Sheffield Hale, Leah Ward Sears, and resegregation

First, one of the first African-American elementary schools in Atlanta was recently slated for destruction. But after outcry a piece of the structure was saved, to become part of a new YMCA center in Vine City. This is just one fight in a perennial battle over historic preservation. A recent National Trust for Historic Preservation study says Atlanta has a  teardown culture -- worse than just about about any other major American city. We talk about this with Sheffield Hale, President of the Atlanta History Center. And with Mtamanika Youngblood, President of Sweet Auburn Works.

Next, Leah Ward Sears was the first African-American female Chief Justice in the United States. She served as Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court from 2005 to 2009. A forthcoming biography documents her story from growing up in Savannah, to the state Supreme Court. Leah Ward Sears joins us to look back, and ahead.

Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic ruling Brown v. the Board of Education more than six decades ago. For the first time, it became illegal to separate public school students by race. But according to a recent report from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, many public schools in the South have resegregated since Brown v. Board. The study also found Latino student enrollment surpassed black enrollment for the first time. We talk about the state of southern schools with: Erica Frankenberg,  Associate Professor of Education at Penn State University; Belisa Urbina, Executive Director of Ser Familia; and Atlanta Journal-Constitution education reporter Maureen Downey.

Tags: Brown v. Board of Education  Leah Ward Sears  U.S. Supreme Court  Georgia Supreme Court  Civil Rights Movement  Atlanta  Georgia