Integration of Gwinnett County Public Schools

Chris Leonard

History 3090

Dr. Gagnon

11/05/2004

A conflict between races was on. The sacred institution of segregation was at stake and the South knew they were on the losing side of the battle. Violence, outcry and resistance were the typical responses from white southerners during the Civil Rights era of the mid-twentieth century in the United States. The times were changing rapidly and in a place like the South, change does not come easy. After generations of legal segregation in the South, the law had changed sides. In the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court overruled the previous findings of Plessey v. Ferguson. Separate but equal was deemed unconstitutional, starting the chain of events that ended with the fall of legal segregation. The main battleground for the war of integration was the public schools systems of the country. The link between segregated schools and a segregated society is obvious. If true integration was to be achieved it had to start in the schools. The idea of white children and black children attending the same school was radical even in some parts of the North, yet the largest resistance to this attempt was found in the Deep South.

The Southern states took steps in order to prevent the integration of the public school systems. For example; in Arkansas the state guard was ordered to prevent black students from entering a white school, in Virginia several public schools were closed in order to avoid integration and the State of Georgia made it a felony for school officials to spend tax money on integrated schools.[1] While the states sought to reject the ruling of the Supreme Court, most people understood that integration was coming to the South. There was an enormous fear of what might happen if the schools were to integrate. Race riots, lynching and an increased hatred between the races were only a few of the worries at the time. Fortunately, there were some conditions that helped with the process of integration; small population, smaller black population and personal relations between the races. All of these circumstances were present in the rural county of Gwinnett, Georgia which is the reason Gwinnett is credited with having mostly trouble-free integration of their school system.

Gwinnett was formed by the Georgia Legislature in 1818 and remained an agricultural community through most of its history. Land was inexpensive in Gwinnett and the farmers were not known as the wealthiest of Georgia. There were few large plantations located in all parts of the county, yet only twenty-five percent of the farmers owned slaves.[2] Thus, explaining the relatively small black population in Gwinnett. The first school opened in Gwinnett in 1822 in the city of Lawrenceville and several more opened in the following years. By 1850, there were 1186 students enrolled in thirty-one schools, most of which only had one teacher. There were no black schools because at this time it was still crime to teach slaves how to read or write. During the Reconstruction Era of the South, the Georgia General Assembly first provided funds for public schools. By 1923 there were seventy schools for white children and twelve schools for blacks. In the 1930s and 40s there was an agreement to combine many of the one-teacher schools in order to create a more efficient county school system. By the Fifties the number of white schools dropped to seventeen large schools, yet the black schools remained mostly one-teacher facilities.

During the time of the Brown case in the Supreme Court, Gwinnett was having a similar problem. In the 1955-56 school year in Gwinnett, a local schoolteacher, Colleen Wiggins, in Bethesda High School was put in the national spotlight. Another teacher at the school taught a lesson dealing with the history of southern segregation. When the students asked Mrs. Wiggins more about segregation, she decided to also make it the topic for a class discussion. She challenged the students to come up with their own opinions to the subject. While answering questions on her own beliefs about integration, she mentioned that she would have no problem teaching a “negro child” nor would she mind her daughter marrying a black man as long as they were in love. Needless to say, when the children went home and told their parents, there were many who felt that Mrs. Wiggins should be fired immediately for preaching integration in their schools. National and international newspapers picked up on the story after Mrs. Wiggins was told she could keep her job as long as she signed an oath pledging to uphold the constitution of Georgia by not teaching integration.[3] Mrs. Wiggins felt that her rights as an American and educator were being violated by the state and decided to fight her case. Before the trial went to the Georgia Court of Appeals, Mrs. Wiggins resigned due to her pregnancy and Governor Marvin Griffin forced Gwinnett County to drop the case.[4] This incident was an important case, not only for Gwinnett and Georgia but also for the South as a whole. No integration was even attempted in the schools, yet the community was sharply divided. It was clear that the South was not ready for integration or even prepared for the discussion of desegregation. Yet for the next decade the subject would loom over the South.

The decision of the Brown case was clear; segregation of public schools in the United States is inherently unequal, and, therefore, unconstitutional. All public schools were mandated by the Supreme Court to admit students without regard to race with “all deliberate speed.”[5] However, no one in authority in the South was eager to execute that ruling. In fact, it seems that those in the government, as well the rest of the population, were determined to ignore the findings of the Supreme Court. The state governments dragged the process to a halt by enacting laws to prevent such integration. Due to a reluctance of the federal government to get involved with the right of the states in education matters, the South was able to proceed with de facto segregated schools for nearly a decade. Finally, President Eisenhower made an executive decision to send federal troops in order to protect the black students attempting to integrate the schools of Little Rock, Arkansas. Once this precedence was set, there was no avoiding federal involvement in the integration process.

After much debate in Congress, including Georgia’s Senator Richard Russell’s filibuster to prevent the bill, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed and signed by President Johnson. According to Title VI of the Act, using race as reason to segregate schools was now not only unconstitutional but also against the law.[6] If school systems continued to segregate their schools based on race, the government would withhold federal funds and the system would be flagged for investigation. For that year alone the amount granted to Gwinnett by the federal government was $125,000.[7] Not wanting to shift the entire financial burden of the schools on to the local taxpayers nor the lawsuits that would inevitably result, most counties, including Gwinnett, started drafting plans for integration.

Gwinnett officials claimed, “the time was right” to start working towards desegregation; yet it is clear that this was a forced decision not a desired one. The United States Commission of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) required that all southern states draft a plan for desegregation in the schools. Gwinnett County submitted to their demands, sending in the proposal on the day of the deadline. The Gwinnett School Board and local government officials first tried to create a system that was termed “gradual integration” in which starting with twelfth grade, one grade a year would integrate, thus providing that true integration would not be achieved until 1971. Three months after the submission of this proposal, the HEW rejected this idea in other states and it was similarly rejected in Gwinnett.[8] The school board tried again, sending in the same plan as Fulton County. This plan called for the integration of grades first, second, eighth and twelfth, with the other grades to integrate in the following years. While the plan was approved for Fulton, Gwinnett was again rejected. Due to the relatively small number of blacks in the county, the HEW stated that only integration of all grades would pass their standards. This outraged the local government and citizens of Gwinnett who felt that they were being extremely corporative with the regulations. Letters to the Editor were filled with talk of state’s and parent’s rights. Many people were demanding that Gwinnett refuse the federal money from the government that came with so many strings attached and remain a segregated school system.

With only a few days before the start of the 1965-66 school year, Gwinnett either had to close down its schools or come up with a proposal that would be approved by the HEW. Knowing that the schools could not operate without federal funds, Gwinnett officials finally did open all grades in its schools to both whites and blacks. However even this proposal did have certain flaws. First, a “freedom of choice” plan was included which allowed parents to choose which schools their children attended. In order for a student to transfer from an all-black to school to a white school required a request from the parents, which was rare. The plan also excluded any black teacher from teaching in the white schools. For these reasons very few black students transferred to the white schools.

During this time a survey done by the Southern Education Reporting Service showed that of the eleven states in the South surveyed only slightly over one percent of the black students enrolled in public schools went to the same schools as whites and in Georgia the amount was half of one percent.[9] The courts realized that the token integration plans proposed by the school systems would have to be revamped. This same year Gwinnett County had elected its most progressive School Superintendent, B.B. Harris. Mr. Harris knew that drastic action would be needed to settle this issue of integration in Gwinnett, which had divided the county for over a decade. In 1965 there were only two black schools remaining in the county, Hull Elementary and Hooper-Renwick High, both of which had only been built in the past decade to replace the single teacher schools. Mr. Harris permanently closed both schools. The official reason for the closings was inadequate facilities, yet those close to Mr. Harris believe he knew it was the only true way to get the students together. The courts also overturned the “freedom of choice” plans which meant that students must be placed in schools based on the student’s proximity to the schools not the parent’s request.

The 1966-67 school year was scheduled to start on time with 166 black students enrolled in the seven Gwinnett County schools. Two days before the start of school, several local black teachers sued the school board for being excluded in teaching positions. This exclusion was an obvious infringement on Title VI and Mr. Harris hired four black teachers the next day.[10] Students were randomly assigned, both white and black, to the teachers.

On the first day of school the administrators were understandably apprehensive, yet there was no angry mob of parents or any violence among the students. Gwinnett County was now included among the surrounding counties of Atlanta to be fully integrated. For all the fears and debates, desegregation of the school system went as easily as could be expected during those times. The reason for such a peaceful transition seems to be the very conditions of the county. During the Sixties, the population of Gwinnett was relatively small with about forty-three thousand people and of those only thirty-five hundred were black, roughly eight percent. The student ratio was even smaller with only two percent of the students being black. This is the main reason citied for the ease of integration.

Yet there are other explanations that are more rooted in the people and culture of Gwinnett. The economy of Gwinnett was beginning to shift from farming to industrial factories and mills. The Industrial Revolution of Gwinnett required large numbers of workers, thus forcing the owners to hire both races. With whites and blacks working together the distinct racial lines blurred and the two groups gradually became friendly to one another.[11] Expectedly the workers would talk about their families and parents of white children were more likely to be open to the idea of their kids going to the same school as their coworker’s children.

Another interesting reason people came to accept integration steams from athletics. Gwinnett parents like most in the South, were proud supporters of the local school’s sports teams. Football was especially popular, though baseball and basketball were also highly regarded at the time. It was no surprise that the black students also wanted to play these sports and they quickly became key players on the teams. Nearly all black students in Gwinnett played a sport and Gwinnett rose to be a powerhouse in the state championships. During the first few years of integration several talented athletes enrolled in Gwinnett schools. In fact, Gwinnett’s most famous football player, George Rodgers, was one of the first black students to complete all twelve years of school in integrated classrooms and went on to win the Heisman Trophy. Needless to say it was due to integration that his football career was ever given the opportunity to start. The students also benefited from having mixed sports team, as they were given the chance to get to know each other on level ground in uniform.[12] Many local Gwinnettians also believe that history and the media are wrong about Southerner’s attitude towards blacks

“In the South we have a problem with the race but not the individual,

in the North they have a problem with the individual not the race.”[13]

With such a small population of blacks, it was the individual who appeared more than the race of blacks, which eased the fears of the parents of Gwinnett.

Even with all the reasons that integration of the schools went so well, there was still the one unavoidable explanation why it was destined to have problems; racism. While most Southerners believe they are good people, they do tend to have a severe prejudice towards the black community. What is worse is the fact that this intolerance is often paired with violence. For instance, when the people of Mississippi were faced with integration of their schools, a bomb exploded the office of the NAACP injuring several people.[14] During the period of school desegregation in Gwinnett there was no reported violence against a student or the black community, yet the tensions were still there. The school board received several threatening phone calls, though it is believed that they were made not by the parents, but the more isolated people of the county. It was not just the students who were in danger; Mr. Harris’ mailbox was blown up the night that he hired the four black teachers.[15] The locals of Gwinnett try to distance themselves from such ugliness by stating that there are always some troublemakers who hate everybody.

It is true the average citizen of the county would not even think of harming the students, yet that did not mean racism was dead. Lawrenceville High School owned the only public pool in the county and when integration became law, the school board knew that the pool would be open to all people. Rather than have to deal with the issues that come from different races mixing in the same water, they turned ownership over to the city of Lawrenceville. The city decided to attempt to open a desegregated pool and it failed. The county’s black population got so excited about the idea of swimming in a pool, most had never had the opportunity, that they invited all their friends and family from surrounding counties. The pool was filled with blacks, making the whites very uncomfortable. The problem was not integration, it was “over-integration”. The next day the city closed the pool for “cleaning” and it was never reopened.[16]

There was another negative reaction from the community, the black community. The officials never imagined that the black parents might not want their children to go to school with the white kids. Yet that was the case for much of the black population. Many students liked their schools and especially their black teachers who often gave special attention to the students, which was less likely to occur in white schools.[17] These parents felt that their rights over their children was taken away from them and resented both the white community and the federal government for forcing integration. Black parents wondered if the government was really doing what was best for their children or if it was just the principle. Many parents, both black and white, felt this situation would be dangerous for their children, but this proved incorrect.

The overwhelming lack of animosity between the students is really the most amazing result. These students were coming of age during a racial turmoil that engulfed the entire nation. Dr. Martin Luther King was leading his bus boycotts into the heart of the South. While at the same time the Ku Klux Klan was spreading hate around the county. On the front page of the Gwinnett Daily News is a quote from a member of the KKK to his son on his first day in an integrated school “Give that nigger the cold treatment. Don’t even recognize his as a citizen.”[18] It goes without saying that the vast majority of parents, of both races, were opposed to the idea of school integration, but the students accepted it without a fuss.

Since the Sixties the county of Gwinnett has gone through amazing changes. The typical small farms that were dominant over the lands are gone and neighborhoods and subdivisions are everywhere. In the past decade the population boom of Gwinnett placed it in one of the fastest growing counties in the country. The school system has struggled to keep up with the changing times. Every year new schools are built and almost always they come with mobile trailers because there just is not enough classroom space for all the students. Gwinnett schools now bolster an enrollment of thirty-eight thousand students with origins in a hundred and twenty different countries. The population of black families in Gwinnett continued to grow, as did the number of other minority groups. The majority of students in Gwinnett are now of non-white ethic groups. Minority students compose fifty-four percent of those enrolled in the county. There is no way that Mr. Harris or any other officials could have imagined how much the student population changed in forty years.

No matter how positive the outcome, there has been noted a small trend of re-segregation in the schools today. Some families are moving to the northern part of the county where the white population remains still in the vast majority. Other parents are enrolling their students in private schools in order to avoid sending their children to a mixed race environment. As was noted earlier, change is a slow process in the South. While astounding progress has been made since the Brown case, racism and ignorance can still be found in the local schools. For example, in North Gwinnett High School 1999 football team’s picture in the yearbook, a Hispanic-student’s name was replaced with the derogatory name Spic Rodriguez.[19] A recall for all the yearbooks was ordered, yet it still got out to the press. The incident was reported statewide giving Gwinnett another black eye in its minority treatment.

Most students and parents on the other hand are encouraging the multicultural aspect in public schools. They understand that the days of racial separation have ended and in order to succeed in the world one must have toleration for people of different origins. Gone also are the days of the rural county whose small population made the integration period such a success. The population of Gwinnett is now over half a million people and continues to grow every year. The close personal ties in the community are quickly vanishing and Gwinnett has lost most of its small town roots. Without a doubt, integration would be nearly impossible today without the characteristics that defined the county during the 1950s and ‘60s.