Moral conviction alone never sufficed for racial reform in America.

Evidence

These points may seem insufficient proof of self-interest leverage to produce a decision as important as Brown. They are cited, however, to help assess and not to diminish the Supreme Court’s most important statement on the principle of racial equality. Here, as in the abolition of slavery, there were whites for whom recognition of the racial equality principle was sufficient motivation. But, as with abolition, the number who would act on morality alone was insufficient to bring about the desired racial reform. — Derrick A. Bell, Jr., Brown v. Board of Education and the…, 68

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the moral weight of interest-convergence: it assesses rather than diminishes Brown.
• XREF: connects to: Poorer whites resisted desegregation out of fear of losing elite-guaranteed status. — Derrick A. Bell, Jr., Brown v. Board of Education and the…, 70; Massive resistance ironically aided desegregation by threatening federal judicial supremacy — Derrick A. Bell, Jr., Brown v. Board of Education and the…, 115

Related

• Poorer whites resisted desegregation out of fear of losing elite-guaranteed status. (similarity 0.83)
• Derrick A. Bell, Jr. — Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma (similarity 0.83)
• Massive resistance ironically aided desegregation by threatening federal judicial supremacy (similarity 0.79)