Desegregation: Atlanta style

Abstract

Barbara L. Jackson Associate Dean, School of Education Atlanta University Atlanta, Georgia O n May 1, 1974, almost twenty years to day after Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, Honorable Albert J. Henderson, Jr., Judge of Northern District Court of Georgia, handed down an equally historic decision in what he termed, the latest episode in annual agony of Atlanta. The settlement of this case, in courts since 1958, represented a departure from earlier attempts to attain the elusive goal of desegregation in Atlanta Schools. As Judge Henderson stated, The Atlanta Public School System presents a situation which is unique in annals of school desegregation litigation following in wake of Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). During period of this suit, system has evolved from one with a pupil ratio of approximately 70% white and 30% black to its present state of 17% white and 83% black. From a peak enrollment of about 115,000 students, system has gradually lost about five to seven thousand students a year, great bulk of them white, bringing it to its present enrollment of approximately 87,900. The administration and staff have experienced a similar racial inversion from a predominantely white composition to a ratio of approximately 68% black and 32% white. A majority black Atlanta school board, is chaired by Dr. Benjamin Mays, a respected black educator and civil rights leader was elected in recent city elections. As noted earlier, administrative staff of system is over two-thirds black and is under able supervision of Superintendent Alonzo A. Crim. A black educator and administrator with an impressive list of credentials and accomplishments. In short, it would be difficult to attribute to those presently charged with operation of Atlanta Public any intention to discriminate against black students enrolled in that system or to continue effect of past discrimination. Calhoun v. Cook, 487 F2nd 680 (1974) Given these circumstances, Judge Henderson ruled that Atlanta did have a unitary school system and could proceed with 1973 Settlement Plan. This article will briefly outline political, social, and historical conditions of Atlanta to provide a context for description of schools. This contextual description is essential to any discussion of a school system but especially important in today's world. In words of Dr. Crim, superintendent of Atlanta Schools, Schools are not neutral, non-political, unchanging, modern, and quiet entities Americans imagine them to be-especially