Desegregation in Theory and Practice

Throughout the 1960s it became evident that desegregation was not a clear-cut issue by any means. As communities struggled with finding the best ways to desegregate, the racial divide seemed to grow rather than diminish. Desegregation theory and practice could take different forms.

Southern states, which had borne the brunt of the negative publicity about segregation, began to point out that the Northern states were equally culpable, albeit in a different way. For years the South had de jure segregation — in other words, segregation mandated by law. In the North, while there were no segregation laws on the books, most blacks and whites lived in separate enclaves; often the groups did not mix, and their children attended local schools. Thus, in the North there was de facto segregation in the schools because neighborhoods were segregated.

Busing and "White Flight"

Among the methods communities tried to desegregate the schools was the busing of black students to predominantly white schools. Since the black schools tended to be in under-resourced neighborhoods, it seemed to make sense to bus Black students to white schools until a balance of Black and white students was attained.

The case in the U.S. Supreme Court that set the ground rules for all future busing decisions in the courts was Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, which was decided in 1970. Two years earlier, the Court had ruled in Green v. County School Board that the school board had the responsibility to integrate the schools and to do so promptly. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg (Virginia) school board was found to be out of compliance and was assigned a plan known as the Finger Plan (named for the man who devised it). Under the Finger Plan, schools throughout the district were to work to attain more racial balance in the schools by busing children into the schools.

Busing is one illustration of how difficult it is to achieve true desegregation. In the decades after Swann, other communities implemented busing. Invariably, busing is not well-received by Black or white families. Legislating action is one thing, but legislating attitude is quite another.

In many large urban cities, whites who could afford to move to the suburbs, where the population (and schools) were predominantly white, left schools in central urban areas with dwindling white student populations. In Denver, the school district was found to be practicing "subtle racism" by the U.S. Supreme Court in Keyes v. School District No. 1. A busing program was implemented, but the way the system was initially set up many elementary school students spent half a day in a de facto segregated school and half a day in an integrated school.

The 1974 case of Milliken v. Bradley addressed the issue of "white flight" to the suburbs by suggesting that one remedy would be to bus suburban children to schools in central urban areas which whites were not the majority. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that suburban students could not be used to desegregate schools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. White flight continued.

Because most of the people left behind were working class, cities lost a tax base. As cities experienced increasingly significant economic challenges, less money was spent on education. Blacks and other underrepresented groups who could afford to move did. As a result, populations in urban areas experienced an increase in poverty levels.

By the end of the twentieth century, many of the largest cities in the United States had public schools that were racially imbalanced and in need of funding for maintenance, basic supplies, and staff.

The Needs of the Children

Lost in many of these contentious proceedings was the simple question of what was best for the child. In some urban city centers, public education has not improved. Further, de facto segregation is still common in some affluent communities.

While some see desegregation efforts (such as busing) positively, others argue the money spent on busing programs would be better spent in revitalizing under-resourced neighborhoods and schools so children could get a good education in their own neighborhood. The contrasts between desegregation theory and practice are still significant. Many people from all ethnic and racial backgrounds look at desegregation with a mix of cynicism and resignation.