Violence over Forced Busing in Boston

A decade after President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill, violence broke out in South Boston over forced desegregation of the city's schools on this day in 1974.  Whites pelted rocks and eggs at buses carrying black students to South Boston High.  Police on motorcycles were asked to escort the buses along their route.  The National Guard was called in to line the bus routes.  However, violence continued for three years and the problem was not completely resolved until 1988.

Police escort a caravan of 20 buses carrying black students to South Boston High courtesy www.pbs.org.

Segregated neighbourhoods in Boston naturally led to segregated schools.  Roxbury, formerly a Jewish neighbourhood, was predominantly black by the 1970's.  South Boston was a predominantly white (Irish Catholic) neighbourhood.  Blacks complained that Roxbury School lacked teachers, furniture and books, all of the things the white schools had.  School Board head Louise Day Hicks claimed that "a racially imbalanced school is not educationally harmful".  Rather than putting money in the predominantly black schools, the Board of Education did nothing.

Valerie Banks was the only student to show up for her geography class at South Boston High on

 Sept. 12, 1974 courtesy www.wbur.org.

However, in the case of Morgan vs. Hennigan, a U.S. judge ruled that the Massachusetts State Board of Education must have a balanced racial mix in its schools.  At the beginning of the school year in 1974, the Board of Education was ordered to mix up the school population in the 80 of 200 schools that were less than 50% black.  Roxbury High, a predominantly black school, would have its students bused to South Boston High, an all-white school;  Conversely, South Boston students would go to the Roxbury.  A predominantly Italian-American neighbourhood in North Boston would also be affected. In fact, eighteen thousand students would be bused all over Boston to different schools.

Black students arriving at South Boston School courtesy wordpress.com.

Violence erupted on the streets of South Boston on the first day of the forced integration of the schools.  Later, Boston Police, riding motorcycles, accompanied many of the buses on their routes. But still, many whites (and blacks) protested by pulling their children out of school.  Senator Edward Kennedy was attacked by a mob protesting the decision outside a federal building.  Board of Education head Louise Day Hicks led protests.  Protesters wore pins with lions on them stating R.O.A.R. (Restore Our Alienated Rights).

Louise Day Hicks (at right) lead protest of forced busing in Boston circa 1974 courtesy weebly.com.

Finally, in 1977, Ms. Hicks resigned from the Board and a black member was elected.  It was not until 1988, however, that the desegregation issue was fully resolved in Boston.

*First published in 2014.

Little Rock Nine

Photo of 101st U.S. Airborne Division courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org.

My son Thomas started high school today at Hamilton District Christian High.  He had the normal first day of school jitters.  He wondered if he would know anyone in his classes.  He wondered what his first bus ride would be like.  He complained about the acne on his face.  But the one thing he didn't need to worry about was the colour of his skin.  He entered the school of his own accord rather than with armed troops at his side.  He entered the school without an angry mob yelling epithets and threats against him.  He entered the school without his fellow students spitting on him.  He entered the school without a line of reporters snapping his photo and posting it on the front page of the Hamilton Spectator.

Such was not the case when the Little Rock Nine (Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest green, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Arlotta Walls LeNier, Minnijean Brown Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed and Melba Patillo Beals) entered high school on this day in 1957.  Daisy Bates, the head of the local NAACP chapter, arranged to have nine Black students enroll at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas that year.  After the landmark case of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, the court had ruled that segregation was unconstitutional and that all schools should be desegregated, but putting the theory into practice was a different story.  Governor Orval Faubus arranged to have the State National Guard meet the nine Black students with guns and gas masks ready to prevent their entry into the school.  White students called the Blacks "Communists" and other names; they spit in their faces; they threw bricks at them; and they blocked their entry into the school.  Reporters were beaten up by the angry mob. 

Little Rock soon became not only national but international news at a time when the Cold War was at its peak:  how could America justify treating its own citizens so poorly when it was supposed to be the land of democracy?  President Eisenhower realized something needed to be done so he pleaded with the Arkansas governor to call off the National Guard and allow the nine students to enter the school.  However, Mr. Faubus would not budge.  In the meantime, President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Arkansas to officially integrate the school. 

On September 25, the Little Rock Nine entered the school, each with a patroller by his or her side.  While the show of solidarity was impressive, White students continued to harass the Black students at any given opportunity.  Melba Patillo Beals was stabbed at one point and had acid thrown in her face; fortunately her patroller immediately threw water in her eyes to prevent her from being blinded.  Minnijean, taunted by Whites in the cafeteria, poured a bowl of chili on one of them only to be suspended for six days while no punishment was doled out to the instigators.  One of the students had his or her home bombed in the Fall of 1959.

In the meantime, Governor Faubus tried to stop integration by closing down all four Little Rock high schools.  The board even fired 44 high school teachers who were later re-instated.  But the damage was done:  all of the Little Rock high school students could not attend school during "The Lost Year".  Some of the Little Rock Nine transferred to other schools due to the harassment, but three remained to graduate.  Melba Patillo Beals ended up becoming a teacher at Central High which is 60% Black today. 

So as my son heads back to high school tomorrow, I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that he can do so freely without harassment.  We take education for granted, but it came with a high price for the Little Rock Nine. 

Photo of one of the Little Rock Nine courtesy www.nps.gov.

*First published in 2012.

Jackie Robinson Pens Protest Letter to Eisenhower

"I was sitting in the audience at the Summit Meeting of Negro leaders yesterday when you said we must have patience.  On hearing you say this, I felt like standing up and saying:  'Oh no!  Not again.'

I respectfully remind you sir that we have been the most patient of all people." (Jackie Robinson)

It was 1958 -- eleven years since the first black man officially played in the National Baseball League; four years since the ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education; three years since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus; and one year since the National Guard escorted nine students to Little Rock High.  

Yet, America was still a long way from fulling integrating blacks into white society.  Jackie Robinson, who had integrated professional baseball, had just hung up his number 42 jersey.  He penned a letter to President Eisenhower indicating his frustration with the civil rights movement, which, after making giant strides, had seemed to stall.  

"I was sitting in the audience at the Summit meeting of negro leaders yesterday when you said we must have patience.  On hearing you say this, I felt like standing up and saying:  'Oh no!  Not again.' (www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/jackie_robinson_letter/).  I respectfully remind you sir that we have been the most patient of all people."  He pointed out that Negroes were striving to attain goals that Whites had already been granted over 150 years before.

"17 million Negroes cannot do as you suggest and wait for the hearts of men to change," implored Robinson.  In 1958, Negroes represented about 10 percent of the American population, a significant amount.  Robinson wanted actions, not words, for the Civil Rights Movement to move forward.  

Robinson saw President Eisenhower's attitude of forbearance as encouraging, not discouraging, the segregationists.  He reminded the President about Governor Faubus, who, the previous year, had blocked the school entry of the Little Rock Nine.  

The baseball legend drove his point home by stating:  "would let it be known that America is determined to provide -- in the near future -- for Negroes -- the freedoms we are entitled to under the Constitution."

Note:  For more information about Jackie Robinson, read "You Give Me the Number, I'll Give You the Guts!" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2013/04/april-15.html.

Jackie Robinson (right) meets Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders circa 1950's courtesy http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2009/01/20090106142542jmnamdeirf0.8552515.html#axzz3l0Ucr18M.