The review of the press and other media following the May 17, 1954 opinion of "Brown v. Board of Education" summarized here leaves little doubt that the message was not misunderstood. There exists today more segregation in the large cities of our nation than there was in 1954. The schools, though not responsible for the exodus to the suburbs, did however contribute to it. We did not in the 1950's develop a strategy nationally, on a state basis, nor even on a large-city basis, that would seek to meet the challenge of Brown. By the early 1940's we had begun to intensify our work on intergroup relations. This movement assumed a more formal, institutional structure after 1954. School districts did establish human relations departments, but in most instances these had no effect on school programs or practices. A review of the literature of the past 20 years reveals so much involvement with tactics to achieve or prevent desegregation that the educational effects are almost obscured. In addition to the legal issue, we were preoccupied with open enrollment plans, the Princeton plan, the educational park, the "magnet" school, and last but not least, busing. And since school systems tend to be highly decentralized, a concentrated effort for educational planning becomes a most difficult and unmanageable task to evaluate. (Author/JM)