century to see if they may have facilitated the existence of Bell's conditions for social reform, and thereby impacted legislation or Supreme Court decisions that allowed blacks and minorities greater access to public schools.