The African-Americans went from dirt-poor emancipated slaves, to carving out a substantial legacy of their own in the United States from the late 1800's, to the 1950's.
People look back on segregation in anger, but in reality, segregation served as a great morale boost for the American blacks to find their own path, without being dependent on their previous "slave masters" and the institutions that they were in control of.
One could make the argument that segregation is no longer necessary, but I do believe it was necessary during the time it was imposed. It allowed black America to develop a community of their own, separate from the whites. And I would argue that it was a good, solid community atleast up until the 1960's or so. After the Civil Rights movement, the progress stagnated.
I believe this is because the carpet was somewhat swept from under-neath black America. Suddenly you had "slain the beast", and had forced the white man to admit you were his equal, and there was no longer an objective to work towards. Generations became complacent, and ultimately dependent on assistance that they previously did not require. These generations were no longer filled with the same purpose as previous ones, which had strived to compete with the white man and prove themselves a race of equal worth, on their own terms.
There may be some measure of truth to the idea that the races must separate again, to an extent. But one cannot cherry-pick in this regard. If you don't want to have white people in your class-room, then you must accept that white people may not want you in your class-room. That is not racist, that is simply a fair trade.
