By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Growing up in Cincinnati in the 1970s, Mona Bronson did not recognize the significance of the school desegregation lawsuit that bears her name.

But 30 years after the NAACP sued Cincinnati Public Schools to desegregate, the Westwood resident has begun to embrace her part in the historic struggle to make education more equitable.

Now married and with children in the district, she said the work isn't complete from the 1974 case, Bronson v. Cincinnati Board of Education.

Mona Bronson-Fuqua - now a news aide at The Cincinnati Enquirer - spoke Thursday on a panel at Xavier University with civil rights activists, politicians and teachers on the impact of the Cincinnati case and Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 decision striking down school segregation.

The group explored how far schools have come in the last half-century toward achieving equality.

The consensus: desegregation lawsuits affected schools during their time - but schools are still unequal, and some are more segregated.

Bronson-Fuqua was a fifth-grader when the lawsuit was filed on her behalf, but she said the suit wasn't part of her reality as a child.

Now, as an adult, she intends to be part of the fight for equality.

"Part of me wants to remove (my children) to schools that would provide them with the best possible education," she said. "But it would be dishonoring the legacy of what my parents did.

"I believe in public education. I have an obligation to public education."

Florence Newell, Cincinnati school board president, said the 38,800-student district is committed to equality within the district but can't always compete with suburban schools. She said that many children come to the district impoverished and needing special services.

"We can't control how our district compares with other districts," she said.

John Bryant, an education consultant with the Children's Defense Fund, said inequality and segregation will persist as long as districts retain their existing boundaries. He said Hamilton County would be better off creating four larger, racially integrated school districts instead of having one large district - Cincinnati Public - and nearly two dozen smaller ones.

The panelists also talked about the need for more qualified teachers and equal state funding for schools.

"We have structures in place that make it difficult to have an equitable education," Bryant said.

Martez Roberts, 17, and a group of students from Hughes Center in University Heights, liked the idea of more diverse school districts.

Roberts said the desegregation lawsuits did not fulfill their potential for bringing equality and diversity to schools. More than 90 percent of the students at Hughes are black.

"Schools should be more diverse so kids can learn to interact with each other," Roberts said.

Harold Johnson, NAACP education committee member, issued a challenge to the young people in the audience.

"I challenge your generation to surpass what we have passed on to you," he said. "You will be the leaders dealing with these problems."

Johnson told them to develop a vision and fight for it.

"And don't be afraid to stand alone."

E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com