Oral History and School Integration Research: A Case Study

Abstract

The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas is landmark in American school integration. Speaking unanimously, Court held that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, and struck down segregation statutes in five school districts whose cases were collectively considered in the Brown decision.' The ruling initially affected only those southern and border states which had de jure school segregation within context of broad segregation laws. There was virtually no progress in dismantling most of these dual school systems, however, until massive pressure of Civil Rights Movement in 1960's began to force federal action. Significant integration only really began in these states toward end of that decade. At same time, attention began to turn toward those northern states which had never imposed de jure segregation, but in which residential patterns had resulted in de facto segregation. A major argument here was whether such de facto segregation could be traced to discriminatory actions by school officials, such as redrawing attendance boundaries to keep a particular school black or white, or building new schools in locations which ensured that their enrollment would be largely black or white. The actions, or non-action, of other public authorities also came under scrutiny as lawyers sought, with occasional success, to prove complicity in areas such as housing discrimination. Recognizing that residential patterns played a major role in keeping white and minority children segregated in schools, Supreme Court ruled in Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenberg, 1971, that transporting children to schools outside their immediate neighborhoods was a legitimate tool in school integration. Recent litigation attempting to introduce geographically wider integration plans has had mixed results. Busing, as concept has been labelled, has developed into a major political issue. Current research on school integration centers on political, social, educational and legal problems involved in bringing together