Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
Much has been written about Brown v. Board of Education and the doctrinal conflicts between the anti-classification principle, which espouses colorblindness, and the antisubordination principle, which allows race-consciousness under certain circumstances. But one aspect that is unexplored is how Brown Footnote 11 and reactions to it played a role in the Supreme Court's move away from race-consciousness. In Footnote 11, the Court cited social science evidence to establish the harm of segregation. Footnote 11 is particularly known for the famous doll studies conducted by Professor Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark. The Brown Court took the doll studies, which showed that young Black children prefer White dolls over Black dolls, as evidence that segregation harmed Black children by creating feelings of inferiority among them. What seems like a simple assertion, however, became a source of much debate, controversy, and misunderstanding. This Essay examines the legacy of the Footnote 11 doll studies for both Supreme Court jurisprudence on race-consciousness and for the understanding of Black children's psychological development. The Essay brings together several areas that scholars have analyzed separately but have not connected together: (1) Footnote 11's influence in Brown and the reaction to it; (2) social science research after Brown which both replicated and reinterpreted the findings of the doll studies; (3) the Supreme Court's post-Brown transformation of the constitutional harm associated with race; and (4) use of Brown to support different theories of equal protection. Thus, the Essay evaluates both legal doctrine and social science research on race-consciousness and integrates the two. Specifically, it analyzes the conflation of stigma-external negative social meanings ascribed to race-and self-esteem-internalized feelings and assessments about oneself, including one's racial group membership. The Essay shows that in its use of the doll studies, the Brown Court conflated stigma and self-esteem by presuming that Black children's awareness of stigma automatically led them to develop low self-esteem. It argues that since Brown, facilitated in part by legitimate methodological and conceptual critiques of the doll studies, the Court has adopted a largely abstract notion of racial stigma to delegitimize all forms of race-consciousness. But the Essay offers a reinterpretation of the doll studies rooted in newer social science, which underscores the importance of race-consciousness for human development. In doing so, it rebukes the Supreme Court's erasure of race-consciousness and argues that the current attacks on it are a step backward. Ultimately, the Essay underscores the importance of race-consciousness for the full recognition of Black humanity.
Publication Title
Boston University Law Review
Volume
104
First Page
1251
Keywords
Brown v. Board of Education, Anti-classification, Anti-subordination, race-consciousness, Brown Footnote 11
Recommended Citation
Vinay Harpalani,
Race-Consciousness and Black Humanity: Reinterpreting the Brown Footnote 11 Doll Studies,
104
Boston University Law Review
1251
(2024).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_facultyscholarship/984