To desegregate means to end the forced separation of people by race, especially in schools, public places, and institutions. When the United States began to desegregate its schools in the 1950s and 1960s, Black and white students could finally attend the same classrooms together instead of being required by law to go to separate schools.

For nearly a century after the Civil War, many states had segregation laws that forced Black and white Americans to use separate restaurants, water fountains, buses, parks, and schools. The facilities for Black Americans were almost always inferior: older textbooks, broken-down buildings, and less funding. Desegregation meant removing these barriers and allowing people of all races to share the same public spaces and opportunities.

The most famous desegregation moment came in 1954 when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional. But the process took years of courage from families, students, and activists who faced angry mobs and violence simply for trying to attend school. In 1957, nine Black teenagers desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the National Guard protected them as they walked through the doors.

Today we use desegregate mainly when discussing this specific period of American history, though the word can apply to ending any forced separation by race.