Promoting Social Justice:
A Vision of Philanthropic Activism

During the 1960s, civil unrest spilled into the streets of America as violence erupted in many urban areas across the nation. Under the direction of Alan Pifer, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1967-1982, the Corporation and other foundations initiated grantmaking that not only focused on studying a problem but also on supporting organizations that created agendas, organized for change, and actively pursued legal strategies to achieve both. This edition of Carnegie Results documents that social activist agenda and tells the story of the institutions and organizations whose work continues today.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education ruled that racial segregation in schools was unequal. At the core of the determination was the question, “Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities?” The unanimous statement of the Court, which was announced by Chief Justice Earl Warren, was, “We believe that it does...”

This case set the stage for a tumultuous time in recent American history. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to yield her seat to a white person on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus; two years later Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, admitted its first African-American students (the “Little Rock Nine”), but not without a crisis situation that lasted for weeks and required the help of 1,000 members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. The next year, Alabama’s governor closed all Little Rock public schools; they were not reopened until four years later.

Written by: Joyce Baldwin. Baldwin has written on a wide range of topics for many national publications and is author of two biographies for young adult readers.