Massive white resistance to the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown decision encouraged educational administrators and leaders who supported school integration to ally themselves with progressive civic activists. Desegregation thus catalyzed the development of a new, more openly political vision of educational leadership. If schools of education were to prepare such leaders, they had to expand their mission beyond what one leading professor described as "the professional training of school executives." Few education professors embraced this expansive, democratic mission with as much enthusiasm as progressive curriculum theorist and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development leader William Van Til. Van Til's support for racial integration reflected his broader commitment to schooling that modeled and fostered democracy as a way of life. By examining Van Til's participation in the campaign to desegregate Nashville, Tennessee's public schools and his attempts to encourage educators across the United States to enter the public battle for school integration, this article suggests both the possibilities and the obstacles facing those seeking racial equality in the schools.