Michael Daniel

Dr. Gagnon

History 3090

The Integration of Monroe County Schools

The integration of the Monroe County School System was, much like most schools in the South, very slow in its occurrence. It also spurred several different and interesting reactions from members of the community that exposed the racism inherent throughout some of the hierarchy and upper class of the county. These reactions can be described as resistance for as long as it can be sustained before surrender to the federal government. This resistance is generally illustrated through the distribution of finances throughout the board system, the continued building of schools that were intended for only one race, the establishment of a private school, and the refusal to comply with the rulings of the state and federal government until it was absolutely necessary. However, as in the case of Monroe County, it does not mean outward racism and violence stemming from integration. In fact, the problems that occurred after the successful integration of the school system were quite surprising. It is the veiled acts of defiance that occurred prior to the general acceptance of the fact that integration was inevitable and the smooth transition between the students to their integration that is the story of the desegregation of the Monroe County School System.

The distribution of funds is one method to learn what the real priorities of an organization are. This fact remains true when studying the allocations of funding between the schools for white children and the schools for colored children in Monroe County. In this case, transportation, specifically, is enlightening as to where the priorities of the people of Monroe County were immediately following the ruling of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board. However, the numbers can be deceptive if one only skims over them and does not look deeper into the statistics. Only during the years 1954-1956 did the overall allocation for white children’s transportation to schools remain higher then the funding for transportation for black children. When one looks closer at the numbers though, it reveals a much more disturbing trend by the leaders of the county Board of Education. Although the overall allocation for transportation for African Americans was higher, the allocation per student in African American schools for transportation was between 12-15 dollars less for the years 1954-1964. Simply put, these numbers are symbolic of an overall idea throughout the school system that financially speaking, despite the Brown ruling, the members of the Monroe County Board of Education still prioritized white children and their comfort over the needs of the African American children in the county.[1]

One outward action of defiance that was taken by the Monroe County Board of Education was that despite the order of integration had come down from the federal government, the school system moved along with plans to build a new colored school. Though the plans to consolidate the African American schools in the county on the Hubbard Campus with the goal of taking “a long step toward the equalization of education opportunities in Monroe County” began in 1952, the school board continued on with plans to make it a African American only school despite the rulings of the Supreme Court in 1954 stating that segregation was unconstitutional. There were several justifications given for this action. One of the justifications provided was that the facilities provided at the new African American school would be equal and possibly even better then those available at white schools. This justification was an attempt to convince the public that the idea of separate but equal, or in this case even better, morally justified the blatant disregard for the rulings of the Supreme Court. Another justification was explained by state superintendent M.D. Collins who predicted, “it will be a half century” before segregation is abolished in Georgia “if then”.[2]

Another act of defiance that was taken by a group of citizens within the county was the start a new private school within Monroe County. Monroe Academy was started in 1966 and with the stated goal to be a college preparatory school. Although the school could not legally ban African Americans, the administration of the school placed tuition prices high enough to where most African American families could not afford to send their children there and as a result did not. This action was taken purposely to keep African Americans out and only have more affluent white families send their children to the school. Another reason that no African American children attended the school was the mean spirited and prejudicial culture surrounding the school. Being as small as Monroe County, word spread rather quickly throughout the entire community that African Americans would not be welcomed in the school and that it would only lead to trouble if any African Americans attempted to attend. After interviewing several people that attended Monroe County Schools during this time period, it has become apparent that the sole purpose of starting Monroe Academy was to provide a haven for racist white people to separate their children from African American children. Another interesting fact about Monroe Academy and the people that attended it is that before the 1970-71 school year started, the same year public schools were integrated, “enrollment doubled”. A correlation between those numbers and the integration of the public school system during the same year are not coincidental and only serve to further illustrate the racist motivation behind the creation of Monroe Academy.[3]

Despite all of the actions taken by the Kennedy Administration to force integration, the signing of the Civil Rights Bill by Lyndon Johnson, and the inevitability of integration, Monroe County did not begin meeting to discuss integration until they were threatened by President Nixon and then Governor Carter with a cut off of state and federal funds. When that ultimatum was sent down, the Board of Education leapt into action and held a special meeting on January 14, 1970. It was at this meeting that three different plans were discussed on how to properly integrate the school system in order to comply with the regulations handed down from the state and federal governments. The first plan was to merge the existing four schools into two large ones. The new school built on the Hubbard campus would serve as the home for grades 1-6 and Mary Persons would house grades 7-12. This plan also included that the faculties of the schools would be merged in the same manner meaning that teachers would remain teaching the same grade and if necessary switch to the new building. However, there was no discussion over how the administration of the two different schools would be merged into one that coexisted together or if they would even be merged.[4]

The 2^nd plan that was discussed was not near as drastic and still allowed for some segregation of schools. It would have involved a random selection of approximately 260 students in all grades and ten teachers from each race and place them in the school of the opposite race predominance. This plan would have meet the minimum amount of integration demanded at that time and would have had to been revised every year until a complete merger is effected. This plan was effectively bussing without actually being referred to as bussing. The third alternative that was discussed at the meeting was the closing of schools because of the cut-off of state and federal funds. Obviously, the Board decided not to go down that route.[5]

Shortly after these plans were discussed a decision was made to take the alternatives to the PTA at their meeting in February of 1970 in order to inform the parents of the affected children as to what would be occurring in the school system. This announcement led to the Monroe Advertiser running a front page story that basically amounted to an editorial asking parents to attend the meeting in an attempt to lead to a smooth transition from segregation to integration. It stressed the importance of the situation with this plea thats desperate tone illustrates the level of discomfort felt by most citizens of the county having to do with the integration of the school system.

Most of us are prone to hear only a part of the facts concerning a situation or a problem and draw our conclusions or form opinions on, sometimes insufficient information. The issues in question are far too important for this type of thinking. They deserve our best efforts. You owe it to your children and the children of Monroe County to be informed concerning matters relating to the school so that, together, we may off the best education opportunity possible for the children and youth of our county.[6]

After this meeting the people of Monroe County on both sides of the racial divide asked that the schools of Monroe County preserve the status quo. As a result the 2^nd plan, that resembled bussing, discussed by the board of education in their January meeting was the plan submitted to the Northern Division of the U.S. District Court of Georgia in February of 1970. This further illustrates the reluctance of both races to attend school with the other based on their fears of the trouble that would spring forth from the combination. However, the plan that was presented to the courts was slightly altered from the one discussed at the earlier Board meeting. Eleven teachers instead of ten would be transferred between the white and African American schools, and it would also allow students a “freedom of choice” as to which school they attended during the 1970-1971 school year. Unfortunately for the Monroe County Board of Education and the citizens that hoped to see it pass, the plan that they sent to the Court was deemed unacceptable because it failed to meet the requirements of the court and they were ordered to submit another plan by April 1, 1970 as per the requirements of the mandate handed down from the court on December 17, 1969.[7]

After the submission of the plan that included the full merger of the schools as was discussed at the Board meeting discussed earlier, the courts ruled that the plan was acceptable and the plans were put in place for the full integration of Monroe County Schools for the 1970-1971 school year. This plan actually was commended by the courts for going “far beyond the court’s order for integration of students and faculties.” [8]

Once the ruling that Monroe County’s plan was acceptable under the measures dictated by the federal and state governments, the school system went to work of making the school buildings acceptable for the added students that would be at each facility. These preparations included sweeping renovations at Hubbard, raising the county’s fleet of buses to 28, and broadening the school’s curriculums with money obtained through the E.S.E.A. because of Title I grants. Unfortunately though, at Mary Persons the improvements that were needed could not be achieved as soon as the Board would have liked because of summer courses being taught at the school went on until August 21^st of 1970. The Home Economics courses had to be moved to trailers and the students in agriculture classes had to make a short walk to get to their outdoor classroom, but other then that, despite not being able to widen the halls and increase the size of the cafeteria, Mary Persons was somewhat prepared as a building for the doubling of the number of students in it.[9]

August 28^th, 1970 was the first day of school in the newly integrated Monroe County School system. The first day went by with a “minimum of confusion”. In fact, several of the school counselors made a point of stressing how smoothly the day went to the local newspaper’s reporters that were at the school to observe the first day. A problem that repeatedly occurred at Mary Persons High School had to do with the fact that the hallways were too thin for the volume of students that had to pass through them because of the inability to get the renovations for the school underway prior to the beginning of the school year. This angered students because the administration banned fraternizing in the hallways because it was not possible for an easy flow of traffic while people were visiting at lockers. Seniors were especially upset by this because they felt that they had earned this right based on their “seniority”. There was also trouble over the fact that lunch had been split up into three different shifts that each lasted 35 minutes each because the cafeteria was too small to have all 1200 students in it at one time. Many students complained that this was unfair because it did not allow the students to choose what time they could eat. This led to some back and forth between the administration and students in the editorials page of the local newspaper, but was otherwise inconsequential. Most of the controversy gripping Mary Persons during the school year of 1970-71 was that it was the first year that the dress code was amended in order to allow women to wear pants to school. The fact that none of these problems had their roots in race is surprising, but it illustrates that the students at the school may have already accepted the inevitability of integration and understood that it was the law of the land and they had to learn how to live with it, especially if they were not a rich family that had the option of attending Monroe Academy.[10]

Monroe County resisted the changes that the Brown v. Board ruling for as long as it possibly could without actually shutting down the schools; however this administrative struggle did not translate into anger amongst the actual students that were integrated. The students of Mary Persons and Hubbard did not allow the fight to keep them separate lead them down a path of rage towards one another, instead they shared common problems. The culture shock of throwing two groups of very different people together, the insufficient space for students to move through the halls, and learning new teachers were struggles that each and every student in the public school system, black and white, had to struggle through. It may have taken longer time for these children to be placed together in their learning environments, but that did not seem to destroy their desire to learn from each other instead of reject one another. The overwhelming message to be taken from the integration of Monroe County’s public school system is that administrative action may be indicative of a horrible agenda, but those actions are not necessarily indicative of horrible behavior by the people that the agenda affects the most, the students.

Links of Interest:

Monroe County Board of Education Website

The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University

The Road to Integration in Georgia