Failure of the Chicago Board of Education in the Civil Rights Movement

2901 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Civil rights movement in the 1950's

In the early 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement brought many accusations and complaints towards the Chicago Board of Education. Due to this pressure, the Board allowed three major studies of the Chicago public schools which clearly denoted the segregation problems of the school system, over a decade after the Supreme Court’s decision of the famous Brown v Board of Education case. The Hauser Report and the Havighurst Report, both published in 1964, described the “gross racial imbalance” in Chicago public schools, where “Negro schools” tended to be more overcrowded and experience more drop-outs and lower average scores than predominantly white schools (Coons 85). In 1967 the recently appointed Superintendent of the Chicago schools, James Redmond, created a committee that published the other major report on the public schools of Chicago in 1967, entitled Increasing Desegregation of Faculties, Students, and Vocational Education Programs. This report focused on the teaching climate of Chicago schools, the boundaries of schools districts, vocational education programs, and public understanding of current issues, “aimed at reversing a pervasive social condition that has become deeply rooted in our society” (Chicago Board 2). By stating some hard statistics about the schools in Chicago and even describing some possible means of addressing the problems that emphasized immediate action, these reports seemed to provide some hope for the future of Chicago’s public schools. However, despite the fact that the Chicago Board of Education even accepted most of the terms and recommendations in the reports, the ensuing years showed very little improvement. Since 1967, the Chicago Board of Education’s passive approach towar... ... middle of paper ... ... New York Times 16 May 1977: 18. ---. “School Segregation is Pressed in Chicago Area.” New York Times 23 May 1976:26. Garrow, David J. “Looking Back at Brown: 3 Books Reflect on the 1954 Supreme Court Decision and the Effects it has had on America.” Chicago Tribune 2 May 2004: Books 1. Houston, Jack. “City Public Schools Lose 9,307 More Students.” Chicago Tribune 14 Jan. 1989: News 5. Little, Darnell and Lori Olszewski. “School Spending Disparity Revealed: But Court Ends Desegregation Oder.” Chicago Tribune 2 Mar. 2004: News 1. Sheppard Jr., Nathaniel. “Chicago Fails to Submit a Plan on Desegregation.” New York Times 16 Apr. 1981: A18. Wicker, Tom. “The Myth of Busing: Some Contradictory Evidence.” New York Times 19 Sept. 1976: 167. “Willie Johnson is Standing Firm.” Integrated Education. September 1971: 4-11.

Show More
Related

  • The Ocean Hill Brownsville School Controversy

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1954, The Brown vs. The Board of Education decision made segregation in schools illegal. New York City’s attempt to integrate the schools was unsuccessful, leaving them more segregated than before.(Podair 30) By 1966, New York City’s black communities were unhappy with the Board of Education’s control of their school districts because of its repeated unsuccessful attempts at integration. Many white groups, like the Parents and Taxpayers Organization, were also frustrated with the current system and called for “The Neighborhood School.” It was their discontent that motivated the community control of the Ocean Hill Brownsville school district. Because of the city’s civil rights movement and their support from many influential people and groups, the district was granted control .(Podair 82)

    Read More

  • Brown v. Board of Education Decision

    2171 Words  | 5 Pages

    Before the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, many people accepted school segregation and, in most of the southern states, required segregation. Schools during this time were supposed to uphold the “separate but equal” standard set during the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson; however, most, if not all, of the “black” schools were not comparable to the “white” schools. The resources the “white” schools had available definitely exceed the resources given to “black” schools not only in quantity, but also in quality. Brown v. Board of Education was not the first case that assaulted the public school segregation in the south. The title of the case was shortened from Oliver Brown ET. Al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. The official titled included reference to the other twelve cases that were started in the early 1950’s that came from South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia. The case carried Oliver Brown’s name because he was the only male parent fighting for integration. The case of Brown v. Board o...

    Read More

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Topeka, Kansas, the school for African-American children appeared to be equal to that of the white school. However, the school was overcr...

    Read More

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    2882 Words  | 6 Pages

    Reid, Herbert O. “The Supreme Court Decision and Interpretation.” The Journal of Negro Education 25.2 (1956): 109-117.

    Read More

  • Brown v Board of Education

    2329 Words  | 5 Pages

    Patterson, James. “Brown v Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy (Pivotal Moments in American History).” Oxford University Press., 2001.

    Read More

  • John Marshall's Effect on the American Judicial System

    1672 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shnayerson, Robert. The Illustrated History of The Supreme Court Of The United States. New York: Abrams, 1986.

    Read More

  • Essay On Des Moines Independent Community Schools

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Remy, Richard C., Gary E. Clayton, and John J. Patrick. "Supreme Court Cases." Civics Today. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe, 2008. 796. Print.

    Read More

  • Brown Vs Board of Education

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Patterson, James. Brown v. Board of Education, A Civil Rights Milestone and its Troubled Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

    Read More

  • Segregation History

    1584 Words  | 4 Pages

    United States school systems have has a history of segregation. This segregation began with the passing of Jim Crow laws in the south in the late 1800’s. The influence of this practice was at first the slave culture of the southern states, and later was manifest as residential segregation and school choice programs. There were also many Supreme Court rulings which failed to overturn implement segregation which allowed for the practice to continue to flourish. Although we have seen social improvements in our society in the past 50 years we can still see that many citizens of the United States are still placed at a disadvantage due to their class and race. In this paper we will examine the history of segregation practices and

    Read More

  • Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1)

    2066 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hall, Kermit L, eds. The Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court decisions New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

    Read More

  • Chicago Public School Budget Review:FY2014

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Chicago Public School District is the third largest school district in the United States educating around 400,000 students. Back in 1987 CPS was named “the worst in the nation”(). Moving its way up to the top, since then, CPS had completely rebuilt its structure, appointing leaders and reformed ideas. Now, with a deficit projected to be around $1 billion CPS is headed back in a downwards path, money being the biggest issue. The United States Federal Government already has financial issues of its own, which makes dealing with a CPS budget a problem within a problem. CPS, with a $6.6 billion FY2013 budget, is now taking a new strategy based upon a flawed “Student-Based Budgeting System”. The Board of Education is also struggling to solve the debt they have reached, and with their FY2014 plans this year’s budget book is argued to be “one of the most poorly written budgets”(). The way CPS is handling their budget is not benefiting the lives and education of students and is leaving CPS at a loss with giant financial issues.

    Read More

  • Unequal Education in America: Urban vs Suburban Education

    2470 Words  | 5 Pages

    The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While increased spending may help, the real problem is often rooted in the complex issues of social, cultural, and economic differences. When combined with factors involving the school itself and the institution that supports it, we arrive at what has been widely known as the divide between the suburban and urban schools. Can anything actually be done to reverse this apparent trend of inequality or are the outside factors too powerful to change?

    Read More

  • The Role of the Supreme Court in the Civil Rights Movement

    1964 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Supreme Court is perhaps most well known for the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. By declaring that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, Kevern Verney says a ‘direct reversal of the Plessy … ruling’1 58 years earlier was affected. It was Plessy which gave southern states the authority to continue persecuting African-Americans for the next sixty years. The first positive aspect of Brown was was the actual integration of white and black students in schools. Unfortunately, this was not carried out to a suitable degree, with many local authorities feeling no obligation to change the status quo. The Supreme Court did issue a second ruling, the so called Brown 2, in 1955. This forwarded the idea that integration should proceed 'with all deliberate speed', but James T. Patterson tells us even by 1964 ‘only an estimated 1.2% of black children ... attended public schools with white children’2. This demonstrates that, although the Supreme Court was working for Civil Rights, it was still unable to force change. Rathbone agrees, saying the Supreme Court ‘did not do enough to ensure compliance’3. However, Patterson goes on to say that ‘the case did have some impact’4. He explains how the ruling, although often ignored, acted ‘relatively quickly in most of the boarder s...

    Read More

  • Segregation In Schools Essay

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    Segregation in public schools is a practice that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to be unconstitutional in 1954. However, since this time, schools have become segregated not by law, but with actions and policies. According to Orfield, et al (2010), the public educational system is actually moving further and further away from the integrated school systems that the Brown v. B.O.E case intended to create. There are two main areas in which segregation is discussed as being seen with in our educational systems across America. These two areas exists both within school districts, where certain schools have demographics that don’t necessarily represent the population of an entire district, and within individual schools, where students are often times

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Institutional Racism In The Education System

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the 1960’s segregation was allowed by the law but as I stated earlier Chicago schools are massively segregated. How is this possible when segregation has been ruled out by law? If it is not the law holding the segregation in place then what is? It is reasonable to assume that our education system is what upholds the racism. The education system, much like our prison institutions, are deeply entrenched in our society. As a result overt racism is not very common. What is concerning is institutional racism because it is built into the system and is operated on large scales. Even when good people want to make changes institutional racism operates like a machine, grinding relentlessly. One common practice of Institutional racism is our tests.

    Read More

More about Failure of the Chicago Board of Education in the Civil Rights Movement

Open Document