Difficult from the Start: Implementing the Brown Decision in the Kansas City, Missouri Public Schools

Abstract

This article explores the history of school desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri. It examines the development of the school district's initial 1955 desegregation plan based on neighborhood schools, and the impact of that plan. Extensive analysis is devoted to the plan's shortcomings, particularly the provisions allowing students to transfer between schools and the manner in which massive demographic change in the city undermined school desegregation. Finally, the article explores the origins of busing for school desegregation in Kansas City during the early 1960s, the modifications made to the busing plan following protests by the city's civil rights organizations, and the subsequent court decisions that gave shape to the city's magnet schools desegregation plan.