The Effect of the Rochester Race Riots on Schools

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The 1960’s were an era in the United States where new ideas were developing, and most specifically ideas pertaining to the civil rights movement and its expansion. Protests, parades, and riots were occurring in an attempt to spread freedom for all people, and as some of these events became relevant in the news, the tensions of the country rose. Violence was occurring in many parts of the countries due to the ideas of those who were not receiving the freedom that they believed were entitled to them. African-Americans found themselves lacking rights in a world where they were just the same as everyone else minus their skin color. One specific city that was affected by these ideas was Rochester, NY. Rochester is a city with rich history, and has been noted to be one of the first cities that “boomed” as it was created. However, the summer of 1964 presented a new problem. A hot summer and racial tensions began a three day riot in which the city was changed. The riots had a lot of effects on the city, by affecting the businesses, the people surrounding, and the views people had on one another. One area that was specifically affected negatively was the area schools in the city. They were already bad to begin with, with less than average grades, bad dropout rates, and lower budgets than non-city schools. They were constantly set at a lower standard, and the riots certainly did not help that issue. The riots caused an un-noted split between the city and outside of the city due to the negative opinions that came from the riots occurring. Due to the race riots that occurred in Rochester in the summer of ’64, there has become an even more considerable split in education between inner and out-of-city schools, causing the downgrade and ster... ... middle of paper ... ...Area. Rep. Rochester, NY: Rochester Area Community Foundation, 2007. Print. Figlio, David N. "Teacher Salaries and Teacher Quality." Economic Letters 55.2 (1997): 267-71. Sciencedirect.com. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Lieberson S. The Meaning of Race Riots. Race. 1965;7:371-78. Loudon, Bennet J., and Gary McLendon. "City's 39% Grad Rate Worst in Big 4." Democrat and Chronicle. N.p., 26 Apr. 2007. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. Marcotte, Bob. "1964 Race Riots Reshaped Rochester." Democrat and Chronicle. N.p., 10 Nov. 2008. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. "Rochester Riot Timeline." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. Rothwell, Jonathon. "The Economic Value of Education." The Brookings Institution. N.p., 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. "Truancy Fact Sheet." Education.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. "What Is the Purpose of School?" What Is the Purpose of School. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

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