Voluntary Desegregation: Objective Accomplishment and Racial Group Perceptions

Abstract

Patterns of segregation have become deeply ingrained in our culture. Urban segregation has historical roots in immigration, migration, industrialization and social prejudice. Suburban segregation, a direct outgrowth of the same social forces, can be traced to racially restrictive covenants found in deeds, leases and agreements popular in the 1920s and 1930s.1 These covenants were supported by the Federal Housing Authority during the period of rapid suburban growth. Not until 1948 did the Supreme Court rule them judicially unenforceable.2 Still, the impact of these covenants is real. Many individuals believe they are legal and binding and even when they are finally destroyed, the patterns of segregation are difficult to change. The Brown I3 and Brown ff4 decisions, mandating desegregation of public schools and with all deliberate speed, respectively, did not lead to the desired results of unitary public schools systems throughout the land. During the 1964-65 school year, only 2.25 percent of the Black children in the eleven states of the old Confed-