The Desegregation Movement A Discussion

The Desegregation Movement

Slavery and segregation are some of the most shameful facets of American history. They left a legacy of racial tensions and inequality in their wake for previous generations to fix and address. While the landmark decision Brown versus the Board of Education in 1954 found “that states could no longer maintain or establish laws allowing separate schools for black and white students. This was the beginning of the end of state-sponsored segregation” (Georgetown.edu, 2018). However, it wasn’t until ten years later that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially ended segregation, but the desegregation movement took much time, and its effects are still being seen to this day. This paper will discuss the many facets and issues connected to the desegregation movement.

De Facto Segregation was a term used during racial integration efforts in schools during the 1960s to detail circumstances where the legislation no longer supported segregation, but where school segregation continued nevertheless (Law.cornell.edu).

As some experts explain, de facto segregation generally occurs as a result of the patterns of residential decisions. The literal translation of “de facto” essentially means “in practice” which demonstrates a key aspect of this term: segregation that occurred because of the behavior of white people. “Even though the legal aspect of segregation had ended after the Brown v. Board of Education, de facto segregation was still practiced by many bitter southerners. An example of de facto segregation could be seen as the ‘White Flight.’ The ‘White Flight’ was a mass migration of white citizens after the integration of the schools. Parents of white children enrolled their students in private schools and/or moved to the suburbs” (Lesniak, 2016). Hence, while segregation was no longer a legal issue, white citizens in parts of America, particularly the American south, were set on maintaining separation and holding sacred their racist beliefs and behaviors. Some historians view such behavior as an example of the limitations of the legislation.

On the other hand, De Jure segregation refers to segregation that is support by the law, as “de jure” can be interpreted to mean “by or according to law.” Some of the ugliest laws in America were ones, which supported segregation, known as Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow laws were extensive and ensured that segregation permeated all facets of American life, establishing segregation in barbershops, amateur baseball leagues, hospitals, schools, libraries and for burials. Take for consideration, this Alabama law: “It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment." This piece of legislation offers a very clear look at how detailed laws that promoted segregation were and how these laws were designed to create total separation between blacks and whites, regardless of the damage it did to black communities. De Jure segregation ensured that black people would continue to struggle to gain economic stability but that they would continue to be shackled by a new form of slavery that was supported by society.

One of the most landmark decisions of the Civil Rights era was the case Brown vs. the Board of Education (1954). Originating in Topeka Kansa where segregation was a way of life, the Brown case began because Linda Brown and her sister had to walk through a treacherous railroad switchyard in order to catch the bus that would take them to their all-black elementary school—even though there was a school much closer to their house (for white students). Linda Brown and her family believed that segregation in public schools violated the 14th amendment. “Federal district court decided that segregation in public education was harmful to black children, but because all-black schools and all-white schools had similar buildings, transportation, curricula, and teachers, the segregation was legal” (landmarkcases.org). Thankfully, the Browns appealed their case to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that “separate but equal” facilities were inherently unequal and were in fact in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. One of the pieces of evidence that was so compelling in this ruling was the work of psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark who did an experiment with black school aged children who were presented with two dolls that were identical in all ways except for skin color. The black children were asked which dolls were good and which were bad and which doll the children most identified with. This experiment “showed that the majority of black children preferred the white dolls to the black dolls, the children saying the black dolls were "bad" and that the white dolls looked most like them. To the Clarks, these tests provided solid proof that enforced segregation stamped African American children with a badge of inferiority that would last the rest of their lives” (nps.gov, 2018). This evidence was so compelling because it demonstrated the humanity at stake when it came to segregation and how it had a destructive impact on the lives and minds of children, who are ultimately innocent.

Unitary status was a term used during the desegregation movement of public schools. A school district could be considered unitary when it has abolished all discernible impacts of past segregation to the extent that it is possible and enforceable. Thus, when a school district is deemed unitary, it means that it can operate without the immediate supervision of the court system on student assignment and other moves.

Busing was a controversial move within the desegregation to promote greater equality and opportunity within education. Quite simply, busing meant that minority students were transported from the inner city to more affluent suburban white schools, and white students were brought to minority schools. Busing was created as a means of safeguarding civil rights of all involved and to ensure that students of all ethnic backgrounds received a good education. Quotas refer to the numerical burdens placed on schools and school districts to embrace integration. Hence they had to have a certain number of black children and white children by law. Some school districts, such as ones in Boston received financial incentives to engage in this practice. Many scholars felt that busing was a failure, but more accurately, it just wasn’t possible to sustain it, for several reasons. One reason was the white flight that happened around so many major cities, that there just weren’t enough white students to help make a complete integration movement (Cornish, 2016). “The other thing that happens is busing placed a tremendous burden on black students and on students of color. In most cases, they were the ones that were asked to travel to the suburbs, travel sometimes to hostile neighborhoods. For many parents, that simply isn't worth it after a number of years” (Cornish, 2016).