Desegregation of Clarke County Public Schools

Desegregation of the Classic City: Clarke County, Georgia

By: Thomas Bennett

More than two centuries ago Thomas Jefferson petitioned his home state of Virginia for an educational system that was both comprehensive in its scope and revolutionary for the time. He saw education as the one way to preserve “freedom and happiness” within the United States. The concept of free and public education did not take root in the area that formerly comprised the Confederate States of America until the era of reconstruction following the end of the Civil War and the reunification of the United States. The school systems, like most everything else in the southern states, became a point of contention between the races. These systems of public education became segregated first de facto due simply to the fact that slaves were denied an education and later de jure with the passing of laws reserving “quality education” for white children only. Liberal, progressive Clarke County was no exception. When viewing the issue of segregation it is important to remember that the “problems of the South…are not local problems alone…these problems are national.” [1]

Until the 1969 – 70 school year, when the Clarke County Board of Education adopted a plan for the desegregation of its schools, the separation of white and black students in public educational institutions was an accepted reality in Clarke County. The two plans that were considered by the Board were titled the “neighborhood school” plan and the “paired school” plan. The “neighborhood” plan maintained several mostly mono-racial schools (five white and two black) while concentrating the majority of its desegregation efforts in only five schools. One of the major selling points of this plan was that it would allow a large number of children to walk to school. The point that was left unmade was that it often times would not allow children to walk to the school closest to their homes. By redrawing district lines the Board of Education sought to gerrymander the county into an illegal institution of segregation. Many citizens in Clarke County viewed this as a violation of the spirit, if not the letter of desegregation laws. It looked once again as if white southerners were trying to win in the peace which had been lost in the war. The other option, the “paired school” plan would create two elementary schools in the same district. By placing grades one through three in one school and grades four through six in the other the racial composition of students could be more easily observed and regulated. The “neighborhood” plan was adopted by the Board, approved by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) and instituted for the 1969 – 70 school year. [2]

One of the many complaints made by the citizens in opposition to the proposed “neighborhood” plan was the lack of provision for the desegregation of teachers and other faculty. The Athens Council on Human Relations included in its letter to the Director of HEW’s Office of Civil Rights Leon E. Panetta that only token integration had occurred within the educators of the county and that in many instances not even a token effort had been made. This problem continued to be an issue over the next decade with complaints about hiring practices in relation to minorities arising periodically. The reoccurrence of complaints about unequal hiring practices for minority teachers alleged that the unfair application of hiring standards stretched back to the year 1970 or the beginning of desegregation initiatives in Clarke County. Superintendent of schools Dr. Charles McDaniel responded to the charges by saying, “it is my feeling that we are in compliance, that another check will indicate we are still.” [3]

Challenges to the Clarke County method of desegregation were taken all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Members of the Citizens Advisory Committee asked the Clarke County Board of Education to adopt a slightly altered version of the “paired school” plan named “plan B” which placed grades one through four in one school and grades five and six in the other. The CAC supported the idea that any plan adopted for desegregation would have to, “provide an equal opportunity for each child for an adequate education, and should achieve a school racial makeup about the same as that of the city and county.” It appeared to the members of the CAC that the county would either have to meet both requirements or that true, meaningful desegregation would not occur. Concerns were raised about the insinuation that only through racial balance could quality education be made available to all children. Dean Cowen of the University of Georgia Law School interjected that due to the wide variation in racial ratios the plan adopted by the Board was “on shaky ground from a legal standpoint.” The reply from Eugene Epting, the attorney representing the Board of Education, argued that if it was discrimination to allow varying degrees of racial mixing then it could also be seen as discrimination to bus black students to achieve equality in racial ratios because this would leave blacks at approximately one-third of the student body. This would constitute discrimination by artificially making blacks a minority in every single school district through out the county. [4]

One issue that exemplifies the tense racial currents of the desegregation era in Clarke County is the name of the old Athens City high school. More than a decade prior to the desegregation of Clarke County Schools a solid brick building was constructed on the lot at the corner of Milledge Avenue and Baxter Street. This was to serve as the high school for the Athens city school system which then operated separately from the Clarke County school system. In 1956 the city and county school systems were consolidated. The school at the corner of Baxter and Milledge had been christened Athens High School and continued to operate under that name until the time of desegregation. At the time of desegregation the county had prepared to begin breaking ground on another high school (what would become Cedar Shoals High School) on a thirty-eight acre site adjacent to Pattie Hilsman Junior High. This site was chosen because it was believed the eastern side of the county was the only area left open for expansion. With the implementation of a desegregation plan and the construction of a second high school in Clarke County the name of the old Athens High School was changed to Clarke Central High School, the name it still bears today. In a meeting of the Clarke County Board of Education in July of 1972 a proposal was made to revert to the old name, Athens High School. This “potentially explosive issue” was “defused” when the Board voted the name change down 6 – 2. One citizen told the Daily News, “I feel that a change at this time would only give rebirth to festering sores of racial hatred. Although nothing might happen right now, it would be used in the future.” Many other citizens expressed concerns over “institutional racism” and violent riots resembling those that took place in Athens in 1968. [5]

The fears of racially based violence were not a foreign concept to the residents of Clarke County in the late sixties and early seventies. The riots that occurred in Athens in 1968 as a response to the desegregation saw a great deal of hatred and violence unleashed and the minority population of Clarke County was loath to encourage any situation which could lead to a similar outpouring of detestation and hostility. The issue of the renaming of what was then and now called Clarke Central High School to its former title of Athens High School worried one citizen that, as he put it, “the rock throwing, bottle throwing cats of a few years ago are now lead throwing bigger cats, and they’re talking.” But, whites attacking blacks was not the only form of violence Clarke County citizens saw over the issue of desegregation. In April of 1970 a group of black students attending Athens High School gathered in the lobby to discuss an article in the newspaper that had offended some by using terms such as “militant”. Many of the group left school grounds in the direction of Milledge Avenue via Waddell Street. There the students met with another group of students that had left the campus of Burney-Harris. Together these two groups returned to the Athens High School campus and according to AHS Principal Don Hight the student group “attempted and did enter” the building. At this point the group of students proved the label of militant was completely unwarranted by attacking several students at Athens High School, hitting one in the face with a baseball bat and severely beating another. This outburst was followed by a car containing four white students arriving late to school which was promptly “attacked, and one student was hit in the face with some blunt instrument.” As if the violence against other students was not bad enough, the mob continued its violent escapade by striking Principal Allen, “in the back a number of times.” To continue this already horrific ordeal the mass of angry and violent students attacked a group of black AHS students who attempted to defuse the situation and disperse the angry mob. After nearly an hour of rampaging the Burney-Harris students returned to their own campus but their anger had obviously not dissipated. They continued to be violent and destructive as reported by Burney-Harris Principal E. T. Robertson. He claimed some of his own students, “smashed flower pots, discharged fire extinguishers, knocked out windows and broke glass panels in doors.” This does not attempt to show that black anger at their situation was unwarranted or that the violent actions of this particular occasion make any justification for the actions of other violent actions undertaken by whites. This simply shows that a perception of white citizens being the only ones to use violence and fear in this era of instability is incorrect. [6]iHiH

A trend of founding private schools around the time of desegregation can be observed nation wide and Athens saw its own private institutions sprout up about the time of public school desegregation. These private schools often referred to as segregation academies were not absent from Clarke County as shown by Athens Academy and Athens Christian Schools which were both founded around the year 1970. An article in the Athens Banner-Herald & Daily News in 1972 said that Athens Christian’s enrollment had “more than doubled” since the previous year and that the increase was still not enough to satisfy demand. Athens Academy at the time the article was published had yet to transfer its student body to the complex on Macon Highway it now occupies but was already in possession of the 105 acre lot that was donated by Mr. J. Swanton Ivey Sr. While neither school specifically identified itself as a segregation academy or made specific reference to the race of its students it is a reasonable extension of the facts that this was the purpose behind the foundation of both institutions. This inference can be made on the basis of the dates of foundation and in the racial makeup of the students. While Athens Academy had a “federally-approved open admission policy” it had no black students as of February 1972. The Academy set a tuition level to exclude most of the population of Athens at the time. Though in Athens there was a greater level of affluence among some blacks the ability to afford the tuition was more than likely not the only factor to enter the equation for admission.[7]

How did the desegregation of Clarke County Schools compare to the same processes being undertaken in other school districts around the country? Sam Houston High School in Houston, Texas had a much more violent opposition to integration than did Clarke County. The redistribution of 300 black students from an all black high school to a previously all white school lead to several racial slurs from administrative personnel and a fight taking place over two days in which one student was stabbed and as a result the school had to be shut down. After several days of discussions between selected members of both the black and white student bodies, parents and administrators a sense of equilibrium was reached and with a new understanding of the positions of all involved the school resumed normal functioning. Many school districts across the country saw much worse violence and many saw much less but if this case can be used as an example of what was a typical reaction then Clarke County was about par for the course. [8]

A problem arises in trying to compare one school district to another in terms of the progress and ease of desegregation. In all cases there were two sides for the argument and often times many more than just two. The two that are always present are those in favor of total integration and those opposed to any type of desegregation. Two other groups that are often involved are those arguing for “neighborhood school” plans and those groups that believe the “paired school” plan is the only way to meaningfully desegregate. The truth of the matter is that it is never this cut and dry. Depending on the makeup of the local Board of Education, the Superintendent of Schools, the individual teachers and principals, the parents and the students themselves the entire equation can be altered. Some school systems found ways to desegregate in meaningful ways so as to provide quality education for all children with little or no violence. Some school districts saw plagues of violence break out among their students and their families. Many school districts grudgingly desegregated without facing the reality of the situation and this resulted in entrenched racism and hatred of fellow students and citizens. And, just a few districts managed to get lost in the scuffle and avoid true desegregation altogether. The idea that it is possible to say Clarke County did a better job than Houston, Texas but not as well as Jackson, Mississippi (or any other school districts) seems flawed. The truth of the matter is that desegregation was the right thing to do, it would not have been done had it not been forced upon the schools and there were often times distasteful results from the application of rulings in cases such as Brown, Green, Alexander, and Swann. [9]

Desegregation occurred in Clarke County more than thirty years ago which from the perspective of history it may seem but the blink of an eye but in the scope of a human life it is a very long time. Several things have been omitted here out of consideration to the individuals and the families of the individuals who participated in actions that would no longer be condoned or tolerated today. The twelve individuals specifically named by Judge Barrow as defendants along with John Doe one through 100 in the horrific incidences of violence at Athens High School in which several students and a principal were assaulted and beaten with blunt objects were acting in a time that can no longer truly be understood. Perhaps they were as totally out of line as it might seem today or maybe, just maybe, they thought it was the way things had to be handled. No excuses are being made for the actions of those persons involved in the use of fear and violence for the purpose of intimidation but the fact is the situation and the feelings of the past cannot be truly understood from the perspective of today. Out of this point of view information that could be found degrading to the people who lived through the desegregation of Clarke County or to their surviving family members has been left out or an attempt has been made to disconnect such persons who have hopefully had a change of heart in the years since. [10]

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