This paper contends that recent evidence provides a long-term rationale for supporting desegregated schooling which is not generally given as a pro-desegregation argument: the reduction of specific barriers that exclude minorities from opportunities for career success. The evidence shows that black workers are overrepresented in a restricted range of types of occupations, but attendance in desegregated schools may help produce a wider range of career choices and opportunities. Also, black adults who attended desegregated schools are more likely to function in desegregated environments later in life. The paper further calls for further research to more carefully define and study specific structural barriers to equal opportunities, and to investigate the relationship of desegregation to these structural factors. (Author/JCD)