Liddell v. Missouri

Patrice A. Fulcher

Racial segregation in St. Louis schools and the poor quality of schools that served mostly African American students were the main issues that arose in Liddell v. Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri (1984). This case has a lengthy and complex judicial history and illustrates many of the difficulties in remedying urban school desegregation cases. The outcome in Liddell was the implementation of one of the largest and most expensive school choice programs in the nation. This entry reviews the historical events that led to the initial lawsuit in Liddell and the subsequent developments in the case. It then examines the impact of the case on desegregation in St. Louis. Prior to 1865, Missouri prohibited the creation or maintenance of schools for teaching African American children to read or write. Yet in 1865, the state legislature passed laws requiring that separate schools be established ...

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