The Status of School Desegregation in the South 1970

    I 

The Status 
of School 

Desegregation 
in the 

South 
1970 

A Report by the American Friends Service Committee; Delta Ministry 
of the National Council of Churches; Lawyers Committee for Civil 
Rights Under Law; Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee; 
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; and the Washington 
Research Project. 



THE STATUS OF SCHOOL DESEGREGATION 

IN THE SOUTH 

1970 

Prepared by: 

American Friends Service Committee 
Delta Ministry of the National 

Council of Churches 
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights 

Under Law 
Lawyers Constitutional Defense 

Committee 
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 

Fund, Inc. 
Washington Research Project 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION • . 1 

The Methods Used in This Study ... ..... ..... 7 

CHAPTER I: SCHOOL DESEGREGATION PLANS ......••.•• 10 

Segregated Schools in "Unitary" Systems. . . . . . . . . 10 

One-Way Integration . 

CHAPTER II: IN-SCHOOL DISCRIMINATION. 

A. Segregated Classrooms and Facilities. 

1. Classroom Segregation 

2. Testing . . . . 
3, In-Class Segregation. 

4. Segregated Facilities 

5. Segregated Buses. 

B. Racial Discrimination in Extracurricular 
Ac ti vi ties ... ..... . .... . 

1. Discrimination in Social Activities. 

2. Discrimination in Student Government and 
School Organizations . . 

}. Discrimination in Athletics, Cheerleading, 
and Band. 

c. Loss of Black Identity 

1. Loss of Names of Former Black Schools. 

2. Loss of Black Mascots, Songs, and Symbols. 

3. Loss of Black Trophies 

20 

28 

30 

31 

35 

37 

38 

40 

44 

46 

. 47 

·49 

52 

52 

54 

56 



D. Accomodating White Parents and Students ... 57 
1. Repairing Former Black Schools. 58 

2. New Dress and Discipline Codes. 60 

3. Keeping Black Students " In Their Place" ..... 62 

E. Black Student Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 

CHAPTER III: RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACK TEACHERS 
AND ADMINISTRATORS • • • • • • • • • • • • • 74 

A. Principal Dismissals and Demotions. 

B. Teacher Dismi ssals .... . ... . 

c. Teacher Demoti ons .. 

77 

85 

87 

D. Replacement of Black Teachers. 95 

E. Other In- School Discriminatory Treatment of Black 
Faculty . ... ............. · · . . 96 

F. Assignment of Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 

FOOTNOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . l.01 

APPENDIX A 

APPENDIX B 

APPENDIX C 

APPENDIX D 

.106 

.108 

.109 

·ll5 



INTRODUCTION 

On December 7, 1970, Secretary of Health, Education and 

Welfare Richardson said that "there are only 76 school 

systems among the 2700 in the entire South that have not 

carried out desegregation plans ••• We know that 90.5 percent 

of all Negro children in the South are attending desegregated 

systems." .l../ 

These figures incorrectly imply that the job of desegre-

gating southern schools is largely done. Some school districts 

did make remarkable progress, especially where local officials 

were determined to make the process as smooth as possible for 

students of both races. But overall, the process of desegre-

gation is in imminent danger of failure if new and stronger 

policies are not devised and implemented at the federal level. 

In order to determine the quality and extent of school 

desegregation in the South this year, the six organizations 

involved in this report* examined numerous desegregation plans 

accepted by the federal government, and sent monitors to over 

400 desegregating districts. We found that: 

1. The government's figures about desegregated systems 
are misleading for they conceal the fact that in many 
systems black and white children are still attending 

*The American Friends Service Committee, The Delta Ministry 
of the National Council of Churches, The Lawyers' Committee for 
Civil Rights Under Law, The Lawyers Constitutional Defense 
Committee, The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 
and the Washington Research Project. 



segregated schools. 

2, Even where black and white children have been assigned 
to the same schools, this has often been done by 
placing a disproportionate burden on black school 
children and parents. 

3. Within "desegregated" schools, widespread segre-
gation persists in classrooms, buses, and extra­
curricular activities. This type of racial discrimi­
nation is as damaging to the hearts and minds of black 
children as was the original system of separate schools, 

4. Black teachers, principals, coaches and other staff 
have been dismissed or demoted from their former 
positions in massive numbers throughout the "desegre­
gated" South. Apart from the obvious humiliation 
and economic distress to these black adults, this 
process is leading toward an all-white structure 
of authority in the southern public schools. 

5. The assignment of faculty and staff has often been 
carried out so as to leave schools identifiable as 
black or white, in clear violation of prevailing 
legal standards and HEW guidelines. 

6, The Departments of HEW and Justice have accepted some 
desegregation plans which will result in resegregation 
and which unnecessarily permit continuation of segre­
gated schools. 

Underlying these problems is the mistaken belief that 

desegregation is simply the mixing of black and white students 

in schools and no more. Little attention has been paid to the 

way in which student assignment has been carried out or to 

what happens to black students and faculty in "desegregated" 

schools. The latter concerns are sometimes viewed as "second 

generation" desegregation problems which, it is thought, will 

work themselves out after the "primary" task of mixing the 

bodies is accomplished._g_/ 

This attitude ignores the basic rationale of the Supreme 

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Court desegregation decision. The Constitution forbids, 

not just racial separation, but racial discrimination by 

school officials. While the maintenance of separate 

schools was the means through which black children were 

discriminated against before Brown v, Board of Education,...21 

the basic injustice is the discrimination itself -- treating 

black children as inferior and denying them the status of 

equality because they are black, 

If the discrimination inherent in a system of racially 

separate schools is merely replaced by a new system of 

racial discrimination within "integrated schools," little 

progress has been made toward the constitutional goal 

of racially nondiscriminatory public education. Indeed, 

face-to-face discrimination against black children may do 

more direct and lasting harm to their "hearts and minds"..!!../ 

than did the old systems of isolation and separation, 

If face-to-face discrimination against black children 

is not dealt with immediately and forcefully -- treated as 

a constitutional violation of the same magnitude and urgency 

as the maintenance of racially separate schools -- there may 

never be a second generation for the process of desegregation, 

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Black students throughout the South are expressing a new 

attitude of dignity, self-reliance and impatience. Our 

contact with many of these students b e fore and during this 

monitoring effort has convinced us that they are unwilling 

to endure continuing discrimination in their daily school 

lives. They know that they have been given an inferior 

education in separate black schools, and in many cases they 

do not see much improvement in "desegregated" education. 

Lowanda Lovette, a black student from Rocky Mount, North 

Carolina, told a group of U.S. Senators: 

... my experience in being in an integrated 
situation is like being in a hostile jungle. You 
can't really learn. You have to fight off the 
hostility, the racism, how can you even concentrate 
and study?" 

And Anita Kleinpeter, a black honor student from Lake 

Providence, Louisiana, reiterated: 

You feel like you are nothing, like you don't have 
any say-so about anything because if you say it, you 
are not heard. You feel like you are nothing, you 
don't have any kind of voice at all ... After I got 
over there [in the "desegregated" school] I was under 
so much pressure, I just didn't even care if I made it 
or not. It didn't make any difference. I just gave 
it u p. "...2./ 

Black students are neither separatists nor integrationists. 

They want to be treated as human beings, and they want to be 

given a d ecent edU•}ation. When they receive neither equal 

treatment nor equal education under "desegregation," they will 

- 4-



protest and the nation will see southern schools breeding 

even worse hosti l ity and bitterness than in the past. 

That outcome would be a great comfort to those who have 

opposed school desegregation all along; they will contend 

that desegregation has been tried and failed -- just as they 

predicted . But i n truth, where only one part of the process 

of desegregation -- the mixing of bodies -- is regarded as 

the whole process, genuine desegregation has not really been 

tried at all. 

Only the federal government can enforce the achievement 

of racially nondiscriminatory integrated education. Southern 

school officials will not spontaneously give fair treatment 

to black children in the schools under their power, any more 

than they spontaneously abandoned the system of separate 

schools after Brown was decided. Federal desegregation plans 

must deal with problems of black children within desegregated 

schools in as great detail as they have come to deal with 

problems of student and faculty assignment to schools. And 

those plans must be enforced, with widespread on-site 

monitoring , and with swift, decisive ac tion agains t violations. 

While the tone of much of this report is critical, it is not 

adopted in a spirit of recrimination or hostility, but out of 

our belief that the problems discussed must be solved -- and 

solved quickly -- if this nation is to have any hope of becoming 

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a just and equal multi-racial society. The seeds of the 

problems lie deep in the past -- in the history of slavery 

and legalized segregation, and in the failure of the national 

administrations since 1954 to fulfill the promise of the 

Brown decision. Our point is not that the problems of incomplete 

desegregation are easily dealt with by the national government, 

but that they must be dealt with by someone, and that only 

the national government has the power and resources to do 

the job. 

We therefore recommend that: 

--The federal government secure through the courts and 

the Title VI machinery desegregation plans which 

produce school systems without black schools or white 

schools, but just schools. 

--In formulating desegregation plans, the federal govern­

ment ensure that the burdens of desegregation be 

borne by black and white equally, and that physically 

sound black school buildings be used rather than closed. 

--The federal government mount a major national enforcement 

effort against in-school segregation and other forms of 

discrimination against black children in public schools, 

using both the courts and the sanction of federal fund 

cutoffs provided by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 

1964. In particular, t hat the Department of HEW publish 

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l 

and enforce the memorandum prohibiting particular dis­

criminatory practices against students which it prepared 

and promised to release last summer. 

--The federal government enforce, through the courts and 

through Title VI fund cutoffs, existing legal standards 

prohibiting discrimination in the hiring, firing, pro­

motion or demotion of black principals, teachers and 

other school staff . In particular, that the Department 

of HEW release and enforce the memorandum prohibiting 

particular discriminatory practices against teachers 

which it prepared and promised to release last summer. 

The Methods Used in This Study 

The organizations which prepared this report obtained 

desegregation plans for most of the school districts desegre­

gating under voluntary plans accepted by HEW, and under 

court orders in which the United States was a plaintiff. 

We analyzed these plans to determine the extent of student 

desegregation which would be achieved if they were implemented . 

We then monitored at the local level 467 districts, 

or roughly three-quarters of the districts desegregating this 

fall under HEW plans or Justice Department court orders. We 

did include, however, 79 districts in Alabama which are desegre-

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gating under court orders in a statewide suit brought by 

pri vate plaintiffs, but in which the Uni ted States has 

i n tervened as co- plaintiff. 

The monitoring effort was largely carried out between 

September 18 and September 27, 1970, under the direction of 

our staffs and with the assistance of the staff of the National 

Urban Coalition . The largest group of monitors were volunteer 

lawyers, working under the auspices of the Lawyers' Committee 

for Civil Rights Under Law. Other monitors included our 

own staff; citizens of the school districts monitored; 

students from Bishop College, Dallas, Texas; Fisk University, 

Nashville, Tennessee; and Virginia State University, Peters­

burg, Virginia. 

All monitors used a uniform information form, developed by 

the sponsoring organizations, to record the data they col­

lected. The form sought information on student and faculty 

assignment to schools within the district; on dismissals and 

demotions of teachers, coaches and principals; on discrimination 

against black students in classes, extracurricular activities or 

discipline; on closings, repairs and renamings of schools; 

and on other matters germane to the process of desegregation. 

Monitoring activities in each state were coordinated by an 

-8-



individual with long experience both in school desegregation 

matters and in working with southern communities. Each state 

coordinator conducted a training session for the monitors working 

within his state before they went into the field. Great 

stress was placed upon techniques of objective data collection, 

with emphasis on interviewing persons with different points of 

view in the community, blacks and whites, school admini3trator>, 

principals, teachers, parents and students. In each case, 

monitors were instructed to seek an appointment with the school 

superintendent or his representative, and to attempt to obtain 

access to official school records of student and faculty 

assignment and similar hard data. In reporting information, 

monitors were instructed to distinguish between rumors and 

"what everybody knows" on one hand, and eyewitness reports and 

data from official records on the other. 

The data thus obtained was collected centrally and analyzed 

by our staffs. Statistical breakdowns were made where appro­

priate, and the illustrative examples used in the report 

were selected. 

We 1have set forth the f acts as our monitors found them in 

late September; our resources have not permitted updating of 

our information. Thus in some districts , conditions and practices 

reported here may have been corrected by the time this report 

appears. On the other hand, illegal or discriminatory practices 

may have arisen s inc e our monitors visited the districts involved 

in this study. 
-9-



CHAPTER I 

SCHOOL DESEGREGATION PLANS 

Segregated Schools in "Unitary" Systems 

Justice Department and HEW officials claim that over 

90 percent of southern black children now attend school 

in "unitary" systems. 

Before 1970-71, the Department of HEW measured desegre­

gation progress by the percentage of black children attending 

desegregated schools. This year, the government has arrived 

at a success figure by measuring the number of black children 

attending desegregated or unitary school systems. This is a 

significant difference. A school system, under this adminis-

tration's view, can be "unitary" and yet consist of largely 

segregated schools. 

In examining the student assignment plans accepted by 

the Department of Justice and HEW for this school year, we 

found that: 

desegregation plans were accepted which left many black 

children in segregated schools; and 

many of the plans, while resulting in desegregated 

student bodies, have often done so by placing a dispro­

portionate burden on black parents and children, 

-10-



through closing black schools and busing only black 

children to formerly white schools while leaving 

whites in their former schools. 

For example, Richland County #1 (Columbia), South 

Carolina is 48 percent black. Under this district's 

plan as accepted by HEW, over half (52 percent) of its 

black children are attending schools over 90 percent 

black . Nearly a third of its black students remain in 

12 all- black schools. And about a fifth of its white 

students attend schools more than 90 percent white. 

Private plaintiffs brought a desegregation suit against 

Caddo Parish, Louisiana, wh1ch includes the city of Shreve­

port . The district has about 60,000 students, 45 percent of 

whom are black. The Justice Department intervened in the 

suit and educational experts from the Department of HEW pre-

pared a desegregation plan which would have produced a 

biracial student body in each school through the use of some 

interzone busing. The Department of Justice refused to 

support HEW's experts, and required them to redraw the plan 

and eliminate most of the busing. The government's redrafted 

plan would have left a number of all-black schools. Simul-

taneously the school board devised a plan which left the 

city schools substantially segregated, particularly at the 

elementary school level. The court accepted the school board 

plan . No appeal was taken by the government. Under the 

- 11-



plan as accepted, 22 of the 78 schools in the system 

are more than 80 percent black, and most of them are 

over 90 percent black. Of the 41 elementary schools 

in the city of Shreveport itself, twelve, serving 69 

percent of the black students, are over 95 percent 

black. 

The government has also accepted many plans in 

small districts which have left identifiable "white" 

and "Negro" schools.!/ 

Camden, Arkansas has only 2,919 students, about 53 

percent of them black, and only four elementary schools. 

Under the desegregation plan accepted by HEW, two of those 

schools are predominantly white, one is predominantly black, 

and one is all-black. 

Sheffield, Alabama has 2,872 students, only 727 

of whom (25 percent} are black . Two- thirds of its 

black elementary school children attend schools projected 

to be over 90 percent black under the court order, an 

order not appealed by the Justice Department. The racial 

makeup of the schools under freedom of choice was about 

the same as it is now under the "unitary" plan. 

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In Humboldt County, Tennessee, there are 2,833 

students, 43 percent of whom are black. Under the 

court ordered desegregation plan, not appealed by 

the government, 88 percent of the black elementary 

school students attend a school which is 83 percent 

black. The other two elementary schools remain 

virtually all-white. 

Amory, Mississippi has only 1,686 students, 

39 percent of them black. Under the HEW-accepted 

plan, the first and second grades are zoned in such 

a way as to be almost entirely segregated . 

In midsummer, the Department of Justice announced 

that it was suing a number of holdout districts which 

had refused to desegregate voluntarily. It appears, 

in these cases, that the government was willing to 

accept almost anything that could be called a de­

segregation plan. 

-13~ 



South Park and Port Arthur are two East Texas school 

districts "desegregated" in Justice Department suits during 

the late summer. In each case, the desegregation plan 

ordered by the court and accepted by the Justice Department 

(no appeals were taken) left the system of dual segregated 

schools virtually untouched. In South Park, a 33 percent 

black district, the court- ordered plan left 69 percent of 

the black children in schools more than 80 percent black. 

In Port Arthur, at least 78 percent of the black children 

were left in schools more than 80 percent black although 

the district is only 42 percent black. A leader of the 

black community described the school district as "in worse 

shape than we were before," 

Harrison County, Mississippi was another late suit 

district. With 8,214 students, only 28 percent of them 

black, HEW experts proposed clustering one potentially 

-14-



black elementary school with t wo predominantly white 

schools. The court rej ected this, and the Justice Department 

did not appeal. As a r esult, 72 perc en t of the black ele ­

mentary school childr en are in an all-black school. 

Florence County #1 , South Carolina was also sued 

lat e . Though the district ~s 41 percent black, the plan 

adopted l eft two-thirds of the black elementary school 

children in schools over 80 percent black. One junior 

high school is 78 percent black, and one senior high 

school is 76 percent black . The plan assigned substantial 

numbers of black children to the formerly white schools 

after closing a black school and busing black children . 

Angry protest in the black community has forced the 

school superintendent to promise that a genuine two- way 

plan of integration will be worked out before next year. 

A late summer suit against East Tallahatchie, Mississippi 

produced the most bizarre desegregation plan of the year, 

embodied in a consent decr ee entered into by the school 

district and the Department of Justice. This is a small 

di s trict of 2,700 students. It is slightly over 60 percent 

black. 

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The plan provides for a single "attendance center" 

for grades 7-12, made up of the former black and the former 

wh1te high school. At each grade level, some courses are 

offered at one school and some at the other, and students 

are bused back and forth between the two "campuses." 

At the elementary school level, the district is divided 

into two zones. One zone produced a school projected to be 

about 84 percent black, but when our monitor visited the 

district after school opened, the school turned out to be 

all-black. 

The other elementary zone is served by a single 

"attendance center," made up of three schools . Each ele­

mentary student in that zone spends part of his school day 

at each of three schools, and of course spends another large 

part of the day riding around between the schools in a 

school bus. 

This astonishing plan was apparently adopted in an 

effort to appease the local white community. White parents 

would not stand for their children attending formerly black 

schools for the whole day, but could tolerate them passing 

through these schools in the course of a bus shuttle tour 

each school day. 

The attached table shows other desegregation plans 

-16-



accepted by the government under which substantial 

* numbers of chil dren are attending segregated schools. 

* In the table, we list the number of students in each school 
district, the percentage of black students, and the number 
of black schools left by the plan (defined as schools over 
80 percent black), along with the percentage of the total 
black children in the district attending these schools. 

Percent of 
School Percent Number of Bla.ck in 

District PoI!ulation Black Black Schools Black Schools 

Gadsden, Ala. 11,648 27 4 35 

Hendry Co., 
Fla. 3,072 27 1 47 

Mari on Co., 
Fla. 16,365 36 5 43 

Avoyelles 
Parish, La . 9,658 37 3 62 

Laurel, Miss. 6,083 48 3 45 

Hattiesburg, 
Miss . 7,895 45 4 43 

New Bern, N.C. 5,900 36 3 50 

York Co . #3, 
s.c. 12,796 25 2 35 

-17-



The districts listed in the ~able are majority white. 

We also found seriously segregated schools in majority 

black districts under plans accepted by HEW or the Justice 

Department. For example: 

Selma, Alabama ha~ 6,653 students, 55 percent of whom 

are black. Eighty percent of the 1,968 black elementary 

school children are in four schools over 90 percent black, 

while 55 percent of the whit e elementary school children 

are in two schools over 90 ~ercent white. 

In Decatur, Georgia, there are 3,980 students, 62 

percent of whom are black. Sixty-five percent of the black 

elementary school students are in four school s over 90 

percent black, while 53 percent of the white elementary 

students are in three schools over 90 percent white. 

Georgetown, South Carolina has 10,204 students, 58 

percent black. Thirty-five percent of the black students 

in the districts are in five substantially all-black {more 

than 95 percent} schools. 

And, Nansemond County, Virginia has 10,259 students , 

62 percent black. Forty percent of the black elementary 

school children attend a large all-black "attendance center" 

made up of three schools. 

-18-



The Nixon administration has consistently underdefined 

the legal requirements of school desegregation. This 

is reflected in acceptance of desegregation plans like 

those described above which we believe fall short of 

constitutional standards and which, we fear, will shortly 

t'l'Sul t in resegregation •. .l./ 

Not only has the Administration policy meant weak 

desegregation plans in districts under government suit 

or HEW plan, but we believe it has influenced federal 

courts generally to adopt plans leaving serious pupil 

segregation in cases brought by private plaintiffs. 

For example, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals adopted 

a plan for Orange County, Florida -- in a decision often 

referred to with approval by Administration spokesmen.21 

-- which left the schools heavily segregated. 

Orange County is a large school district which 

includes the city of Orlando. It has 85,270 students, 

only 17 percent of whom are black. Under the court-

ordered desegregation plan, just over half of the more 

than 1 5,000 black student s are attending schools more 

t han 80 percent black. At the same time, 12 schools 

are all-white and 35 have fewer than a dozen black 

stu<lents. 

-19-



One- Way Integration 

In the districts our monitors visited, the greatest 

single source of anger and protest in the black community 

was the closing of physically adequate black schools. 

Often plans permitting closing of adequate black schools 

lack any educational or administrative justification. 

Few school districts enjoy excess classroom space, and 

closing b l ack schools necessarily means overcrowding of 

the schools left open . Mobile classrooms must be pur­

chased, or expensive and wasteful permanent additions 

made to formerly white schools in order to relieve the 

overcrowding . At the same time, the former black schools 

are converted to warehouses or administration buildings 

or vocational educational education centers, or even are 

sold to private interests . 

In practical terms, this kind of plan means that 

black students must travel to another part of town to 

attend school, while no corresponding burden is placed 

on whites, who continue to attend their old schools in 

their own neighborhoods. Blacks lose a familiar and much­

needed meeting place and social center. Worst of all, 

the closings of adequate black schools are insulting acts 

of racism . White parents cannot tolerate their children 

-20-



attending schools once set aside for blacks, and school 

policy is set according to these prejudices, with little 

concern for the feelings of black parents. 

Our monitors found that 163 school districts closed a 

total of 235 black schools in 1970. Of the 188 closed 

schools whose age we could determine, 57 percent were 

less than 20 years old. Of the 153 schools whose con­

dition we could determine, 51 percent were in good and 

21 percent in fair condition. At least 43 of the closed 

black schools had new additions or improvements built in 

the last five years. In at least 34 districts, black 

children who had formerly attended the closed schools were 

sent to schools that are in worse condition. At least 41 of 

the districts which closed black schools were left with 

overcrowded conditions in their remaining schools, and 

another 28 of th~m purchased new mobile classrooms at the 

same time as they closed formerly black schools. 

These figures on black school closings refer only 

to schools closed for the 1970-71 school year. Our monitors 

also found 55 black schools closed in 1969-70, and 94 more 

closed in the preceding three years. 

-21-



protest the plan. A local private attorney then worked 

out a partial compromise, alleviating the features of 

the plan most offensive to the black community. 

Similar boycotts have taken place in other districts. 

Often, the press has reported these protests as black 

opposition to desegregation itself or to busing itself. 

Our monitors found this an inaccurate reflection of the 

blacks' attitudes. Blacks have supported desegregation 

plans which involved busing as long as busing has been 

evenhandedly required for blacks and whites. It is the 

disproportionate burden in accomplishing desegregation 

that blacks reject. For example, no black protest against 

busing ,has been reported from Charlotte, North Carolina, 

one of the few southern cities to be operating a genuine 

two- way integration plan. 

In Baker County, Florida, the newest school in the 

district was a black elementary school built in 1957. 

Under the desegregation plan adopted, it was closed, and 

black students were sent to a physically inferior formerly 

white middle school. Because of the consequent overcrowding, 

the district bought new mobile classrooms, paid for with 

federal Emergency School Assistance money appropriated by 

Congress to finance special projects designed to achieve 

successful desegregation. 

-24-



In Coosa County, Alabama, a new high school was 

built about eight years ago for black students. It was clearly 

the best facility in the county, and was apparently designed 

to entice blacks to remain segregated under a freedom 

of choice plan. With desegregation this year, 

the court plan provided for closing the black high 

school. The district is now engaged in extensive reno­

vation of the formerly white schools in an effort to 

bring their physical condition up to that of the closed 

black school. 

In Smith County, Mississippi, the black high school 

was closed although it was in good condition. Bad over­

crowding has resulted in one of the three formerly white, 

now integrated, schools, and officials are planning to 

buy mobile classrooms to relieve the overcrowding, possibly 

with a federal "desegregation grant." 

Richmond County, North Carolina closed three black 

schools in fair to good condition (15 to 22 years old). 

Some black children have been sent to inferior formerly 

-25-



white schools. Overcrowding is being relieved by mobile 

classrooms, purchased with federal Emergency School 

Assistance money . 

In Pickens County, South Carolina, the two black 

schools were closed. Yet one of the formerly white schools 

left open is in such bad condition that it cannot meet 

state certification standards. One of the black schools 

closed was only a block away from a white neighborhood and 

could easily have served as an integrated school. A black 

boycott ensued at the beginning of the school year. 

Berkeley, South Carolina also closed two black schools in 

good condition. It then purchased 25 mobile classrooms to 

relieve the resultant overcrowding, and at least one school 

is now on double sessions because of overcrowding. 

In Lexington County #3, South Carolina, a black high 

school with 36 classrooms and a new gym was closed. The 

district subsequently borrowed $100,000 to purchase and 

renovate another building to replace it. The formerly 

black school will be reopened as a vocational school after 

the district builds a new high school building . 

-26-



HEW gave school officials in Lauderdale, Tennessee 

the option of closing a relatively new black elementary 

school or integrating it by zoning into it the white 

children who live along the bus route which served it. 

They chose to close the school and sold the building 

for use as an all-white private school. 

In Nacogdoches, Texas, both the black senior high 

school and junior high school were closed, because, as 

the superintendent said, "citizens wouldn't stand for" 

keeping them open. The high school is used for storage, 

a maintenance shop, and a staff office. A black school 

in the heart of the black community in Lufkin, Texas 

was closed while white schools in no better condition 

were left open. The black community is upset by the 

closing -- and by the school board's plan to sell the 

building to a private industry which will bring traffic 

and pollution into their neighborhood . 

If desegregation is to work it must be a fair 

process. No longer can only the sensitivities of the 

white community be regarded. By accepting plans which 

place undue burden on blacks, the Departments of Justice 

and HEW are continuing to condone racial discrimination. 

-27-



CHAPTER II 

IN-SCHOOL DISCRIMINATION 

" •.• From an educational standpoint what matters most 

is not the integrated school but the integrated classroom." 

Richard M. Nixon 
May 21, 1970 

" ••• in-school segregation is a violation of the Constitu-

tion and represents a failure to fulfill desegrega.tion plan 

requirements," 

HEW Secretary Elliot Richardson 
August 6, 1970 

Racial discrimination within "desegregated" schools 

is a widespread practice in southern school districts. Many 

districts are continuing segregation within classrooms, on 

buses and in extracurricular activities . They are also 

destroying all symbols of black identity and pride. The 

result has been to subject black students to experiences as 

degrading and dehumanizing as were encountered in the old 

dual system of totally separate schools, 

- 28-



That black students are meeting a wide variety of 

unequal treatment in desegregated schools is neither new 

nor unknown by the federal government. Most of the groups 

participating in this report alerted officials within HEW 

that in- school discrimination was serious and had to be 

dealt with before the 1970-71 school year,_!/ Twelve black 

students came to Washington and met on June 10 with Mr. 

Stanley Pottinger, Director of the Office for Civil Rights 

of HEW. A week later, five of them testified before the 

Senate Selec~ Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity 

{hereinafter referred to as "the Select Committee") . They 

presented dramatic and moving testimony of their experiences 

in desegregating schools and reported the humiliation and 

h arrassment they suffered in c lassrooms and cafeterias, on 

school buses and football fields, from white teachers, 

administrators and students. They indicted t he federal 

government for allowing such conditions to exist under the 

g ui se of "school desegregation" and asked that immediate 

and stron g federal action be taken to prevent such treatment. 

Simi lar concern s were voiced within the federal govern-

ment as well. A civil rights specialist in the Department 

of Health, Edu cation and Welfare cauti oned as early as last 

spring against the type of desegregation which would be 

-29-



"even worse than segregated schools worse for the 

black child because he can see from his classroom window 

that he is being discriminated against. In the past, at 

least he wasn't exposed to the indignity of watching the 

discrimination . "_g/ 

In August, Mr. Pottinger told the Select Committee 

that the administration planned to " issue in the near 

future a memorandum outlining the nature and extent of 

the legal responsibilities of school administrators with 

respect to their academic and extracurricular programs, 

e vents and activities . 11...1/ But on October 1, 1 970 , he said 

that the in- school discrimination memorandum had been 

"abandoned as unworkable. 11....!i/ 

A, SEGREGATED CLASSROOMS AND FACILITIES 

Federal law prohibits discriminatory action on the 

basis of race , color, or national origin by recipients 

of f ederal financial assistance, including "the provision 

of services."_2/ Assistant Attorney General Jerris Leonard 

recently stated that "practices such as racially segregated 

seating within schools are clearly unlawful. These violations 

of constitu tional rights cannot be p ermitted to exist, and 

- 30-



will not be permitted to exist ." Segregated classrooms 

would be "superficial," he added, and "extremely harmful 

to children."_§/ 

For al l these impressive words, our monitors found 273 

cases of segregation within the 467 "desegregated" school 

districts visited. The most commonly reported form of 

segregation was placement of white and black students in 

separate classrooms. 

1. Classroom Segregation 

Our monitors found segregated classrooms in 123 

districts. Many school districts made no appa:--ent attempt 

to justify the separation. 

In McCormick, South Carolina, it was reported that 

black teachers were given rollbooks marked "all Negro, " 

and that for a time after school opened, some class­

room doors were marked "Negro only." At Plum Branch 

Elementary, there are three all-black homerooms. At 

McCormick Elementary, ther e are eight totally black 

classes and, with the exception of two special educa­

tion teachers who have one white student each in their 

classes, no black teachers at the school teach white 
students. 

-31-



Jefferson County, Florida divided the seventh grade 

special science program at Howard Academy into two 

classes - - one all - white with a white teacher, the 

other all-black with a black teacher . 

St. Johns County, Florida conducted segregated 

health education classes at Hastings High School; and 

England, Arkansas segregated its high school physical 

education classes. 

High school classes and homerooms have been completely 

segregated in Irwin County, Georgia; study periods 

have been abolished and the time between classes has 

been cut from five to seven minutes to only two 

minutes, to avoid interracial contact. 

Linden, Alabama, has a 90 percent black student 

population in the public schools. School officials 

announced in August that low- income parents "who 

would like for their children to have free lunches, 

dental care, medical screening, optical care and 

participate in other services offered by 'Title I' 

should register at the former black Austin Elementary 

School," a facility still all-black. Black students 

who do attend "desegregated" Linden Elementary are in 

segregated classes. Grades seven through twelve are 

housed at the former black Austin High School, but 

the former white Linden High School is being used 

"to meet individual needs and to relieve the class 

load at Austin . " Black students are bused to Linden 

High for segregated physical education and vocational 

- 32-



agriculture c l a sses , but t h en return to Austin, 

which is still all-black, for the rest of their 

classes. No black student s have been admitted to 

t he college preparatory c lasses at Linden . 

La uderdal e County , Tennessee has segregated classes 

for the educabl e mentally retarded at Hennings 

Elementary, Hennings Primary, and Ripley High School. 

In some ma jority black districts, white students are 

concentrated in a few classes , l eaving t h e rest of the 

classes a ll - black . 

In Calhoun County, Georgia, nine or ten white 

students have been grouped together in each of 

several classes of 30 students; the remaining 

classes are all-black , The superintendent 

explained that "becaus e of overwhelming black 
majorities," he did not spread white s t udents 

evenly over all classes, b ecause there would have 

b een only two or three whites to each class. 

Two t hirds of the elementary students in Crawford 

County , Georgia are black. Many of them attend al l­
black classes, because the school board did no t want 

one race (i . e . whites) to feel "outnumbered." 

Washington County , Georgia has a standing rule that 

there must be at l east ten white students in any 

desegregated class. Since the student body is over 

75 percent black, this means t hat some c lasses are 

still totally segregated . 

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In Putnam County , Georgia, principals were instructed 

not to permit t h e minority race in any classroom to 

be less t h an approximately 25 percent of the class . 

Th e studen t body is two to one black and, as a result 

of this official poli cy, some classes are all-black . 

In Bradley County, Arkansas , when white parents 

complained about their c hildre n being a minority 

in a ll three f irst grade classes, one class was made 

all - black, Th e whites are concentrated i n the other 

two , one of wh ich i s now majority white. 

We also found sch ool districts where black student s 

were segregated. in separate portable units. 

In Katy, Texas, the black Educable Mentally Retarded 

class is placed in one mobile unit, and t h e white 

c lass in a no t h e r. 

While all students att end t h e same school in Jun ction 

City , Arkansas , only black students have been p l aced 

in portables. Th e "overflow" of black students h as 

been sent to the main building with white stu dents, 

but some have to s i t on t he floor becau se t h ere are 

not e nough c hairs . 

Some school offi c i a l s c l a im t hat segregated c l asses 

have occu rred because students have sel ected t hem. This 

is irrelevant . Sch ool officials have obviously allowed 

such resegregation and are therefore responsibl e for i t . 

- 34-



In Di llon County #1, South Carolina, some e l ective 

courses in high school are segregated , because of 

"differential ethnic group appeal ," schoo l officials 

say. 

I n Clay County , Georgia, a ll classes are segregated , 

because students were given their choice of teachers. 

Black students ended up with black teachers, and white 

student s with whi te teachers . 

2 . Testing 

Thirty-five percent of t he hi gh school and 60 percent 

of the elementary school c lassroom segregation which we 

found is defended on the basis of tests , u sually administered 

for the first time with desegregation. Higher tracks are 

pr edominantl y white, and l ower tracks are i nvariably all­

bl ack ; black pupils are assigned to vocational and remedial 

c lasses. Typically , lower track and non-academic classes 

are taught by black teachers, and higher track or college 

preparatory classes are taught by white t eachers, 

Local school offi c ials defend such t es ting on " educa-

tional" grounds . However , federal official s have declared 

- 35-



a policy against practices "including testing" which "result 

in" the isolation of black and white children.-1/ But it 

persists. 

In Edgefield, South Carolina, high ability groups 

in high school are predominantly white, e ven though 

the school is 70 percent black, and the classes are 

small so that students receive much more teacher 

attention . Last spring, as part of its proposed 

"desegregation" plan, the school district tried to 

use tests to assign a large percentage of black 

students to a separate "experimental " elementary 

school. When 8 0 percent of the black students boy­

cotted the test, HEW refused to accept the plan. 

However, those students who did take the tests 

apparently have been placed in black low-ability 

classes in the desegregated elementary schools this 

year. 

Barnwell County # 19, South Carolina used funds from 

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

to test students for ability groupings for the first 

time this fall. The superintendent admitted that the 

testing would result in segregated classes. 

In Fordyce, Arkansas, tests resulted in tracking and 

in segregated classes. Whites who tested into the 

lower tracks have been transferred out of those classes 

because, according to school officials, there were 

"too few to put them in with blacks. " 

- 36-



In Atlanta, Texas, seventh and eighth grade students 

were tested for placement, but only blacks were 

placed in vocational classes, and they are given no 

remedial training in order to move out of those 

classes into the academic program, 

Gates and Hertford Counties, North Carolina used 

tests for the first time to assign high school students. 

Most slow groups are all-black, while the accelerated 

groups are predominantly white. 

3. In-Class Segregation 

Our monitors found 40 school districts segregating 

students within classrooms, In some of these districts, 

such segregation was described as "voluntary," because 

students selected their own seats. However, school officials 

have condoned such seating arrangements and must assume 

responsibility for resulting resegregation. In other 

districts, school officials imposed segregation in class-

rooms. 

In Anderson County #5, South Carolina, for example, 

a high school history class has all black students 

on one side of the room and all white students on 

the other, with a row of empty desks down the middle, 

-37-



Chalk boards have been placed down the middle of 

a high school classroom in Carthage, Texas, to 

separate black and white students. 

In San Augustine, Texas, the Educable Mentally 

Retarded classroom has been partitioned. White 

students and a white teacher are on one side of the 

room and black students and a black teacher are on 
the other. Other elementary school teachers in San 

Augustine put white students in the front of the 

room and black students in the back, with the boys 

on one side of the room and the girls on the other. 

Jones County, Mississippi teachers assign students 

to seats in their classrooms on the basis of race. 

In some classrooms black students sit in the back 

and white students in the front; in others, blacks 

are on one side of the room, and whites on the other . 

In Laurens County #56, South Carolina, high school 

students are required to designate on their homeroom 

papers whether they are white or black . 

4. Segregated Facilities 

We discovered 21 districts with segregation in racilities 

outside of the classroom . These were usually segregated 

cafeterias or lunchrooms, although instances of segregation 

in dressing rooms and recreation areas were also found. 

- 38-



,. 

In Martin County, North Carolina, students and 

teachers are segregated in the elementary school 

lunchroom. If a student is absent, no one else is 

allowed to take his or her assigned seat. 

In Greenwood County # 52, South Carolina, students 

at first were allowed to segregate themselves by 

race in the lunchroom. Now, strong arguments arise 

if any student tries to break down those "color lines." 

White and black students in Jefferson, Texas change 

for physical education classes in separate dressing 

rooms. And, in Fitzgerald City, Georgia, black and 

white girls in at least one physical education class 

are assigned to separate showers. 

Alexander City, Alabama has segregated recreation 

areas. Black students use Laurel High School's 

facilities, which include one gym, one activities 

area, a black and white television, and a small room 

with straight chairs. White students use the 

facilities at Alexander City Junior High with 

two swimming pools, three gyms, a large activity 

room, a color television, and a large room with 

sofas. 

In Henry County, Alabama, it is alleged that black 

teachers and black students and white boys use the 

same lavatories, while others are "reserved" for 

white teachers and white girls only. 

-39-



5. Segregated Buses 

In considering segregated transportation, we excluded 

cases where black a nd white students rode separate buses 

because they lived in separate geographic areas, a l t h ough 

c loser examination of many of these cases might well re veal 

that segregat e d buses are unnecessary. Neverthel ess , our 

monitors found 89 districts with segregated buses resulting 

from obvious discriminatory practices. The most common 

practice is simply to duplicate routes , with all black 

students on bu ses with black drivers, a nd white students 

on other buses with whi te drivers . 

Su ch segregated busing by duplicate route s was 

fou nd, for example, in Miller, Randolph, Terrell, 

and Echols Counties , Georgia; Jones County , Mississippi; 

and Brownsvil l e - Haywood , Tennessee. 

In Bradford County , Flori da , where only 24 p ercent 

of the stude n t body i s black , 95 percent of the 

transported b l ack students ride predominantly 

blac k buses. 

Dup l i cat e routes usually mean inefficiency . Some 

c h ildren (most often bl ack) ride overcrowded buses while 

oth ers are underu ti l ized , Often t h ey must ride for a 

- 40-



longer p eriod of t ime t han would be necessary if each 

bus driver picked up all of t he c hildren along a logi cal 

route, regardl ess of race. 

In Union County, South Carolina, buses with four 

or fiv e white students are r eporte d on the same routes 

as overcrowded all -black buses . 

In Atkinson County, Georgia, black children "look 

like sardines" on the buses, whil e white c hildre n 

ride eight or ten to a bus. The same conditions 

were found in Harris, Turner , Marion, and Wilkinson 

Counties , Georgia . 

In Sumter County , Florida, one b lack bus makes t wo 

and three trips twice a day to two schools, while white 

bu ses make only one. The junior high school (grades 

1-8) is dismissed an hour a nd a half before the 

sen ior high; black students must wait for t h e rest 

of their bus l oad f or nearly t wo hours, while a bus 

leaves right after s chool to tak e t he white junior 

high school students home, going right by many black 

students ' homes on the way . 

In Daleville, Alabama, a bus d elivers a load of 

black childre n to s c hool an hour before classes 

begin in t h e morning; then it goes back for the 

white c h i ldre n, who arrive as school starts . In 

t he afternoon, the bus takes the white childre n 

h ome first, a nd then c omes back to pick up t h e 

black students. 

-41-



In some districts, particularly in Georgia, school 

officials claimed that they would "do something about" 

their segregated duplicate routes, but many other districts' 

officials indicated no intention of changing busing patterns. 

Schley County, Georgia's superintendent, for example, 

interpreted the court order as not requiring integrated 

busing and refused to do anything about it until the court 

specifically ordered him to do so. 

Some school officials attempted to defend segregated 

buses as necessary "to avoid fights and discipline problems 

which will occur on integrated buses." 

The superintendent in Monroe County, Georgia says 

he has to segregate buses 11 to avoid trouble." Bus 

drivers are not qualified to handle the difficulties 

which might arise, he contends. 

And in Taylor County, Georgia, according to the super­

intendent, segregated buses are necessary because 

"some black drivers do not have the ability to 

discipline rowdy white kids. " 

Occasionally, we found that bus drivers or students 

and their parents had tried to change such policies, with-

out success . 

- 42-



Thus, in Wilkes County, Georgia, black drivers 

have been told they were not allowed to pick up 

white children. The same instructions were given 

in Clay County, Georgia, and when white parents 

tried to put their children on a black bus, the 

superintendent refused to let them do so. 

In Claiborne County, Mississippi, a white student 

was actually assigned to ride a bus with blacks; 

when the bus supervisor realized the situation, 

he reassigned the student to another bus with a 

white driver. 

Some school districts permit children of both races 

on the same buses, but segregate them within the buses. 

Thus, Bradley, Arkansas has issued an official 

school board ruling requiring old Jim Crow patterns 

on the school bus, with black students in the back . 

In Calhoun County, Georgia, each bus picks up black 

and white students, but drivers segregate them on 

the buses. And in Franklin County, Virginia, drivers 

will not let black students take seats beside whites. 

Most buses in Hale County, Alabama are completely 

segregated. A few black students ride otherwise 

white buses to Greensboro and Akron High Schools, 

but they are assigned seats at the front of the bus, 

close to the driver. 

-43-



In New Bern City, North Carolina, there are "integrated" 

buses for New Bern High and Barber Junior High. How­

ever, they pick up black students first, then white 

students, After school, the reverse occurs, with 

white students getting off first, and then black 

students . Not only does this practice re~ult in segre­

gated seating but it means that black students spend 

a much greater amount of time getting to and from 
school. 

B. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES 

Some desegregating school districts have recognized 

the unique opportunity which extracurricular activities 

can provide, particularly at the high school level, to 

develop the interracial contact and the sense of shared 

responsibility and involvement which can ease the transition 

period and make the process of desegregation work. These 

districts have established biracial student committees 

and black and white students participate equally in student 

government, bands and cheerleading squads, and social 

activities,_§/ 

Unfortunately, these districts are the exception. 

Most commonly, black students in desegregated schools 

are barred from participating in student government, 

-44-



cheerleading squads and bands. They learn they cannot 

make the honor society, and that school dances have been 

cancelled. A star athlete may be accepted on the team, 

especially if he can help win a state championship; but 

as one high school student in Center, Texas (where they 

changed the election procedures to keep blacks out of 

student government) noted, "all they want us to do is play 

football on the field and sit quiet in the classroom. And 

all I want to do is get out of this mess. 11 

Our monitors were able to obtain information on extra­

curricular activities in 305 school districts. In 126 

of those districts they reported discriminatory practices. 

Stuttgart, Arkansas is a typical example, This year, for 

the first time, class officers were elected by standing 

vote instead of secret ballot, to discourage any white 

student who might consider voting for a black candidate, 

There are no blacks on the pep squad, and few on the foot­

ball team or glee club. When cheerleading candidates were 

told that uniforms and training camp would cost $140, 

all but one black girl dropped out of the running; she 

was subsequently elected and discovered the actual 

total cost to be only about $35. Dances are now held 

at a local recreation center of the Legion Hall. There 

-45-



was to be a Thanksgiving dance by invitation only. No 

black students were invited, although the cheerleaders 

sold tickets for the dance at school. 

1. Discrimination in Social Activities 

Extracurricular discrimination was found most often 

in social activities, which were either cancelled or 

segregated in 108 of the monitored districts. 

York County # 2, South Carolina's school board 
established a written policy that no organization 

connected with the school can sponsor any social 
activity including dances and proms. 

In Jefferson County, Florida, no "physical 
contact" except sports is allowed according to 

the superintendent's office. Not only have all 
dances outside of school hours been cancelled but 
teaching units in square and social dancing have 

been eliminated as well. 

In Orangeburg County #8, South Carolina, most 
school activities, including recess, have been 
cancelled to prevent social contact. School 

dances are held at the "community center," and 
blacks have been told they are not allowed to 

attend because the center is privately owned. 

-46-



Transfer of proms to private white- only country 

clubs was a common occurrence which we found, for 

example, in Henry County, Alabama; Lake County, 

Florida; Dyersburg and Gibson County, Tennessee; 

Vance County, North Carolina; and Newport, Arkansas. 

In San Augustine, Texas, a new rule has been 
established prohibiting "socializing in the halls," 

and a private security guard has been hired to 

enforce the regulation. 

2. Discrimination in Student Government and School 

Organizations 

In a few school districts, our monitors found student 

government organized in such a manner as to afsure biracial 

representation. In some cases, officers elected last year 

in the separate black and white high schools serve jointly 

in the integrated schools. In other cases, new election 

procedures have been established to guarantee fair repre­

sentation of all students.-2/ But in many school districts, 

black students have been effectively excluded from student 

government participation. 

When a black student was elected eleventh grade 

class president in Waskom, Texas, the school board 

met and decided that last year's officers would 
serve again. 

- 47-



A black student was elected senior class vice president 

at Clinton High School in Laurens County #56, South 

Carolina, but he was not allowed to assume office 

because he "flunked the eighth grade," The only 

school policy anyone had known in the past was that 

a student is ineligible for class office only if he 

failed in high school. (Eighth grade is not high 

school in that system.) 

In Junction City, Arkansas, a black girl was elected 

to a senior class office, when white students split 

their vote among several candidates . Rather than 

letting her take office, however, a runoff election 

was held for the first time and the white candidate 

won. 

Similarly in Anniston, Alabama, when the white girl 

who had received the highest number of votes as the 

homecoming queen was disqualified, instead of naming 

the black runner-up queen, a new election was held 

with a new policy requiring a majority vote instead 

of a plurality and a runoff election if necessary. 

School officials stated that because blacks tended 

to "bloc vote," it was no longer fair to have a 

plurality system of election. 

In England, Arkansas, the election for homecoming 

queen was held in homerooms while black students were 

in their segregated physical education classes. 

-48-



East Tallahatchie, Mississippi school officials 
cancelled the Future Farmers of America, the Future 
Homemakers of America, Hi-Y, and student government, 
rather than let black students into these organiza­

tions. 

In Texarkana, Texas, no applications for school 

social clubs are accepted from black students. The 
school allows an all-white club sponsored by the 
Kiwanis, but will not permit an Afro-student union. 

In West Orange- Cove, Texas, when black students 
moved to the desegregated high school, they were 
told to turn in their Honor Society pins and were 
not allowed to join the society at their new school. 

Members of the society are elected by the teachers, 
and although qualified black students have been 

nominated, only one had been elected at the time of 
our monitor's visit. 

Similarly, in Carthage, Texas, black students were 
excluded from honors programs at the desegregated 
high school, irrespective of their grades at the 
former black school. 

1. Discrimination in Athletics, Cheerleading , and Band 

Although most schools seemed willing to accept a 

black athlete if he could help the team win football 

games, some discrimination was found here as well. In 

-49-



other activities associated with athletic events -- cheer-

leading, band, drill teams, majorettes -- discrimination 

was more prevelant. 

Kemper County, Mississippi cancelled all football 

and basketball. Marengo County, Alabama discontinued 

basketball and has kept all blacks off the football 

team. 

In Edgefield, South Carolina, where the student 

body is 70 percent black, only three black football 

players have made the first string squad, there are 

only two black majorettes, and only one of the eight 

c h eerleaders is black. In Baker County, Florida, 

all seven cheerleaders are white. 

Laurens County #56, South Carolina allows high school 

students to drive school buses as a part-time job, 

and most of these drivers are black. This year, a 

new school policy was established that boys who 

drive school buses can no longer play football. 

In several Arkansas districts, blacks have been kept 

off cheerleading squads by proribitive costs. In 

Bradley, Arkansas, two cheerleading positions 

were designated for black students, but they could 

not be filled because no one could pay for the uni­

forms. In Dermott, Arkansas, p ep club outfits cost 

$ 108 , more than any black students could afford. 

-50-



In Brinkley, Arkansas, blacks in the school system 
insisted that the all- white cheerleading squad be 
enlarged to include three black cheerleaders, but 

the community then had to raise $82.50 per cheer­
leader to pay their expenses. 

When schools were segregated in Humphreys County, 
Mississippi, Title I funds were used to purchase 
band instruments for black students who could not 

afford their own. This year, all band members must 
buy their own instruments and many black students 
are thus excluded from the band. 

In McCormick, South Carolina, black majorettes are 
not allowed to participate in halftime activities 
at the football games, supposedly because they did 

not attend a "majorette camp ." Black students insist 
that they were not informed of the camp. 

In Watson Chapel, Arkansas, black cheerleaders are 
not allowed to go to out of town games. And in 

Baldwin County, Alabama, black students are trans­
ported to out of town games on segregated buses. 

Some of them tried to ride a "white" bus and were 
refused . 

-51-



C. LOSS OF BLACK IDENTITY 

Insidious discrimination is as bad as overt discrimi­

nation to the victim. A black student, segregated in 

class, blocked from participation in other school activi­

ties, has little incentive or chance of identifying with 

his "desegregated school." And all of his symbols of 

pride are destroyed or derogated. 

1. Loss of Names of Former Black Schools 

Of 321 black schools which remained open in the 

districts we visited, the names of 188 were changed. This 

was most common when schools were named after men and women 

of special significance to the black community - - George 

Washington Carver, Abraham Lincoln, Mary McLoud Bethune, 

Ralph Bunche, Booker T. Washington, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, 

or Marian Anderson . 

In Clinton, South Carolina (Laurens County #56), 

Martha Dandy Elementary School, named after a prominent 

local black woman, became Clinton Junior High for Girls 

although blacks continue to refer to it by the old name. 

Wynne, Arkansas' Childress High School, named after a 

black principal, became Wynne Junior High. 

- 52-



Even when the name of the black school had no 

special 11black" meaning, it was often changed, just to 

remove its identity as the former black school. For 

example, Crockett County, Tennessee's Central High School 

became Crockett Elementary. Ashdown, Arkansas ' Wood Street 

High School became Brown Junior High. Richmond County, 

North Carolina's Monroe Avenue School became Hamlet 

Junior High . 

Some school districts took elaborate steps to change 

the names of all of the formerly black schools. In Horry 

County, South Carolina, the names of six former black 

schools have been changed: Whittemore High School became 

Conway Junior High; Whittemore Elementary is now West 

Conway Elementary; Finklea High is now Area Two Vocational 

Schoo l ; Chestnut High is North Myrtle Beach High; Carver 

Elementary is Central Elementary; and Watson Elementary 

is Loris Middle School. 

Harris County, Georgia also changed the names of 

all of its operating black schools: Dunbar and Chipley 

Elementary Schools were combined into Pine Mountain 

Elementary; Laney Elementary became Waverly Hall Elementary; 

Thomas Elementary is now Cataula Elementary; and Carver 

High is Harris County Junior High. (Waverly Hall, Cataula, 

and Harris County are old names of white schools.) 

- 53-



Black students are not given similar consideration. 

They are expec ted to happily identify with Wade Hampton, 

Jefferson Davis, or Strom Thurmond Schools . One of our 

monitors told of a black high school girl ashamed to 

admit she was a student at Robert E. Lee School. 

Orangeburg County #1, South Carolina went out of 

its way to offend black students. When the black Norfield 

School became the desegregated high school (a rare occurence), 

it assumed the name of the closed white school, Hunter-Kinard --

the names of two former white superintendents . 

2 . Loss of Black Mascots, Songs , and Symbols 

Just as school names have been changed, black mascots, 

colors, and songs have disappeared. We did find isolated 

situations where school districts tried to compromise, 

combining team names or col ors of the former black and white 

schools • .!Q/ In Valdosta, Georgia, the band director pro­

posed a compromise medley which would include the old 

white school's song "Dixie" and "We Shall Overcome." ("We 

caught it from both sides and dropped it," the director said . ) 

More commonly, as a monitor reported about Texarkana, 

Arkansas, " the prevailing attitude is that the whites are 

-54-



keeping what they have but the blacks can use it." 

In Edgefield, South Carolina, the desegregated 

school retained the old white school's name, Strom 

Thurmond High, as well as its colors, the Confederate 

flag, the team name "Rebels" and the school song 

"Dixie." When the principal was asked how white 

students would have felt if all of the black symbols 

had been adopted instead, he replied simply, "but 

that's different." 

Black students at the desegregated Carthage, Texas 

high school are not allowed to wear award jackets, 

sweaters, or colors from their old high school. 

And in Anderson County # 4, South Carolina, black 

students were suspended from the band when they 

refused to play "Dixie" and march behind the Con­

federate flag. 

In Aiken County, South Carolina, when the two 

high schools were paired, teachers selected 

students to form a committee to compromise on such 

issues . According to the monitor, "letting young 

people work it out" turned out to be voting to 

accept a slate of rules prepared by the white high 

school principal. The alma mater was to have been 

rewritten, but at the first pep rally, only the 

white alma mater was used; The princj_pal refused 

a black student request for a conference to write 

a new school song, alleging it was useless because 

black students would be outvoted. 

-55-



3. Loss of Black Trophies 

In most school districts, black high school 

trophies and school pictures either disappeared or are 

being displayed in places other than the desegregated 

high school, Of 322 districts wh ere we obtained such 

information, only 83 districts had black trophies on dis­

play at desegregated high schools, while 206 districts 

displayed white trophies. Usually black trophies remained 

at the formerly black school which either was being utilized 

as a lower level school or had been closed , Other school 

districts disposed of them in other ways or their where-

abouts were unknown. 

In Clarksville, Tennessee, for example, when the 

black high school became a desegregated seventh grade 

school, the trophies were removed, but no one knows 

where they are now, 

Many of the trophies in Franklin County, Virginia 

were removed from the black high school and given 

to the persons who won them. Pictures that originally 

hung in the hall have been put in the library. 

Brinkley, Arkansas removed black class pictures from 

the walls and "stored" them in the librarian's 

office, 

Chattah oochee County, Georgia's class pictures are 

piled in the corner of the principal's office, and 

Baker County, Florida's trophies are in the h ome 

-56-



I 
if 

of the former black coach. In the desegregated 

former black high school in Orangeburg County #1, 

South Carolina, all black trophies and pictures were 

replaced by white pictures ·and trophies. 

Lake County, Florida put black trophies on display 

in the Chamber of Commerce building because school 

officials claimed there was 11no room in the trophy 

case at school and no money to put in another trophy 

case. 11 The NAACP is raising money to p•.i t in a 

trophy case at the high school. 

Horry County, South Carolina's black Whittemore 

High School became Conway Junior High School, A 

brick memorial arch which had been presented to 

the school by a previous black class was bulldozed 

down, and all signs associating the school with 

Whittemore were obliterated, 

D, ACCOMMODATING WHITE PARENTS AND STUDENTS 

A primary underlying theme of all of the abuses which 

have been described in this chapter is the accommodation 

of white prejudice and the alleviation of white fears. 

School districts have gone to extremes to keep black 

students separate from white students, to prevent social 

contact, and to maintain the sense of white superiority 

in the school system. In doing so, they are frustrating 

the process and objectives of desegregation and exacerbating 

-57-



already raw black feelings. Unnecessarily remodeling 

black schools and imposing new dress and discipline codes 

are still further examples of insensitivity to black 

students and parents . 

1 . Repairing Former Bl ack Schools 

Our monitors found 161 black schools which were repaired 

before white students were transferred to them . Some of 

the remodeling of black schools was necessary but was 

done only when white students were assigned to them and 

after black p.~rents had objected to the same conditions 

of these schools for many years. 

Escambia County, Al abama reportedly spent 

nearly a million dollars to prepare the Escambia 
County Training School for white elementary students. 

When only blacks attended the school, there was 
no heat, onl y one light to a room , no doors on the 

rooms, and the superintendent ' s office always 
insisted that there was no money for repairs. 

Marion County #3, South Carolina made extensive 
repairs on a former black school where, 
the superintendent said, "not a dime had been spent 
on maintenance" since it was built in 1954. Work 
included painting and a new roof. 

- 58-



11 

J 

Anderson County #5 , South Carolina is spending 

$133 ,000 to equip, renovate and repair formerly 

black Westside High School. One black student 

told the monitor that, as a result of this investment, 

he had textbooks for the first time since he had 

been in school. Ironically, a new high school is 

being constructed and now that the repairs which 

blacks have been seeking for years have finally 

been made, there is no plan for using the school 

beyond this year . 

One monitor described the objective of other repairs 

as attempts to 11deniggerize" the schools. 

Thus, in Anderson, Pendelton, and Williamston, 

South Carolina all of the toilets or toilet seats 

in the formerly black schools were replaced, though 

repairs were unneeded. Also, the toilet seat preoccupation 
was found in Gilmer, Texas; Ashdown, Arkansas; and 

Sumter County , Georgia. 

Chester County, Tennessee fumigated the former black 

school. Brinkley, Arkansas redecorated a black school 
"to get rid of disease." 

In Eudora, Arkansas, a 12-foot chain link cyclone 

fence was put up around the former black high school, 

"to keep the community away" from the white students 
who would be attending classes there. 

In Center, Texas, the former black school now used 

as the desegregated junior high school has received 

major repairs which black parents had been urging 

- 59-



for years. A new access road has been built 

on one side of the building so that buses bringing 

white students to the school will not have to come 

through the "worst part" of the black community. 

2. New Dress and Discipline Codes 

Some school districts have found a sudden need for 

new dress and discipline codes, a need that apparently 

did not exist as long as the schools were segregated. 

While an effort is frequently made to couch these new 

codes in "nonracial" terms, black students feel, with 

justification, that they are directed at them. 

In Orangeburg County # 4, South Carolina, the principal 

ad~itted that the dress code was established because 

the school district "had to be more conservative, 

especially with regard to the girls' dress because 

black and white boys and girls were now attending 

school together." 

The San Augustine, Texas school board has adopted a 

strict new dress and conduct code allegedly for all 

students. But black students have no doubt that it 

is aimed at them and are insulted by references to 

drugs, liquor, firearms, and dope. As one student 

remarked, "they expect us to drink, shoot dope, cut 

up people. They never cared if we did it in all­

black schools, but they are going to be sure we 

don ' t contaminate any white children." High school 

-60-



I~ 

l 
l 

students of both races are angry because no one can 

l eave the building at lunch time, even though t h e 

cafeteria is too small to accommodate everyone. 

The new "dress a nd grooming rul es " in Forest , 

Mississippi b etray the school board's racist pre ­

con ceptions of black students by requiring for the 

first time this year that pupils and empl oyees daily 

wear c lean clothes, "free of body odor ." A daily 

"all- over bath" is a requirement, plus "deodorants 

whe n necessary." 

Black senior girls in Tyler, Texas were told t hat 

they could not have their class pictures taken with 

Afro hairdos. Like many other sch oo l districts we 

monitored, Ty l er a l so forbids Afro combs, or " cake­

cutters," in school because t h ey are "dangerous 

weapons." 

In Nacogdoches, Texas, there is no subtlety in t h e 

n ew code: "Students s hall not wear any a pparel 

or embl em that designates or symbolizes a particul ar 

race or power such as a glove, hood, armband, or 

other insi gnia if its wearing is designed to cause 

division s in the student body and distraction from 

school activity." The new policy goes to drugs, 

weapo ns , fe l on ies, expulsions, and suspensions as 

well. As the school board said , "a few years ago, 

we would not have had to spell out these things." 

- 61-



When a black boy and several white boys were found 

fighting after school in Nacodoches, the black boy 

was taken to the principal's office and then to the 

police station, and held for more than an hour. (None 

of the whites involved in the incident received similar 

treatment.) This boy and two other black boys were 

later expelled for the semester because they were 

"not sincere" about getting an education. One of the 

boys did not even know of his expulsion until he read 
about it in the local paper. 

3 . Keeping Black Students "In Their Place" 

Some of the disciplinary actions our monitors reported 

reflect great preoccupation with the "dangers" of "mixing," 

and are clearly designed to keep black students "in their 

place." 

Marion County # 2, South Carolina expelled a black 

high school student "for making passes at a white 

girl and following her onto a wrong bus. " And in 

Columbia County, Florida, two ninth grade boys were 

expelled "for whistling at white girls," and three 
white girls were expelled "for flirting with black 

boys." 

In Pickens County, South Carolina, a black youth 

was suspended twice, for three days each time, 

for talking to white girls. And a black student 

- 62-



in Bradley, Arkansas was suspended for asking 

other students about interracial dating, 

In McComb, Mississippi, black and white students 

were expelled or suspended for what is reported 
as "black boy-white girl and white boy-black girl 
overtures." 

In Mineral Springs, Arkansas, two black girls were 
suspended because they refused to say 11yes sir" 

and "yes ma'am." 

E. BLACK STUDENT REACTION 

In all of the situations we have described, there 

is no indication of awareness or care by local white school 

boards and administrators of their impact on black students. 

But it is precisely these kinds of incidents that are 

breeding hostility and despair in the black community and 

the reactive cry - - so misinterpreted -- for black community 

control. It is not desegregation they are rejecting, it 

is continued separation and disrespect. 

Federal spokesmen have pointed with satisfaction to 

the "relative calm" with which the desegregation process 

was carried out in 1970 • .!l/ This is a premature judgment 

and it ignores the frustrations and tensions which are 

building in many school districts as a result of the kinds 

-63-



of po l icies and practices documented herein. Black pro-

tests have already broken the "calm" surface in some 

districts, sometimes in peaceful boycotts and demonstrations, 

but sometimes in violent confrontations. 

Greenville, South Carolina is a tragic example of 

h ow fragil e the "calm" exterior of the desegregation 

process actually is. Th is summer, a delegation of students 

and teachers told a Senate Select Committee t hat Greenville 

h d t . 12' a the potential for becoming a model for the na 1on • .=..:t 

But the Greenville plan was based on a white model of 

school desegregation. In November it expl oded , Violence 

erupted in the schools. At least one school was closed 

and reopened under police guard. The National Guard was 

brought in, tear gas and guns were used, and 300 students, 

mostly black, were suspended. 

Greenville ' s superintendent said t hat "some of the 

basic causes lie in the transplanting of black students 

from their former all - black schools to almos~ all white 

surroundings." Black students, he continued, "feel like 

they've had to give up everything they had . 11.!l/ Three of 

the all-black high schools were closed and the two others 

down-graded to junior highs. Their requests for representa-

tion in student government and extracurricul ar activities 

and for a black studies program were denied. Their "new" 

- 64-



.. 
1 

schools play "Dixie" and fly Confederate flags. They are 

angry, as their statements reveal: 

"Students are fed up with having to take what's 

being handed out to them by the white man." 

"I won't even walk up there and look at Beck [the 

closed black school], because it hurts. I don't 

think anybody cried so much as our class. A lot of 

black kids don't feel a part of Mann [the formerly 

white school] because they ' re not qualified for the 

football team or the band or this or that. I 

played in the band and then became a majorette 

at Beck. But none of the girls that went to 

Beck qualified for majorette at Mann , " 

"Kids transferred from other schools into Mann were 

tired of taking everything." 

"In the white school I feel like I'm being 

discriminated against. In class, if I raise my 

hand for an answer and a white raises his hand, 

the white is called on . Then I get lower grades • 
Whites sit on one side of the classroom, blacks on 

the other, Then the teacher teaches to the whites," 

"We just want something to have a part in. 11!.Y 

In Warren County, North Carolina, black student 

demands for representation in student government, for a 

more relevant curriculum including black studies, and for 

- 65-



black administrators in positions of authority have gone 

unheeded. Their frustrations erupted in early November, 

when rumors spread that a white-only dance would be held 

after the football game {there have been no school-sponsored 

social activities since desegregation). Rather than con­

front issues raised, school officials closed all but two 

of the district's schools for more than a week. Black 

student protests were met by a special city ordinance 

banning marches or parades, and when students marched any­

way, violence broke out. The following day schools were 

reopened, but nearly 1,000 black students stayed out of 

school, insisting that order be restored and issues resolved 

first. Two weeks later, students again attempted to present 

their grievances to the principal, but were ordered out 

of his office. New violence erupted and mass arrests were 

made. Ninety-one students were charged with disorderly 

conduct. Black girls were confined to a women's prison 

over strong objections from the black community. The 

boycott was finally ended, after many students had been 

out of school for more than a month. They now face failing 

grades for the semester, and none of the issues which 

responsible student leaders presented have been resolved. 

High tensions persist. 

-66-



Although our monitors visited most districts during 

the first six weeks of school, they found the same elements 

of protest and potential confrontation described in other 

districts. In some cases, students had already taken 

action, and the typical response of school officials had 

been to expel or suspend them, rather than deal with the 

issues the students raised. 

Black high school students in Earle, Arkansas walked 

out of classes to protest supression of black expression, 

segregated classrooms and facilities, demotion of 

black personnel, and refusal to permit blacks to par­

ticipate in school activities. Twenty-six students 

were arrested and convicted of violating a city ordi­

nance by "parading without a permit. " Th e black 

communi ty held an evening march to protest the con­

victions and school policies. Law enforcement officials 

attacked the demonstrators and more than 500 shots 

were fired. Five blacks were hospitalized for 

injuries ranging from broken arms to a gunshot wound 

in the stomach, and there were reports of at least 

75 injured. 

In West Orange-Cove, Texas, when class election 

ballots were counted in the absence of black members 

of the election committee, 200 black students staged 

a walkout to protest the irregular procedures. They 

returned to class with the principal's assurance that 

"no students would be penalized." When they learned 

that four basketball players had been suspended from 

the team that same afternoon, for "unsportsmanlike 

conduct," as a result of their participation in the 

-67-



demonstration, a second walkout was staged. The 

principal met with them but refused to listen to their 

grievances; he read them a new discipline code designed 

to deal with "this kind of problem" and ordered them 

to either go back to class or go home. Twenty-one 

students left the campus and were expelled for the 

semester . The students and the community appealed 

to the school board, but their expulsions were upheld. 

Most of these students have had to move away from home, 

to live with relatives or friends in other school 

districts, in order to continue their education, 

In Iredell County, North Carolina, black students 

organized a boycott and protest march when no black 

girl was elected to the 15-member queen's court for 

homecoming. Black students w€re clubbed by police 

during the march; some were seriously hurt and at 

least ten were arrested, The school suspended 120 

black students for three days, all homecoming activi­

ties except the football game were cancelled, as well 

as student elections, affairs and related activities, 

Magnolia, Arkansas black students organized a boycott 

because there were no blacks in student government 

or on the cheerleading squad. The leaders of the boy­

cott were suspended, A planned second boycott was 

cancelled, but four more black "leaders" were expelled, 

According to the monitor, community leaders are "trying 

to hold it together" but students "are leaning to 

more militant ways." 

In Perry County, Alabama, black students staged a 

boycott to protest the demotion of their football 

coach. Although he had had considerable experience 

-68-



and success coaching in the district, when the high 

schools were desegregated, a new white man was named 

head coach and the black coach was offered an assistant­

ship . As a result of the boycott, football has been 

discontinued. 

All of the 350 black students who attend Robert E. 

Lee High School in Tyler, Texas walk out of pep 

rallies each week when "Dixie" is played. Students 

have met with school officials in an effort to elimi­

nate offensive symbols at the high school, but the 

only accommodation made is to assure black football 

players that they do not have to run on the field 

under the Confederate flag, and b lack members that 

they do not have to play "Dixie." 

In Dublin, Georgia, tensions in the high school 

mounted over school colors and symbols and dis­

crimination against black students, until school 

officials found it necessary to evacuate the build­

ing. While some students remained inside, those 

who left were lined up on the school grounds, blacks 

on one side and whites on the other. Police were 

call ed when some fighting broke out, and they 

attacked and maced a number of black students, at 

least one seriously enough to require medical treat­

ment. Since that time, at least 100 black students 

have been suspended for varying periods of time, for 

a variety of offenses. There were no reports of 

white students suspended. When several blacks tried 

to come back to school before their suspensions were 

up, they were arrested, handcuffed, and jailed. 

Police are now stationed in the halls of the schools . 

-69-



Within six weeks after schools opened, our monitors 

found that 152 districts had expelled black students and 

95 had expelled white students, Five times as many black 

as white students were involved in these disciplinary 

actions. Where we could obtain explanations for expulsions 

or suspensions, we found that white students generally 

were being punished for typical school discipline problems, 

most often for fighting. In contrast, over 80 percent 

of the black student expulsions were for protests or 

demonstrations. 

As one North Carolina student explained, "if you 

start to even question any of the rules and regulations, 

even if you know they are directed against you, you are 

called a Communist or, you know, you are just a black 

militant that is going totally insane. 11.!.2/ 

One of the tragic results of unfair disciplinary pro-

cedures, or those perceived by blacks to be unfair, is 

that black students who might provide leadership supportive 

of desegregated education have been removed from the schools. 

Many of those who do remain have become increasingly dis-

illusioned with the entire process. 

One high school student leader in New Orleans, who 

describes himself as a school 11pushout 11 as a result of 

desegregation, blames black disillusionment on the failure 

to achieve quality integrated education: 

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11 ••• what has happened is that the same whites who 
resisted the desegregation program ••. the same whites 
that keep everyday strengthening the resistance move­
ment are the same ones that make the rules and regula­
tions for black students inside those Southern schools." 

And he indicts the federal government as a conspirator 

in the process: 

11 ••• it is very clear to see and prove that the Federal 

Government has left the control of the schools in the 
hands of the resistance movement. That means 

people who are interested in the social issue of 
desegregation wonder is there a conspiracy between 
the Federal Government and southern states, to leave 

the control in the hands of the southern r esistance 
movement. The Government doesn't move like that ••• 

in Vietnam it doesn't give Hanoi money or r e-
sources to implement the Vietnamization p~~&ram, 
because Hanoi is classified as the enemy • .!2/ 

While Secretary Richardson admitted the major problem 

of desegregation of southern schools was " in-school segrega-

tion, 11 h e said, "I think this one will resolve itself with­

out serious difficulty over the next several months. 11l1./ 
We strongly disagree and f ee l that this kind of stance 

from those in l eadership is a major source of noncompliance 

with the law. Our findings strongly suggest that this 

probl em will not resolve itself, and that serious difficulty 

-71-



will almost certainly result unless changes are made 

immediately. 

Secretary Richardson recognized the need "of communicating 

an awareness to the school systems that desegregation must 

extend to what is done inside the school building, as well 

as among the schools within a system,"Wbut no such communi-

cation has been forthcoming, 

After the dozen black students met with HEW officials 

in June, 1970, the Office for Civil Rights Director did 

appoint a task force to develop a policy statement to be 

sent to all HEW-plan districts outlining the Title VI 

requirements regarding treatment of students in desegre­

gated schools. The task force completed its assignment 

in early July and presented Mr. Pottinger with a compre­

hensive statement which, if issued, would have helped to 

prevent many of the abuses described in this chapter and, 

more importantly, much of the suffering of black students 

who may be long soured on the desegregation process. It 

would have also given school officials the kind of federal 

b~cking and guidance needed to resolve these issues. Yet, 

as we indicated at the beginning of this chapter, the 

administration abandoned the statement as "unworkable." 

-72-



Such refusal to act is inexcusable. While the task 

force document is not perfect, it does identify the major 

issues and provides a basis for resolving them by placing 

affirmative responsibility on school officials, the place 

where responsibility belongs. We include the proposed 

task force memorandum in this report as Appendix c, and 

urge its immediate adoption and dispatch to southern school 

districts. 

-73-



CHAPTER III 

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST 

BLACK TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS 

" •. • black children, by seeing black teachers and 

administrators downgraded or fired, are impressed with 

the feeling that blackness is a mark of inferiority, 

Their reaction in many cases is one of self hate, although 

in recent years this has been replaced by feelings of 
rebellion. 

" • •• white children, on the other hand, are led to 

believe that their whiteness makes them superior persons, 

This condition perpetuates the thoroughly discredited myth 

of white superiority and inhibits their future adult life, 

making it difficult for them to operate effectively in a 
multi-racial world. 11 

George Fischer, President 11 
National Education Association....;!;/ 

That desegregation of a dual school system requires 

nondiscriminatory treatment and assignment of black teachers, 

administrators and other staff is now patently clear._g/ 

Yet our monitors found widespread discriminatory dismissal 

and demotion of black principals and teachers, and viola-

tions of legal requirements for racial assignment of staff. 

-74-



Of 467 districts monitored, 34 districts had dismissed 

black principals, 194 had demoted black principals, 127 

had dismissed black teachers, and 103 had demoted black 

teachers. Our findings strongly confirm the recent con-

clusion of the National Education Association that "what 

is happening ••• is not integration; rather, it is dis-

integration -- the near total disintegration of black 

authority in every area of t h e system of public education, 11...l/ 

The Departments of Justice and HEW several years ago 

imp?sed strong paper requirements for nondiscriminatory 

treatment of black educators in desegregating districts,__!!/ 

But little action to correct the widespread v iolations 

of their own requirements has ensued. Not a single school 

district has been terminated by HEW for discrimination 

against black principals or teachers, although it has re­

ceived hundreds of complaints of such discrimination,_5-/ 

Federal officials have equally failed to enforce the firm 

standards established by the courts and adopted by the 

President himself, that faculty in desegregating districts 

must be assigned so that the ratio of black to white 

teachers in each school in a district is substantially 

the same as the district's ratio as a whole. We found 

substantial deviations from this principle in 39 percent 

of the monitored districts. 

-75-



During the spring and summer of 1970, NEA and other 

outside professional educators and lawyers warned federal 

officials of the expected increase in discrimination against 

black educators. They consulted with HEW and Justice 

Department officials on preparation of a detailed illemo-

randum outlining school districts' responsibilities under 

the Civil Rights Act of 1964 regarding treatment of minority 

faculty. 

On August 6, 1970 , HEW Secretary Richardson and Civil 

Rights Director Pottinger promis ed a U.S . Senate Committe~ 
that the memorandum would be issued "probably ••• within 

ten to fifteen days. 11-1./ 

Today, almost five months later, no memorandum on 

this crucial issue has been sent to local school officials.~ 
Instead, on December 11 , 1970, the Office of Education 

announced a program of training and retraining "to assist 

teachers and administrators displac ed by the process of 

school desegregation," and to improve and enlarge the skills 

of
11
those displaced personnel who wish to remain in the educa­

tion profession," or "who des ire to enter other fields. 11-2/ 

This unfortunate program accepts white southern school 

officials ' belief that black teachers and principal s were 

qualified to teach black children but not white children. 

- 76-



It is a poor substitute for enforcing the law and, as 

announced, amounts to an endorsement by the federal govern-

ment of the massive firings and demotions of black teachers 

and principals that have accompanied school desegregation. 

A. PRINCIPAL DISMISSALS AND DEMOTIONS 

Our monitors found 34 cases where black principals 

were discriminatorily dismissed. 

In Atlanta, Texas, a black principal with a ma~ter's 

degree in administration, a superior score on the 

National Teacher's Examination, and 30 years' teaching 

experience was offered a contract to remain as princi­

pal of a school until it was desegregated. He refused 

to sign the contract on the graunds that it was dis­

criminatory, and he noted on the contract that he 

would take the job of junior high school principal 

when the schools were desegregated. He worked for 

a year without a contract, but was informed he would 

not be rehired. His request for a hearing was denied. 

A black elementary school principal in Barnwell County 

#5, South Carolina with four years' experience received 

a letter thanking him for his services and stating 

that 11 due to changes" he was no longer needed. He 

inquired about a teaching job and was turned down. 

He has a master's degree and has taught in the county 

for 19 years. The new principal of the desegregated 

elementary school has only a bachelor's degree and one 

year's experience in the system. 

-77-



In Monroe County, Georgia, the black elementary 

school principal was forced out. He had been 

principal for three years and lived in Atlanta. 

Only when the schools were desegregated was he 

told he could not be a principal unless he resided 

in Monroe County. He was offered a position, 

apparently invented for him, as assistant superin­

tendent. He declined, and now works in Atlanta. 

Baker County, Georgia fired the former black school 

principal for alleged unwillingness or inability to 

control a black student protest last year. 

Lexington County #3, South Carolina closed a black 

school and ordered its principal to resign because 

"his services were not satisfactory." He is now an 

assistant principal at a desegregated high school in 

another district. 

Demotions were more common than dismissals. 194, or 

63 percen~ of the districts we visited demoted at least 

386 black principals to a variety of inferior positions. 

Half of the 386 demoted black principals were made 

assistant principals, despite their frequent better qualifi-

cations and superior experience to the white principals 

they were assigned to work under. 

Pike County, Alabama demoted four black principals. 

One former high school principal is now the second 

assistant principal of a desegregated high school. 

The new white principal of this school, formerly a 

-78-



football coach, and the white first assistant 

principal were brought into the system this year. 

A s econd black principal with 20 years' experience 

and a master's degree in administration now works 

in a Title I program for migratory workers. He , 

too, was replaced by a white principal new to the 
system, The other two black former principals now 

serve as the "coordinator" of a junior high school 

and as a classroom teacher, respectively. 

In York County #2, South Carolina, the black high 

school principal was made associate principal of the 

de segregated high school. Though he has credentials 

to be a high school and middle school principal, a 

white teacher was made principal of the middle school 

this year. 

A black principal in Attalla City, Alabama with 15 

years' experience as an assistant principal and prin­

cipal was made assistant principal, with few duties, 

of a junior high school under a white man with only 

6 years' experience as a principal. 

Some districts have created the role of "assistant" 

principal with desegregation with undefined or trivial 

duties. 

Two black principals in Kershaw County, South Carolina 

have been made assistant principals with duties of 

organizing bus schedules and keeping the buses running. 

And in Humphreys County, Mississippi, the two white 

principals have seven black assistants -- five black 

former principals and two black former assistant 

principals. 

-79-



In Nacogdoches, Texas, t he black high school princi­

pal is now second administrative assistant to the 

white principal of the desegregated high school, 

Though he was principal for many years, the school 
board selected the white former football coach to 

be the new principal and the white former basketball 

coach to be first administrative assistant. Another 

black principal of a junior high school remains at his 

black school to supervise the building though no 

regular classes are conducted at the school, 

In Baldwin County, Alabama, one former black princi­

pal was transferred to the central administrative 
office where he is the administrative assistant at 

the Materials Center which provides books and Title I 
equ ipment to all schools. The other five former 

black principals were also demoted -- four to assistant 

principals under white principals and one to head 

guidance counselor over three schools. 

A former black elementary school principal in 

Jefferson County, Florida, now an assistant high 

schoo l principal, is driver education director and 

truant officer, His old e l ementary school now has 
a white principal. 

We found a few districts where a~sistant principal 

is simply a false title concealing a menial position. 

For example: 

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Magnolia, Arkansas made the principal of a former 

black elementary school assistant principal of a 

desegregated elementary school, but assigned him to 

work with the janitors and on equipment and materials. 

Other black assistant principals deal only with 

black student discipline and black student attendance, 

In Greenwood County #52, South Carolina, the former 

black high school principal is now assistant principal 

at the desegregated high school, He "does whatever 

told to do," which is mostly disciplining black 

students and directing buses, 

A former black high school principal in Humboldt 

City, Tennessee is now assistant principal at the 
desegregated high school in charge of black male 

students. In Coffee County, Alabama, the black 
assistant principal may discipline only black children, 

while the white principal disciplines the white 
children. 

While we found no instance where a white high school 

principal was assigned to a lower level school, we found 

districts where black senior and junior high school prin­

cipals were demoted to lower level schools. 

In West Tallahatchie, Mississippi, a black former 

high school principal was demoted to junior high 

school principal, while a former white football 

coach was made principal of the desegregated high 

school. And in Martin County, North Carolina, all 

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black former high school principals are now elementary 

school principals. 

Another new title, the co- principal, has emerged in 

some desegregating districts, i . e., a black and a white 

"share" the title of principal while the white "co- principal" 

has all the responsibility. Two black principals were 

made "co- principals" of desegregated schools in Barnwell 

County #19, South Carolina. The co-principal of the high 

school has what is described as a "little hole-in-the-wall 

office," and his main job is apparently checking bus routes. 

Black principals have sometimes been allowed to 

retain their titles, but are stripped of actual responsi­

bilities. 

Spartanburg County # 3, South Carolina made the princi­
pal of a former black school principal of a middle 

school. However , the white administrator and guidance 

counselor of the school occupies the former principal's 

office. The black principal is in a former janitor's 

office and has no real duties . A white man replac ed 

him as principal at his old school, now desegregated. 

In Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, the former black 

high school and junior high school principals are 

both still principals but the number of grades for 

which each are responbible has been cut in half and 

there is a white "supervisory principal" over each . 

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In many districts our monitors found that black 

principals had been suddenly "promoted" to positions 

lacking job descriptions, and involving little responsi-

bility and authority. 

One black former principal in Thomaston, Georgia 

is now "supervisory principal of elementary schools" 

with undefined duties. His former black assistant 

principal is now the assistant to the assistant prin­

cipal of a desegregated 12-grade school. And in 

Center, Texas, the former black principal is now 

"supervisor general" with duties which have not 

been clearly defined. He sets up workshops and pro­

vides insurance for teachers. His salary has been 

reduced. 

A black elementary school principal with 25 years' 

experience in Orangeburg County #3, South Carolina 

was made "supervisor of secondary education" with 

unclear responsibilities. In Tyler, Texas, the former 

principal of the black high school is now the 

"Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent for 

Community Relations and Research." 

And in Wilmot, Arkansas, the black principal was 

made Assistant Superintendent -- with duties of 

social worker and remedial teacher. 

In Clarendon, Arkansas, the black former principal 

is now the "Federal Coordinator." He has a master's degree 

in administration and many hours towards his Ph.D. The new 

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white principal at his former school, now a middle school, 

was an instructor in industrial arts, In Jefferson 

County, Georgia, a black former principal bas been 

placed in charge of the Titl e I program, over 11 black 

Title I teachers, Blacks suspect this category of "pro-

motion" for federal coordinators can be easily dismissed 

if federal funding is cut back, 

Ninety-four of the 321 demoted black former principals 

were simply made classroom teachers. 

A black former Dodge County, Georgia principal is now 

a teacher of the mentally retarded. All but one of 
the teachers in the Educable Mentally Retarded program 
are black, The black principal of the former 12-grade 
black school in Gilmer, Texas was made an assistant 
principal of the desegregated high school last year, 
and spent most of his time marking absentees and 
supervising the halls, This year he is working as 

a regular high school classroom teacher. 

Three of five black former principals in Iredell 
County, North Carol ina and all three black former 

principals in Anderson County #4, South Carolina 
were demoted to classroom teachers, 

In Crenshaw County, Alabama, a black former principal 
is now teaching remedial reading. Another black prin­

cipal resigned, The district hired a new white prin­
cipal who had previously been a milk inspec tor with 
no prior teaching experience, 

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Other black former principals were demoted to non­

classroom teaching positions in desegregated schools , 

such as guidance counselors, librarians , and music 

coordinators. 

A former black elementary school principal is 
now an elementary school librarian in Camden, 

Arkansas, and in Gadsden City , Alabama, two former 
black principals have virtually no jobs . One remains 

with no duties at his original school where only 
Headstart classes are now taught. The other, a former 
high school principal for 11 years, has no assigned 

duties but says he "will be sent to the superintendent ' s 

office , " 

A former black Pasco County, Florida principal is 

now music coordinator. And in Worth Coun~y, Georgia, 
a former black principal now serves as "attendance 

officer." 

B. TEACHER DISMISSALS 

Our monitors found that 127 of the districts visited 

fired or refused to renew the contracts of at least 462 

black teachers,.!.Q/ 

The most common excuse given for dismissal of black 

t eachers was that fewer teachers were needed with desegrega-

tion, either because of a reduction in the number of 

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students (usually white) or because of the elimination 

of duplicate courses and facilities . However, many school 

officials have simply informed black teachers that they 

are "no longer needed . " 

Karnack, Texas sent mimeographed form letters to 
five black teachers informing them they were "no 

longer needed. " But the district hired new white 
teachers this year. Jones County, Mississippi's 
superintendent simply told several black teachers 
there "were no places fo r them." 

Since desegregation, many school districts have 

required teachers to take and score at a set level on the 

National Teachers Examination (NTE) • .!!/ Those falling 

below the set score are dismissed . 

In Chester County, South Carolina, teachers were 
required to take the NTE. After the test was given, 
school officials raised the requirement for continued 
employment to a score of "A. 11 Approximately 11 black 
teachers were dismissed for not meeting this require­

ment, and were then rehired as teacher aides. And 
York County #2, South Carolina began eliminating 

black teachers as early as 1967. No contracts were 
renewed for teachers scoring less than 11 B11 on the NTE . 

They were replaced by white teachers from outside the 
district, though black teachers with the required 11B11 

score were available. 

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Educational experts have challenged the use of the 

NTE as an employment standard and emphasize that its role 

"as t he sole criterion for hiring ••• is unsound professional 

practice . 11.!.Y But it persists. 

Official explanations of "incompetency," "lack of 

qualifications," and "improper credentials" are also used 

to justify dismissal of teachers who have been teaching 

black children for years in these same school systems. 

In some cases, the charges are patently discriminatory . 

In other cases, concerns with competency and credentials 

arose only when the teachers in question were about to 

teach white children. 

McNeil , Arkansas dismissed one black teacher because 

he did not have full teaching credentials, although 
as the black community later discovered, the superin­
tendent could have waived the requirement. A white 
teacher was hired who lacks an education degree. 

In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, four teachers were fired 
and two were asked to resign because they only had 

"00.chelor's degrees and no teacher licenses. However, 
white teachers with only bachelor's degrees were not 
fired. 

When black teachers def end their professional rights 

they are dismissed. Our monitor in South Pike Mississippi 

reported that "the overall sports director ••• refused to 

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accept a lesser position because of his ability, qualifi-

cations, and record, and when this was expressed his con­

tract was not renewed." And in Taylor County, Georgia, 

22 black teachers were fired because they refused to take 

or report their scores on the NTE which was given for the 

first time this year, They argued that the NTE was no 

indication of teaching ability, All but one got teaching 

jobs in other districts, And black teachers were also 

apparently dismissed for civil rights activity. 

Wilcox County , Alabama fired only two teachers. 
Both had been in the forefront of the effort to 

send black students to the white Wilcox high school, 

In Seminole County, Georgia, one black teacher, active 
in a local black civil rights group, did not have his 
contract renewed, reportedly because of his political 
activities . 

In Hot Springs , Arkansas, only one teacher's contract 
was not renewed, supposedly after all teachers ' qualifi­
cations were reviewed. He was the founder of the 
Council for Liberation of Blacks, a black teachers' 
group. 

And in Earle, Arkansas, one teacher's contract was 
not renewed, She had been a candidate for mayor, 
and she and her husband were leaders of the black 
community protests against school board policies. 

She has a master's degree in foreign languages and 
five years' experience as a teacher. 

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C. TEACHER DEMOTIONS 

One-hundred-three districts we visited had demoted 

black teachers.1.3/ They are usually reassigned to subjects 

outside of the fields for which they were trained and 

certified and in which they have had years of experience. 

Reassignments of this type have been recognized by the 

law as demotions, since placing a teacher in an unfamiliar 

situation is often a technique through which a record of 

incompetency and lack of qualifications is built up as 

a ground for dismissal. 

San Augustine, Texas assigned several teachers to 

subjects outside their fields: a former gym teacher 

is now teaching biology at the desegregated school, 

and black teachers who originally taught English now 

teach gym. Other black teachers are no longer allowed 

to teach high level courses, but are assigned to 

teach basic math and science. Still other black 

teachers have been made floating teachers who go 

from room to room and "assist" white teachers. 

In Crockett County, Tennessee, a cosmetology teacher 

is now teaching fourth grade. Several black teachers 

in Marshall, Texas have been assigned to courses in 

which they lack experience; for example, English 

teachers are now teaching history. 

-89-



A high school math teacher and a first grade 
teacher were assigned to teach high school physical 

education in Baker County, Florida, and Gibson 

County, Tennessee assigned a home economics teacher 
to health and physical education with a cut in pay. 

Common teacher demotions are from high schools to 

junior high and elementary schools. For example: 

In Jackson County, Florida, a high school English 

teacher and a high school social studies teacher were 
transferred to teach fourth grade. And England, 

Arkansas assigned nine teachers who had taught high 
school classes to lower track classes at the junior 
high school level, There are no black teachers or 
students in the highest track. 

Even where black teachers are retained at the high 

school level, they are often reassigned to lower track 

and vocationally oriented classes. And almost always they 

lose positions as department heads. In Atlanta, Texas, 

for example, several teachers who formerly had taught all 

courses are now teaching only black vocational students. 

Black teachers in 28 districts were assigned to 

federally funded special programs such as Title I, Head­

start or Follow Through, with desegregation. These programs 

mainly consist of poor or minority children, Ten former 

classroom teachers in Lauderdale City, Tennessee are now 

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Title I instructors, Five black teachers in Quitman 

County, Georgia, some of whom had been in the school 

system as long as 25 years, are now teaching all-black 

remedial Title I classes, And a Texarkana, Arkansas 

second grade teacher with at least 25 years' experience 

now works in Title I providing glasses for students with 

visual problems. Finally, in Atlanta, Texas, only black 

teachers are assigned to Title I programs. Two former 

regular classroom teachers were assigned to teach Title I 

remedial classes, but when our monitor visited the district 

several weeks after school opened, neither teacher had 

been assigned any students . 

Some black former classroom teachers have been 

demoted to non-teaching jobs. 

West Orange- Cove, Texas assigned a black high school 
French teacher, with three years of study in France, 
to be an elementary school librarian. 

Brinkley, Arkansas demoted a black teacher with a 

master's degree in education, who had been the first 
black teacher to work at the white high school under 

the freedom of choice plan two years before. Last 
year he was given study hall duty, and this year he 
is driving a bus and teaching shop at the vocational 
school . 

- 91-



A comparable phenomenon is the assignment of black 

teachers as assistants to white teachers, sometimes under 

the guise of team teaching programs. Black classroom 

teachers have even been made teacher aides, often with 

a substantial salary cut. 

In Shelbyville, Texas, almost all the black teachers 

have been demoted; many of them are assistants to 

white homeroom teachers. 

In Enterprise City, Alabama, 12 e l ementary classroom 
teachers are now teaching specific subjects in a 
departmentalized program or are part of a team-teaching 

group with the team leader in each instance being white. 

Lowndes County, Georgia demoted two black teachers to 

"visiting teachers' assistants;" and Montgomery County, 
North Carolina demoted a high school music teacher 
to a teacher aide, In Elba City, Alabama, a black 
classroom teacher with over 20 years' experience was 
demoted to teacher aide. And in Lake Village, Arkansas, 
two elementary school teachers with 20 to 30 years' 
experience continue to receive teachers' salaries 
but work as teacher aides. 

Black coaches , band directors and choral directors 

have been hardest hit, Black former coaches are now 

assistant coaches , physical education teach ers, and play-

ground directors, often after highly successful careers . 

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Black former high school band directors are now assistant 

directors, "stage- band" directors, and junior high school 

band directors. Black former choral directors are now 

high school music teachers, or elementary school choir 

directors. Ironically, in these fields -- athletics and 

music -- many white school officials have recognized and 

welcomed black student participation. But by mistreating 

black adults connected with these programs, white officials 

constantly remind these students of their inferior status 

in desegregated schools. 

In Texarkana, Arkansas, the former black band director 
is now a fifth grade teacher; the head coach at the 
former black school-is an eighth grade coach and history 

teacher; and the head basketball coach at the former 
black school is now a classroom teacher and bus driver. 

The white athletic director and head football coach 
at the predominantly white school was fired when he 

substituted a black player for a white player whose 
father was on the school board. The coach had a win­
ning record, and was known for defending the rights 
of black students. For instance, he opposed the play­
ing of "Dixie" at football games. 

All black coaches and music teachers were demoted in 
Baker County, Florida: the head football coach was 
made assistant to the assistant football coach; the 

head basketball coach was made assistant basketball 
coach; the band director was made assistant band 
director ; and the head music instructor was made 

assistant music instructor. 

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In Selma, Alabama, four black head coaches were 

demoted -- two to assistant coaches, and two to 

teachers in elementary schools. 

The head football coach of the formerly black hi gh 

school in Union County , South Carolina who had been in 

the district for several years, was made assistant to a 

white coach with only one year's experience in the district, 

A black coach who produced a championship girls' basket­
ball team was superseded by a white coach, new to 

the district. 

In Choctaw County, Alabama, the black former head 

coach is now a physical education teacher with a 

lower salary. Two black former assistant coaches 

are now physical education teachers. 

In Troup County, Georgia, the black choral director 

with a master's degree from Columbia University was 

made "music consultant" with no real responsibilities. 

St . Johns County, Florida demoted the band director 

of a black high school (who holds a master's degree) 

to seventh grade band teacher. The white band 

director at the desegregated high school has no 

master's degree and has worked fewer years in the 

system. 

In West Orange-Cove, Texas, the band master of the 

former black school, a graduate of Northwestern 

University and Julliard School of Music, was made 

assistant band master at the junior and senior high 

schools. The white band master has allowed only 

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five or six black students into the band, although 

the black students had a prize-wi nning band at their 

old school. 

D. REPLACEMENT OF BLACK TEACHERS 

Our monitors found that dismissed black teachers in 

most cases are being replac ed by white teachers. If this 

practice continues, we may find all-white faculties in 

"desegregated" Southern school systems. 

Escambia County, Alabama hired approximately 25 

n ew teachers, only one of whom was black. Bradford 

County, Florida has hired only one new black teacher 

since 1965. 

Opelika , Alabama has reduced the number of black 

teachers in the last four years by approximately 40 -­

or one half. Our monitor reported, "The black teachers 

for whatever reason they leave -- whether fired, not 

renewed, retired are replaced by white teachers . 
These frequently are not qualified [sic], are here 

only temporarily while the husbands are finishing 

school at Auburn U. 11 

Hamilton County , Tennessee has lost at least nine 

black teachers since last year . It hired 123 n ew 

teachers this year , only one of whom was black. 

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E. OTHER IN-SCHOOL DISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT OF BLACK FACULTY 

Along with widespread dismissals and demotions, our 

monitors found that those black faculty members retained 

in relatively responsible positions are often treated in 

a degrading, intimidating, and discriminatory manner. In 

Laurens County #56, South Carolina, the only black male 

t eacher in Clinton Senior High School has to teach his 

class in the basement. 

In Junction City, Arkansas, only black elementary 

school teachers are assigned to portable classrooms 

and they teach only black students. 

In York County #2, South Carolina, only one of four 

black teachers assigned to a desegregated high school 

works a full day. All of the white teachers work a 

full day. 

In Miller County, Georgia, 16 new teacher aides were 

hired this year, only one of whom is black. These 
aides are used to "help" black teachers, who regard 

this as evidence that they are not trusted to handle 

classes alone. Several black applicants, with equal 

or better credentials than the whites hired, were 

turned down by the school board. 

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F. ASSIGNMENT OF TEACHERS 

The rule in school desegregation cases adopted by 

the Fourth and Fifth Circuits and approved by the U.S. 

Supreme Cour~ is that districts must assign their faculty 

and other staff who work with students so that the ratio 

of black and white faculty and staff in each school is 

the same as in the entire district. President Nixon 

endorsed this as administration policy in his March 24, 

1970, statement on school desegregation, and it is required 

by HEW of school districts receiving funds under the 

Emergency School Assistance Program. The federal govern­

ment has spoken more clearly and definitely on this desegre­

gation requirement than on any other. 

At a press conference held April 7, 1970, HEW Civil 

Rights head Stanley Pottinger promised strict enforcement 

of this faculty assignment rule. Yet we found that it 

was widely violated. Schools in "desegregated" districts 

continue to be racially identifiable by the makeup of their 

faculties. 

Our monitors were able to gather information on faculty 

assignment for 200 districts, No less than 39 percent of 

these had clear and serious violations of the faculty 

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assignment rule, As might be expected, excess numbers of 

black teachers are in predominantly black and formerly 

black schools, Specifically, we found: 

1) 84 schools with too many white teachers, Of these -

- 76 are former white schools 

- 60 are predominantly white schools 

- 20 of the 24 majority black schools with too 
many white teachers are former white schools 

2) 71 schools with too many black teachers. Of these -

- 61 are former black schools 

- 52 are predominantly black schools 

- 14 of the 19 majority white schools with too 
many black teachers are former black schools 

In addition, our monitors found that black teachers 

tended to be concentrated at the lower grade levels. 

We describe below a few of the many violations of 

the faculty assignment standard, with only one example 

of each type of violation to avoid repetition. 

Many school districts with overall white majorities 

of ~oth teachers and students have assigned disproportionate 

numbers of black teachers to their few majority black schools. 

New Bern, North Carolina has one all-black and one 

majority black school out of ten schools, The two 

majority black schools have one white and eight black 

teachers and five white and 29 black teachers, respect­

ively . The other eight schools have heavily majority 

white faculties, 

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In other districts with a majority black student 

population but an overall majority white faculty, black 

teachers are concentrated at the predominantly black 

schools. 

Martin County, North Carolina has a 56 percent black 

student population and a total of 207 white and 93 

black faculty members. FivP. of the seven formerly 

black schools have majority or near majority black 

faculties. All of the former white schools have 

majority white faculties. 

Some districts with both majority black student bodies 

and faculties assign more of their white teachers to the 

few schools with majority white student bodies. 

South Pike, Mississippi has two majority white and 

two majority black schools. The majority black schools 

have majority black faculties while the two majority 

white schools each have seven white and one black 

faculty member. 

In a few other districts, desegregated schools have 

a majority black but desegregated faculty, while the all-

black schools have an all-black faculty. 

East Tallahatchie, Mississippi has a total of 41 

white and 77 black faculty members, with 23 white 

and 31 black teachers assigned to the desegregated 

elementary school. No white and 14 black teachers 

are assigned to the all-black elementary school. 

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Many districts have practically excl uded all black 

teachers from the high school level: 

Fl agler County, Florida has no fulltime black 

teachers in the high school. 

Jefferson County, Florida has only one black teacher 

in the high school , Other blacks in t h e high school 

are teacher aides, and are called "special assistants." 

At least one elementary school has a disproportionately 

high number of black teachers, 

The conditions and abuses described in this chapter 

seriously undermine hopes for successful desegregation. 

These problems could have been avoided by firm federal 

enforcement of existing l egal standards. Future disaster 

can be averted, and some of the damage we have described 

can still be undone, if the Department of HEW will now 

release and enforce its already prepared memorandum detail-

ing prohibited discriminatory practices against black 

teachers and administrators. 

-100-



FOOTNOTES 

INTRODUCTION 

1. U.S. News and World Report , December 7, 1970, p. 39. 

2. This attitude was expressed by HEW Civil Rights 
Director Stanley Pottinger at a press conference on 
October 1, 1970. As reported in The Washington Post 
of October 2, 1970. 

"Pottinger cited ability- grouping yesterday as an 
example of a whole new generation of school desegregation 
problems in the South. The old problem was to get black 
and white children into the same schools . The new 
problems, Pottinger said, deal with what happens next, 
'within schools. 1 11 

3, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) . 

4. Compare Brown v . Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 494. 

5, Hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Equality 
o f Educational Opportunity (hereinafter "Select 
Committee Hearine;s"), at p. 1323 (Miss Lovette), p. 1342 
(Miss Kleinpeter). 

CHAPTER I 

1. In Green v. New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430, 442 (1968), the 
Supreme Court defined a unitary cchool system as one 
"without a 'white' school and a ' Negro' school, but just 
schools. " 

2 . Past national administrations, though their desegregation 
enforcement policies have been weak in many respects, 
have generally taken strong positions in the courts on the 
question of what the standard to measure final desegre­
gation should be . By contrast, the Nixon administration 

-101-



has rejected l ower court decisions which establish the 
policy that disestablishment of a segregated school 
system can only be measured by actual results -- by 
actual desegregation of individual schools. It has 
instead chosen to follow the lead of other courts 
which have held that desegregation of schools need 
go no farther than desegregation of neighborhoods 
has gone -- even where the s egregated neighborhoods 
are themselves the result of past official school segre­
gation and other governmental policies, as a federal 
judge found to be the case in Charlotte, North Carolina. 
Thus, the Justice Department has, for the first time 
since 1954, entered school desegregation cases to 
oppose the granting of relief which would fully 
desegregate the schools in districts which have of­
ficially separated children because of their race. 

3. In his March 24, 1970 statement on school desegregation, 
President Nixon approvingly cited the Orange County 
decision. 

CHAPTER II 

1. See Appendix A. 

2. Mrs. Frances Pauley, civil rights specialist in the 
Atlanta , Georgia regional office of the Office for Civil 
Rights, HEW, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, May 
15, 1970. 

3 . Select Committee Hearings, August 6, 1970, p. 1753 . 

4. Press conference October 1, 1970, reported in The 
Washington Post, October 2, 1970, p. A2. 

5. 45 C.F.R., Section 80.3 (b)(l). 

6 . Select Committee Hearings, July 13, 1970, pp. 1642, 1685 . 

7. 45 C.F.R . , Section 181.6(a)(4)(G). (Emergency School 
Assistance Program Regulations) 

8. Florence County #3, South Carolina, for example, has four 
black and four white cheerleaders; student officers who 
were elected at the segregated high schools last year 
are serving as associate officers in the integrated high 

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school thi s year . Simi larly, in Dillon County #1, South 
Carolina, t h e student council is a composite of those 
elected last year in the separate high school s; the 
cheerleading squad is half black and half white ; the 
band is mixed; new class officers in this majority 
black district will be elected by a majority vote of 
the students. 

9. Ibid. 

10. Examples of districts which did try to compromise include 
Dillon County "#1, South Carolina; Macon and West Point 
City, Georgia. 

11. See Appendix B. 

12. Select Committee Hearings, July 8 1970, p. 1568 . 

13. U.S. News and World Report, December 7, 1970, p. 28. 

14. Ibid. 

15. Select Committee Hearings, June 18, 1970, p. 1323, 
statement of Miss Lowanda Lovette. 

16. Select Committee Hearings, June 18, 1970, pp. 1329-30, 
statement of Miss Anita Kl einpeter. 

17 . Select Committee Hearings, June 18, 1 970, pp. 1313, 1315, 
statement of Mr. Lionel Mcintyre. 

18. U. S . News and World Report, December 7, 1970, p . 39. 

19. Ibid. 

CHAPTER III 

1. 

). 

Se lect Committee Hearings, June 16, 1970, p. 1078. 

United States v. Jefferson Count Board of Education, 372 
F . 2d 836, 882, 19 ; Department of HEW, Office for 
Civil Rights, Policies on Elementary and Secondary 
Sch ool Compliance with Title VI of the Civil Ri g hts Act of 
1964, Subpart B, Par . 10 (1968). 

Report of NEA Task Force III , School Desegregation: 
Louisiana and Mississippi, November 1970, p.8. 

-1 03-



4. See Footnote 2 . 

5. The NEA reported that: 
"Staff assistants to the NEA .• • consulted with key HEW 
officials in Washington to inquire if any positive action 
had been taken in response to complaints of teacher 
displac e ment ... The officials were unable to cite one 
single case where a school system's funds had been removed 
on the basis of such a complaint and investigati on . When 
asked why the response was that a landmark case is being 
sought. Since 1964, and with many cases of black teacher 
and principal displacement from which to choose, HEW has 
yet to find such a case." 

Beyond Desegregation: The Problem of Power, A Special Study 
in East Texas, National Education Association, Commission on 
Professional Rights and Responsibilities; February 1970, p.28 . 

6. Pottinger testified: 

"In addition, a memorandum is being prepared which 
will set forth in more specific terms Title VI standards 
in regard to the nondiscriminatory treatment of minority­
group teachers and principals. 

"The purpose of [the memorandum ] is to assist school 
administrators to meet their obligations under the law, 
and to guide our own staff in identifying compliance 
problems that may arise." 

Select Committee Hearings, August 6, 1970, p. 1753. 

7. Pottinger testified: 

"The memorandum will probably clear within the Office of 
General Counsel ... within ten to fifteen days. I can't 
speak for them directly, but I would say very soon, rather 
than pin it down to a number of days." 

Select Committee Hearings, August 6, 1970 , p. 1795. 

8. See Appendix D. 

9. Press release of Office of Education, December 11, 1970. 

10. Monitor after monitor made reports such as "five teachers 
all left for personal reasons," "two teachers left under 
questionable circumstances," "eight fewer teachers -- no 
explanation." We have not counted these inconclusive reports 
as teacher dismissals, although in many instances the missing 
teachers may have been forced to resign. 

11 . Developed by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton 
University. 

-104-



12. George Fischer of the NEA has pointed out that the test is 
designed solely to measure a teacher's academic knowledge 
of subject matter , that it in no way measures qualitative 
characteristi cs such as rapport with students , skill in 
instructional techniques, and other components of good 
teaching. He concluded that: 

"Requiring a certain score on the National Teach ers 
Examination as the sole criterion for hiring or retaining 
any teacher is unsound professional practice. Th e use of 
periodic evaluation to help identify areas of strength 
and weakness now in a teacher 's academic preparation as 
a guide to further in-service training in his fie ld is 
valid but should never be used as a hiring or firing 
criterion ." 

Select Committee Hearings , June 16, 1970, p. 1147. 

13. Again , these figures probably understate the extent o f the 
problem. School officials interviewed rarely admitted 
that they had demoted black teachers, a nd people in the 
black community often were not aware of the position of 
black teachers in the system. 

-105-



APPENDIX A 

TEXT OF LETTER TO MR. STANLEY POTTINGER, DIRECTOR, OFFICE 
FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, HEW, FROM ~ms. RUBY MARTIN, WASHINGTON 

RESEARCH PROJECT, DATED MAY 6, 1970 

"As Director of the Office for Civil Rights, it is 
possible to become so concerned about the "process" of 
integration that we forget that people are involved 
black as well as white people. During the last few 
months , I have spent a great deal of time in the South 
talking to black youngsters and their parents about school 
desegregation in general, and specifically what we can 
expect in September, 1970, and •complete integration.' 
It is clear to me that. with the opening of schools this 
fall, we can expect problems in integrated schools unlike 
we have ever experienced. I will be writing to you 
from time to time bringing some of these problems to your 
attention, and am outlining one of these problems now , 
with the hope that your office will take immediate. 
affirmative and positive actions to prevent at least 
some of the issues from becoming crises when school opens . 

"As you know, your office, and the courts, have ac­
cepted a number of desegregation plans which call for 
the closing of black schools in September, and the as­
signment of students from these schools to white schools. 
The problem I wish to raise concerns the nature of the 
white school when it becomes totally integrated in 
September. More specifically, is the integrated school 
to be considered and treated as a new school, a consoli­
dated school, or simply the same white school with black 
students now assigned to it? 

"Black students throughout the South who will be 
assigned to formerly white schools fear that school 
officials will consider these schools to be in the 
latter category, and if their fears are correct they in­
dicate a number of school policies that will discriminate 
against them because of their race and assignment. For 
example, in some of the white schools that will be inte­
grated in September, elections for student council officers 
and members, class officers, cheerleaders, captains of 
athletic activities. etc., have already been held for 
the upcoming school year. These elections were conducted 
despite the fact that the racial composition of the 
student bodies in the schools will be radically changed 
in September. The effect of the elections is to prohibit 

-1 06-



all black students from any chance of becoming elected 
to school offices. Such elections have been held even 
in some white schools that will have a predominantly 
black student enrollment in September, 1970. In some 
communities , even PTA officers for the white school 
have been or will be elected this spring to serve during 
the 1970-71 school year. While it may be the general 
policy of these schools to hold such elections at this 
time, those policies should not be applicable under 
the circumstances. 

"Another example of questions raised which go to the 
nature of the integrated school concerns policies that 
apply to "transfer students." Some of these white 
schools have policies that prohibit transfer students 
from participating in school activities for one year 
after their transfer. I am not talking only about 
football or basketball {because I believe your office 
already has a policy which governs these activities -­
although they, too, should be republished and re­
emphasized), but academic and social activities,,~, 
the National Honor Society, Science Clubs, Hi-Y 
Clubs, Glee Clubs, etc., which black students may have 
already belonged to or participated in, but will be pro­
hibited from participating at the integrated schools if 
they are treated as •transfer students.' 

"These may sound like insignificant problems t u you, 
but I assure you they are matters of the gravest c oncern 
to black youngsters who will be facing the uncertainties 
and hostilities of an 'integrated' school in September. 
I call upon you to consider these matters now, and to 
formulate policies concerning the nature of the inte­
grated school and communicate these policies now in an 
effort to avert some of the critical problems that your 
office and this Nation will face in September. 

11 ! will be happy to share my thoughts with you and 
to assemble a small group of black students who can ar­
ticulate their concerns to you far better than I can. 

"Please let me hear from you." 

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APPENDIX B 

TEXT OF LETTER TO MRS. RUBY MARTIN FROM MR. STANLEY POT­
TINGER, DATED NOVEMBER 20, 1970 

"As school openings unfolded, and new desegregation 
plans were implemented, the predictions of massive chaos 
turned out to be wrong. On the contrary, the largest 
sing.le desegregation effort ever turned out also to be 
the calmest. Upon completing our plan-implementation 
reviews a couple of weeks ago, we found that only four 
of 300 plan districts reneged this fall, a lower ab­
solute number and lower percentage than in any previous 
year. 

"While I am sure that many of our critics of last 
summer have been surprised by this good news, I hope 
that they have not been disheartened by it. Since the 
emotional predictions of chaos and impending failure 
turned out to have unfounded, we might have ignored 
these predictions and conducted our on-site reviews 
at a slower pace, concentrating at an early stage on 
in-depth evaluations of the in-school discrimination 
problems presently before us. I think you will agree, 
however , that it is fair to measure our intentions and 
our execution in the light of the circumstances existing 
at the time administrative decisions had to be made, and 
not simply with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight vision." 

-108-



APPENDIX C 

TASK FORCE STATEMENT ON IN-SCHOOL DISCRIMINATION, FINAL DRAFT 
JULY 14, 1970 

TO (All School Districts) 

FROM J. Stanley Pottinger, Director 
Office for Civil Rights 

SUBJECT: Identification and Elimination of Discrimination in 
School Operations and Activities 

Title VI of the Civil Rights Ac t of 1964 and Departmental 
Regulation (45 CFR Part 80) promulgated thereunder, require 
that there be no discrimination on the basis of race, color, or 
national origin in the operation of any federally assisted 
program. 

Title VI compliance reviews conducted during the last year 
have revealed a number of areas, above and beyond the area of 
the assignment of students to a particular school, in which 
students have been denied equality of educational opportunity. 
Any act or acts which have the effect of segregating or otherwise 
discriminating against students on t he basis of race, color or 
national origin in the operation or activities of any or all school or 
schools within a school district are prohibited by Title VI. 

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify D/HEW policy 
on issues concerning the responsibility of school districts to 
identify and eliminate, at once, any such discriminatory practices. 
School districts are required to (1) take no action (including 
acts of omission) the intent or effect of which is to segregate 
or otherwise discriminate against any students within or without 
the school district on the basis of race, color or national 
origin, and (2) take whatever action is necessary to ascertain 
and fully eliminate any educational practices, social customs or 
habitual behavior , or other acts on the part of students, 
administrators, instructional staff, non-instructional staff or 
any other person which occur during any phase of school 
operations or activiti es (including curricular and extra­
curricular activities, whether or not conducted on school property 
or in school facilities) which have the effect of segregating, 
excluding or otherwise discriminating against any student on 
the basis of race, color or national origin. 

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Moreover, without in any way limiting the generality 
of the foregoing, it is the policy of this Department that 
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits any act 
(including but not limited to act, acts of omission, 
educational practices, social customs or habitual behavior) 
on the part of students, administrators, instructional and 
non-instructional staff or other persons, the effect of which 
is to segrega te, exclude or otherwise discriminate against 
students on the basis of race, color or national origin during 
any phase of school operations or activities, including but 
not limited to: 

(1) Any act by which students are assigned to (including 
acts of election by students) any class, classroom, other 
instructional unit, assembly, bus, team, school sponsored 
activity or other facility, including but not limited to the 
seats, lab stations, athletic positions which students occupy 
within the class (including field trips), classroom, assembly 
hall, bus, team or instructional unit. 

(2) Any oral or written statement, comment, or other 
reference which is made during any phase of school ·activities 
by an administrator, instructional or non-instructional staff 
member or any oral or written statement which is made by any 
student or other person during the conduct of any class, other 
instructional unit or supervised activity which demeans or 
otherwise deprecates any racial or national origin minority 
group or any part of its ethno-cultural heritage or environment, 
including but not limited to the content of instructional, 
dramatic, musical and audio-visual materials used in any phase 
of school activities. 

(3) Any act during the conduct of any school board meeting, 
class, classroom, team, other instructional unit or other school 
or school board function on the part of school board members, 
students, administrator, instructional and non-instructional 
staff or any other person, the effect of which is, on the basis 
of race, color or national origin, to exclude or limit partici­
pation in discussion, planning or other activity, including 
but not l~mited to: the recognition of students, parents or 
other persons seeking to speak; the ,order of recognition; the 
manner in which communication with students, parents and other 
members of the community is conducted by members of the school 
board, administrators instructional and non-instructional staff. 

-110-



(4) Any act on the part of administrators, instructional 
personnel or other persons the effect of which is to assign 
grades or otherwise assess performance of students on the basis 
of race, color or national origin, or the effect of which is to 
impose standards for grading or evaluating students, either 
subjective or objective, the effect of which standard is to 
discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, or 
national origin, including but not limited to the inclusion in 
the grading or evaluation process of (a) subjective assessments 
of attitudinal behavior which are normed on the behavior of 
students of another racial group, (b) objective assessments 
of cognitive development or achievement the behavioral milieu of 
which (e.g. the testing environment) is less familiar to most 
students of certain racial or national origin groups than it 
is to most students of other groups, and (c) "objective" 
assessments of cognitive development or achievement which 
contain vocabulary or situational behavior problems which are 
less familiar to most students of certain racial or national 
origin groups than they are to most students of other groups . 

(5) Any act related to the use of any school facility 
or any seat, table, or area in any school facility, which 
students occupy or use during any phase of school operations 
or activities, including but not limited to: buses; lockers; 
showers; restrooms; playgrounds; athletic fields; and including 
seats; tabl es; or areas in buses, cafeterias, libraries, study 
halls, locker rooms, playgrounds or other athletic facilities, 
or any acts related to the availability or distribution of any 
supplies, textbooks or other instructional materials. 

(6) Any act related to the operation of any extra­
curricul ar organization or activity, such as clubs, social or 
fraternal organizations, athletic teams, honor societies, student 
government organization, including but not limited to acts 
related to: eligibility for membership and election to positions 
(eligibility for membership, participation or election as 
referred to in Section 6,7,8, and 9 of this memorandum cannot 
be conditioned upon prior attendance of students at a school 
which the are not attendin and to which the were assi ned 
or elected to attend ursuant to a Ian of dese re ation. ; 
selection of members and officers students may not be excluded 
from participation in the selection process referred to in 
Sections 6,7 , 8 , and 9 of this memorandum because they did not 
previously attend the school which they are currently attending 
and to which they have been assigned pursuant to a plan of 
dese re ation· nor ma the selection rocess be chan ed so as 
to exclude such students from participation therein ; assignments 

-111-



of positions and responsibilities; operation of social 
activities; use of organization facilities; specifically 
including as regards athletic organization and events; acts 
related to the eligibility; selection and substitution of 
players and team captains; granting of athletic awards; 
assignment of lockers; showers and equipment; display of 
previous athletic awards (including those of schools which were 
operated as part of a dual school system and are no longer 
operating or which are currently operating at different grade 
levels; seating and operation of facilities during athletic 
events wherever held; and specifically including as regards 
honor societies or other organizations whose membership is 
based on academic performance or standing; acts relating to 
evaluation of ~revious academic performance or conversion of 
grading scales) and selection of members and officers. (Any 
decision to postpone or cancel any extracurricular activity or 
to abolish any organization constitutes a discriminatory act 
if such decision is in fact based in part on the alleged 
undesirabilit¥ of the desegregation of such activity or 
organization.) 

(7) Any act related to the eligibility of students for 
and the selection of students as cheerleaders; pom-pom girls; 
band members; class and student body officers, and the selection 
of school color, mascots, emblems and songs, including but not 
limited to; the selection or continued use of colors, mascots 
and songs related to the Confederate State of America, procedures 
by which school colors, mascots, emblems and songs are selected 
(secondary schools to which students have been assigned pursuant 
to a plan of desegregation from other secondary schools within 
the district which are being closed or are currently operating 
at different rade levels must allow the new student bod as 
aw o e, o se ec sc ool colors, mascots, em ems an songs 
acts related to the posting of class pictures, awards or 
mementos (including those of classes in schools which were 
operated as part of a dual school system and are no longer 
operating or which are currently operating at different grade 
levels.) (Any decision to postpone or cancel any of such 
selections or to abolish any of the positions which were to be 
selected constitutes a discriminatory act if such decision is 
in fact based in art on the alle ed undesirabilit of the 
race of a erson to be selected or likel to be selected. 

-112 -



(8) Any act related to the conduct of any school 
sponsored or supported social event or activity, such as 
graduation ceremonies, dances, carnivals, fairs, picnics, 
including but not limited to acts related to: eligibility for 
attendance; selection and invitation; location and conduct of 
the event or activity. {Any decision to postpone, cancel or 
abolish any school sponsored or supported social event or 
activity constitutes a discriminatory act if it is in fact based 
in art on the undesirabilit of dese re ation of such social 
even or activity, 

(9) Any act related to the conduct or operation of any 
curricular or extracurricular dramatic or musical production 
or performance including but not limited to: the selection 
of artistic material which demeans or otherwise deprecates any 
racial or national origin group to which students in the school 
system belong or any part of its ethno-cultural heritage or 
environment; acts related to eligibility for participation; 
selection of participants; assignment of roles; seating and 
operation of all facilities at the production or performance 
wherever held. (Any decision to postpone, cancel or abolish 
any curricular or extracurricular dramatic or musical production 
or performance constitutes a discriminatory act if it is in 
fact based in art on the alle ed undesirabilit of the 
desegregation of such production or performance, 

(10) Any acts of guidance counselors and other school 
officials, such as those which relate to the advising of students 
as to educational and vocational planning; the operation of co­
operative programs between the school and employers; the 
scheduling of and the conduct of interviews between students and 
representatives of higher education institutions and potential 
employers {including the admissions policies or employment 
practices of such institutions or potential employers); the 
preparation, use and availability of transcripts and other student 
records; the availability of career planning information. 

(11) Any act of school administrators or other responsible 
persons relating to the discipline of students (including 
expulsion and suspension) including but not limited to: acts, 
the effect of which is to deny to any student, on ~he basis of 
race, color or national origin, notice of those actions which 
constitute prescribed conduct; an opportunity for and the 
conduct of a fair hearing; punishment equal to that given other 
students with equivalent disciplinary background determined to 
have violated the same rule or regulation; participation in 
student rule formulation; and including any act of formulation 
or enforcement of rules or regulations the effect of which is 

-113-



in fact to discriminate against any student or students on 
the basis of race, color or national origin. (Any student 
dress or roomin code which is in fact onl enforced or 
enforceable a ainst students of a racial or nationa ori in 
minor1 y group or groups is 1scr1m1na ory. 

(12) Any act which denies participation in any phase of 
school activities, curricular or extracurricular, to students 
or their parents on the basis of race, color or national origin, 
including but not limited to the imposing of economic burdens 
(in addition to general taxation) on students or parents in 
the form of tui ·~ion, costs of instructional materials, fees 
for school services, costs of admission to extracurricular 
activities, etc.; the effect of which imposition is to 
effectively exclude from or significantly reduce the participation 
of students or their parents in such activities on the basis 
of race, color or national origin. 

-114-



APPENDIX D 

DRAFT OF STATEMENT OF POLI CY ON FACULTY DISCRIMINATION, 
PREPARED BY OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS 

(PUBLISHED BY SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EQUAL 
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY, AS PART OF 

Jum· 16, 1970 HEARINGS) . 

Many school districts are now or will in the near 
future convert to a unitary school system . The reassign­
ment and reorganization of faculti es in a non-discrimina~ 
tory fashion is crucial to any such conversion and this 
phase of desegregation requires a great deal of planning 
and attention on the part of school administrators. The 
goal of such reorganization should be the achievement 
at each school of a ratio of White and Negro faculty 
members which approximates the ratio of White and Negro 
faculty throughout the school system . 

Section 10 of the Department's "Policies on Elementary 
and Secondary School Compliance with Title VI of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 11 provides generally that school systems 
shall not discriminate on ·the ground of race color or 
national origin in their professional staffing policies 
and practices, and shall rectify the effects of past 
discrimination in this area. Section 10 also contains 
the following specific provision: 

If, as a result of a program for complying with 
Title VI, there is to be a reduction in the total 
professional staff of a school system, or professional 
staff members are to receive assignments of lower 
status or pay, the staff members to be released or 
demoted must be selected from all the school system's 
professional staff members without regard to race, 
color, or national origin and on the basis of ob­
jective and reasonable standards. 

Dismissals should be infrequent because, even where 
u school district finds that the size of its staff should 
be reduced, the reduction usually can be accomplished 
through normal requirements and retirements. Where, how­
ever dismissal or demotion is necessary such action shall 
be carried out in accordance with the a b ove quoted provision 
of Section 10 . In addition , no staff vacancy may be filled 
through recruitment of a person of a race, color, or national 
origin different from that of the individual dismissed or 
demoted, until each displaced staff member who is qualified 
has had an opportunity to fill tne vacancy and has failed 

- 115-



to accept an offer to do so. 

Prior to such a reduction, the school board will 
develop or require the development of non-racial ob­
jective criteria to be used in selecting the staff 
member who is to be dismissed or demoted.* These 
criteria shall be available for public inspection and 
shall be retained by the school district. The school 
district also shall record and preserve the evaluation 
of staff members under the criteria. Such evaluation 
shall be made available upon request to the dismissed 
or demoted employee. Whether or not certification and 
experience qualify a dismissed teacher for a vacancy 
should be determined in accordance with the standards 
of qualification generally applied within the school 
system, and which have been applied in past school 
consolidations in the district, if any. Where there is 
a reduction in the number of minority group staff members 
coincident with the desegregation process, the school 
system must demonstrate that such reduction occurred 
without discrimination on the ground of race, colqr, 
or national origin. Moreover, as suggested above, staff 
members demoted as a result of the desegregation process, 
shall have the same rights and be considered as in the 
same position as dismissed teachers. 

In order to carry out these requirements, and in view 
of the importance of faculty desegregation to student 
desegregation, the Department is announcing these new 
procedures to deal with professional staffing. In ad­
dition, the Health, Education and Welfare, Office for 
Civil Rights will shortly embark on a detailed examina­
tion of the statistics in our possession, indicating 
faculty composition of school districts desegregating 
since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in order to determine 
whether there have been school districts which may have 
discriminated in staffing policies as they progressed 
toward desegregated school systems. Where there has 
been a decrease in the proportion of minority group 
faculty members we shall contact the school district 
and it must demonstrate an absence of discrimination in 
professional staffing. Where a district does not make 
a clear and convincing showing of nondiscrimination ap­
propriate action will be taken. And. of course, we will 
endeavor to assure that in the future all school 
districts apply non- discriminatory policies and practices. 

A. Each plan of desegregation developed, hereafter, 
by the Division of Equal Educational Opportunities of 
the Office of Education, and each plan hereafter presented 
to the Office for Civil Rights, shall contain detailed 
i11for111ation as to the manner in which the school district 

-116-



will reassign and reorganize its faculty pursuant to that 
plan. Specifically the following shall be included in the 
plan: 

1. The number and race of the full-time and part- time 
classroom teachers at each school, and at each grade level, 
at present and as anticipated after implementation of the 
plan. 

2. A list of the administrators in the school system 
(including but not limited to principals and assistant principa.ls 
and their races and positions, at present and after implemen­
tation of the plan. 

3. If the above information indicates a reduction in the 
number of minority teachers or administrators, or if there 
are to be demotions of minority teachers or administrators, 
the following information shall be a part of the plan: 

a. The number of minority group faculty members 
to be dismissed and/or demoted and the reasons for such 
actions. 

b. Where a dismissal or demotion will result from 
a staff reduction on change in staff assignments, or 
for reasons other than cause, comparative qualifications 
shall be presented for the dismissed or demoted faculty 
members with respect to at least the following standards: 
educational background,teaching experience and certification . 
With respect to all non-minority faculty members who are 
less qualified by any one of the enumerated standards, 
the school district shall indicate his or her qualification 
with respect to at least these standards, and the position 
held by that faculty member. Furthermore, the school 
system shall indicate whether minority teachers dismissed 
as a result of staff reductions have been offered first 
preference for future vacancies for which they are qualified, 
and if not why not, and if so for what type of position. 

c. The number of non-minority faculty members to be 
dismissed or demoted, and the reasons for such actions, 
as well as the number of non-minority faculty members who 
are expected to leave the school system for other reasons. 

d. The number of minority faculty members who are 
expected to leave the school system for reasons other 
than not being offered re-employment. The school district 
should indicate why they have left or are expected to 
leave (with any supporting documentation which might be 
available to it), as well as the nature of the position 

-117-



offered to each of thewe individuals for the school year 
in which the desegregation plan is to be implemented, 
and the nature of the position each now holds . 

e. Where the dismissals or demotions will occur 
as a result of an overall reduction in professional staff, 
or from abolition of certain positions, the system 
shall indicate whether it has undertaken any school 
consolidations within the past 25 years and what policies 
and practices it has followed in those consolidations 
with respect to teachers and administrators. 

f. The number and nature of the vacancies or new 
positions on its faculty (including administrators) which 
the school system knows or anticipates will occur for the 
school year in which the desegregation plan is to be 
implemented, as well as the methods by which applications 
for those vacancies will be sought and the criteria which 
will be applied in judging applications for these vacancies 
or new positions. (The above should be construed to 
apply retroactively to any positions or vacancies for which 
new teachers have already been hired for the school year 
in which the desegregation plan is to be implemented. In 
the case of such already- filled positions, the school 
district shall also indicate the number, positions, and 
race of the new teachers, or administrators.) 

4. The new methods by which it will seek applications for 
teaching and administrative vacancies and the objective criteria 
which will be applied in judging applications for teaching 
and administrative positions. 

5. A provision that if for any of the three (?) school 
years subsequent to the final implementation of the desegrega­
tion plan of the school district, there is to be a reduction 
in the number of minority teachers or administrators, or if 
minority teachers or administrators, are to be demoted, then 
by March 15 prior to the school year in which such action is 
to take place the school district shall €upply to the Office 
for Civil Rights the information requested in paragraphs 3a 
through 3e above . (For the purpose of supplying the information 
called for in this paragraph, when the "sch ool year in wh ich 
the desegregation plan is to be implemented" is referred to 
io paragraphs 3a through 3e, the term "school year in which 
dismissals or demotions are to take effect" should be 
substituted.) 

B. School systems from which acceptable desegregation 
plans have been received but which have not yet fully imple­
ment.ed t heir p l ans, shall amend their plans within 30 days of 
the date of this letter. Such amendment shall be in three 
part:;. One part shall meet the provisions of paragraphs 

-118-



one and two (outlined above) as to those parts of ·the system 
in which, the plan has not yet bee n implemented, and shall sup­
ply the information requested in paragraph three, when applicable. 
The second part shall meet the provisions of paragraphs 4 and 
5, and the third part shall provide the type of information 
requested in paragraph five for the 1969- 70 school year, if 
applicabl e , as to those parts of the school system for which 
the school district has already implemented its desegregation 
plan. 

c. With respect to all school districts which have completely 
eliminated dual school systems as of the 1967-68 school year 
or thereafter, t hey should supply the information requested 
in paragraphs 5 on pages 9 and 10 above, if applicable. This 
information shall be supplied for future school years, which 
are not more than three years subsequent to y ear in which 
complete desegregation of the school district took place. 

*"Demotion" as used above includes any reassignment (1) under 
which the staff member receives less pay or has less respon­
sibility than under the assignments he held previously, (2) 
which requires a lesser degree of skill than did the as­
signment he held previously, or (3) under which the staff 
member is asked to teach a s ubject or grade other than one 
for which he is certified or for which he has had substantial 
experience within a reasonably current period. In general 
and depending upon the subject matter involved, five years 
is such a reasonable period. 

- 119-