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School Desegregation: A Brief History

School Desegregation: A Brief History image
Parent Issue
Day
22
Month
January
Year
1976
OCR Text

School Desegregation: A Brief History

1954: Brown vs. Board of Education

The Supreme Court stated in this landmark decision that legally enforced school segregation (de jure), which was rampant in Southern states, violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

1964: U.S. Civil Rights Act (Title VI)

Passage of the Civil Rights Act meant that under the provisions of Title VI of the Act, school systems convicted of de jure segregation could have federal aid cut off. The cities of Boston, Detroit, Omaha, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Denver and Pontiac were subsequently convicted of de jure segregation.

1966: The Coleman Report on "Equality of Educational Opportunity"

This HEW study concluded that a child has a greater opportunity in a school with children from backgrounds that are educationally stronger than his or her own. The Coleman Report became a major tool for busing advocates.

1968: The Green Decision

This Supreme Court decision was the first of a series that rejected "open enrollment" as a remedy for segregation. The Court also registered skepticism at leaving integration up to private citizens.

1969: Nixon Directive to HEW

President Nixon instructed Attorney General Mitchell and HEW Secretary Finch that HEW would no longer use its power under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to force school integration.

1971: The Swann Decision

In a decision affecting the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina, the Supreme Court acknowledged detailed racial ratios as evidence of success in desegregation. The Swann decision also held that the appropriate remedy in the school district included busing between black Charlotte schools and white Mecklenburg County schools.

1972: The Roth Decision

Federal Judge Stephen Roth ordered cross-district metropolitan busing in Detroit. His decision was later reversed.

Pontiac anti-busing violence. Busing began in Pontiac. Buses were burned by the Ku Klux Klan. Irene McCabe and the National Action Group (NAG) traveled to Washington to protest busing.

1973: Rodríguez v. San Antonio School District

The Burger Court, with four Nixon appointees, held that where educational expenditures were concerned, a federal district judge was powerless to eliminate financial disparities between central city and suburbs.

1974: Bradley v. Milliken

The Burger Court, aware of pressure on Congress for a Constitutional amendment banning busing, reversed the Roth Decision. The Court said, in a 5 to 4 decision, that suburbs could not be forcibly included in a desegregation plan unless they were found to have practiced deliberate segregation in their own schools.

The Esch Amendment: Authored by U.S. Representative Marvin L. Esch, Ann Arbor Republican, the Amendment requires federal courts to consider other methods for desegregating schools before ordering busirig.

Boston: Busing was ordered by Federal Judge Arthur W. Garrity.

1975 - Detroit: Federal Judge Robert E. DeMascio ordered Detroit's Board of Education to develop a busing plan.

Louisville: Metropolitan busing began. Black Louisville and white Jefferson County school districts were combined and 22,600 pupils were bused.

Boston: In December, after one semester of busing, testimony from black students that they were beaten by white students and ignored by teachers led Judge Garrity to place South Boston High School under federal court control.

Coleman Report II: University of Chicago sociologist James S. Coleman said the new report shows that forced busing leads to resegregation and white flight to the suburbs.

Labor, Health, Education, and Welfare Appropriations Bill (HR 8069): This $36 billion appropriations bill contained an anti-busing amendment that read: "In order to save gasoline, students should not be bused to schools beyond the ones closest to home." This language was stiffer than that of a 1974 amendment, which allowed busing to schools "next closest to home." The bill passed Congress, but was vetoed by President Ford in an effort to cut government spending. A veto override vote is scheduled for Jan. 27.

ROAR and MAD: Citizen anti-busing groups formed in Boston (ROAR-"Restore Our Alienated Rights") and in Detroit (MAD-"Mothers Alert Detroit"). Louisville anti-busing groups went to Washington to protest busing.