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This book is meant to generate a discussion about integration absent of the emotion. The people that were involved in the Civil Rights Movement decided that this was the best way to move Blacks as a group forward. This had never been attempted in.
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The results of this racial isolation and discrimination in schools are striking: only 22 percent of black Americans earns a college degree , 12 as compared to 41 percent of the white population. This institutionalized, de facto racial segregation is partially rooted in the socioeconomic stratification of schools.

In addition, exclusionary zoning practices such as costly building codes and minimum lot size requirements often limit the opportunities for groups of lower-income families and racial minorities to move into wealthy neighborhoods. Although the landscape appears bleak, researchers and advocates still have hope. School integration can be one way to combat institutionalized racism: there has been evidence 19 that integration improves education for both white students and racial minorities; it can reduce the racial student achievement gap 20 and allow black students to attend schools with better resources.

With these overwhelmingly positive effects in mind, the percentage of people in favor of general integration has increased steadily over time, with 95 percent of the population in favor of blacks and whites attending the same school in For instance, in PEW Hispanic Center survey, 59 percent of respondents said they would rather students attend local schools, even if the students would be predominantly of the same race, 23 and in , 66 percent of whites and 39 percent of blacks 24 opposed busing students to achieve racial integration.

Fortunately, we can derive lessons from history, seeking counsel from leaders and communities that overcame massive resistance and political obstacles to implement robust integration programs. Louisville represents a prime example of a sustainable program implemented under fire.

Today, it is one of the most successful and politically popular socioeconomic integration programs in the country. Its accomplishments shed light on—among other things—the ways in which competent, engaged, and courageous leadership can impact change. As a young, bright-eyed mayor, Dr. Harvey Sloane shepherded the court-ordered desegregation plan from chaos to compliance in His struggles and successes reveal lessons that remain relevant more than forty years later.

The district of Louisville-Jefferson County certainly had a long road ahead of itself at the start of its efforts to desegregate. Though in Brown v. These schools were also unequal in terms of educational quality, with more resources funneled into the white suburban schools. One black student, Pamela Smith, remembers what it was like to attend a school in a black neighborhood before integration. We had to get the same information without the same resources.

Gordon designed and implemented a plan mandating that schools in both Louisville and Jefferson County had to accommodate between 15 and 50 percent black students. In total, 11, black students and 11, white students 39 were transported on about buses 40 to different schools , 41 with the intention that white students would only be bused for two years, while black students could be bused for up to ten years. During those weeks, two previously discreet school systems needed to merge into one, both students and teachers would need to be reassigned, bus routes had to be drawn, public safety officers trained and mobilized, and citizens reassured.

Sloane recalls frantic conversations with fellow public officials. A medical doctor by trade, he had little experience designing school assignment plans for the purposes of desegregation or otherwise, and was still in the process of developing rapport with the white community in Louisville and the surrounding suburbs when the ruling came down. He knew that the upcoming months would likely strain that already tenuous relationship.

I think to establish stronger contacts with the white community would have been helpful. Six weeks quickly passed and, on Thursday, September 4, , the school district began to integrate. The first day was extremely tense , 45 but more peaceful than originally anticipated. Unfortunately, that peace did not last. We were powerless. We struggled to understand the madness, but we knew that busing us across the county was means to end.

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We were on the heels of the civil rights movement. Later that Friday, September 5, the police came into conflict with 2, white 48 rioters, fifty of whom became injured and of whom were arrested. By Saturday, the number of people arrested had surpassed , 49 even when Sloane called Kentucky National Guardsmen to the scene.

I know we were criticized on many fronts for not exerting more force. One of my young troopers lost his eyes, which was just absolutely tragic, but considering that magnitude of these riots it was almost miraculous that that was the only major injury with thousands, scores of thousand of people rioting, looting, burning.


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On Monday , September 8, , 52 armed guards accompanied students on buses and convoys in order to ensure cooperation and safety, but violence still prevailed. Sloane struggled to confront the violence, and tried to ensure that students remained safe. In the first few days of integration, Sloane rode the bus 53 alongside black students, walked through neighborhoods in the city to dialogue with people and monitor violence, and greeted incoming black students at predominantly white schools.

And there were personal threats [to my family]. We had a bullet through the bay window [of our home].

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In a country that elected its first black president in , many may characterize this sort of violent reaction to integration Sloane described as merely a historical snippet, an antiquated and thoroughly outdated tantrum. While we rarely hear about physical violence being the primary response to current school diversity initiatives, several of the reasons people opposed integration in the s are still present today. Integration programs signify, among other things, that their kids could be bused to predominantly minority or low-income schools, where students are less likely to have access to counselors, advanced classes, qualified teachers, and state-of-the-art facilities.

At the same time, some black families expressed concern that changing schools would disrupt neighborhood ties and bonds in their communities. In Louisville, for example, white parents protested when one school tried to celebrate Dr. King through writing assignments. In addition, many black students who were on track to attend college were not able to do so due to integration and its disruptive nature, as it left them without teacher recommendations and devoted guidance counselors.

Although there are often a fair share of negative reactions to new anti-segregation initiatives, leaders and organizers can usually count on the presence of supporters. Even in the s, not everyone in the Louisville community opposed integration. This period of time left an indelible footprint on who we are as individuals today.

We believe everyone was affected by busing. We hope to see this event embedded in our Kentucky and national curriculum. The rewards of integration extend beyond just minority students. While black students certainly benefit from 65 better class offerings, an expanded curriculum, and additional resources, white students also gain 66 from integration in a myriad of ways—including the development of critical thinking and increased access to higher education.

For instance, alongside black students, white students showed their support in advocacy groups such as Progress in Education , 67 an organization that created pro-busing literature, planned rallies, and attended congressional hearings on school integration. In addition, over time, white students felt as though going to school with black students altered their outlook on life. It instilled an attitude of gratitude; it helped build some perspective. As months passed, support for integration steadied, so much so that time might be deemed one of the primary factors that led to its ultimate acceptance.

In addition, three years after integration began , Judge Gordon stopped monitoring compliance 70 with the integration order since most people were supportive of the policy. This is likely because at that point, most students had already lived through integration, and research 71 shows that people who experience integration are more in favor of it than others who may judge it based solely on its reputation.

It actually created an attitude … about addressing race in an effective way. Yet the United States Supreme Court had slightly different ideas for the future of Louisville and other race-conscious school assignment plans. When plaintiff Crystal Meredith moved to Louisville in , she became upset that her son had to ride ten miles to school on a bus because the sought-after local school was full. In the case 76 Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. What was this all about in ? But any assertion that the journey toward integration had ended was far from the truth.

As a result, the district developed a new plan that based integration on more than just race. In its revised form, the district placed schools in geographic clusters 79 or groups of diverse neighborhoods based on 80 census block characteristics including percentage minority residents, household income, and adult education level. Parents would be able to list preferences for specific schools in their cluster in an application, and the district would account for both family school choice and diversity goals.

Certainly, the city has faced challenges establishing and maintaining socioeconomic school integration. Not everyone is pleased. In part due to this parental decision-making, the Archdiocese of Louisville sports the third-highest percentage of enrolled Catholic school students in the United States: 7. But generally, citizens of Louisville-Jefferson County defend and celebrate the progress that they have made.

According a report from The Civil Rights Project , over 90 percent of Jefferson County parents think that diverse schools have important educational benefits for children, and a substantial portion think that the decades of school integration have improved the greater Louisville area.

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These numbers are starkly different than those in the s, where nearly 98 percent 88 of suburban residents were against integration. The average demographic for schools in the county is 49 percent white, 37 percent black, and 14 percent Latino and other ethnic and racial groups. Integration also has a positive impact on student achievement levels for both white students and racial minorities. While there is no data that directly compares the achievement levels of Louisville students before and after integration, there is a large body evidence suggesting racial achievement gaps shrink after integration.

According to one study , the racial gap in SAT scores can be reduced by almost a quarter once integration is implemented. In addition, we see similar results in Louisville, though these results are tied more to educational opportunity.

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Likewise, between 90 percent of black students and 93 percent of white students reported being encouraged to attend college. Integration efforts do not just have implications on diversity, achievement, and educational opportunity. For example, compared to the segregated city of Detroit , 95 which had roughly the same percentage of black and low-income families as Louisville did back in , the integrated city of Louisville is doing much better in terms of economics and crime today.

Researchers, including Stephen Billings of UNC-Charlotte, find that school segregation contributes to higher crime rates, as kids that attend struggling schools together in struggling neighborhoods are more likely to engage in criminal activity side by side as they age. School integration and housing plans can work together to reduce the dependence on busing for equal education.

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Louisville leaders offered three exemptions to the busing program : one to already diverse neighborhoods that met the racial balance goals established in the original court order, another to black families who made an integrative move into a predominantly white neighborhood using housing vouchers, and another to neighborhoods that eventually evolved into integrated environments. In many ways, Louisville, Kentucky, presents an important case study, revealing lessons that span beyond mere structural design of an integration plan into more amorphous goals—ensuring adaptability of school integration plans under legal and political fire, centering equity and inclusion in school assignment processes, and nursing a community spirit that values diversity but is still comprised of individuals that remain rationally self-interested.

To maximize the access to and effectiveness of desegregation plans, bigger is better; that is to say, plans that reach every corner of a region not only involve a more economically diverse group of children, but also minimize the likelihood that wealthy parents can avoid desegregation by simply switching neighborhoods. We discuss the importance of these programs later in this section. Although the Louisville-Jefferson County story seems unique, it should not have been.

By most measures, Detroit and Louisville found themselves in similar situations at the start of the s. Right outside of its borders, the suburbs are some of the wealthiest, and whitest, areas in all of Michigan. Why is it that Louisville has seen so much more success compared to its counterparts? Moreover, what can districts that are considering designing integration programs learn from those who have come out on the other side?