Stacey McElveen

History 3090

November 8, 2004

Desegregation in Richmond County Georgia

          Segregation and The Civil Rights Movement[i] was an attempt by white Southerners to separate the races in every sphere of life and to achieve supremacy over blacks.  Segregation was often called The Jim Crow System, after a minstrel show character from the 1830’s who was an old, crippled, black slave who embodied negative stereotypes of blacks.  Segregation became common in Southern states following the end of Reconstruction in 1877.  During Reconstruction, which followed the Civil War (1861 – 1865), Republican governments in the Southern states were run by Blacks, Northerners, and some sympathetic Southerners.  The Reconstruction governments had passed laws opening up economic and political opportunities for blacks.  By 1877, the Democratic Party had gained control of government in the Southern states and these Southern Democrats wanted to reverse black advances made during reconstruction.  To that end, they began to pass local and state laws that specified certain places “for Whites Only” and others for “Colored.”  Blacks had separate schools, transportation, restaurants, and parks, many of which were poorly funded and inferior to those of whites.  Over the next seventy-five years, Jim Crow signs went up to separate the races in every part of life. 

          In Augusta, Georgia, segregation existed, but not in a rigidly legislated manner.  Black Augustans voted, indeed their vote was solicited.  They had equal access to riding and obtaining seating on streetcars.  Whites and blacks lived on the same streets and in the same neighborhoods.  There were even black owned restaurants and shops on Broad Street.  Some historians think the Populist Movement of the 1890’s caused a deterioration of relations.  Populist leaders like Tom Watson appealed to black Georgians to forsake the Democrats.  When the Populists lost, they blamed their defeat on black people who sold their vote.  Democratic leaders tried to win back the Populists by adopting the white primary and sacrificing their black constituents.  Without the vote, black citizens lost their political clout.

          With the end of the war in 1945, the city of Augusta experienced an unprecedented period of growth (Cashin 91).  In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled to an unequal system of separate schools.  The court ordered integration of the schools with deliberate speed.  Those who dreaded integration were made even more nervous by a suit brought by black citizens of Valdosta asking for equal education facilities.  Their idea was that the doctrine of separate but equal which governed education in the South should mean really equal.  Governor Herman Talmadge was indignant.  He estimated that “really equal” facilities would cost the state one hundred million dollars.  “The state would resist,” he said, “in every possible way.”  Augusta’s Roy Harris expressed the opinion that Valdosta was “calculated” and designed to wreck and destroy the public school system in Georgia (Cashin 95).  It was appropriate that the Board of Education have a black representative in the year 1954 when the various lawsuits filed by black school patrons culminated in the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision.  Separate but equal was a doctrine, which had been tried and failed.  Two separate systems could not remain equal very long.  With new construction underway in Richmond County, facilities were more equal than they ever had been.  In truth, the integration of Augusta schools was still a decade away but it was inevitable because it was the law.

          The challenge of desegregating schools was brought upon in 1954 by five separate court cases, ultimately joined together and called Brown vs. The Board of Education.  Though each case was different, they all revolved around the main argument that segregation itself violated the “equal protection under the laws” guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, and had detrimental psychological effects on Negroes.  Segregation was almost always initiated by whites, and initiated on the basis that blacks were inferior and undesirable.  A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn.   When blacks allowed themselves to accept their status at the separate school, the effect on their personalities were perpetually worse than any problem they might encounter in an integrated school.  This element became a prominent part of the legal case against segregation.  The biggest argument against desegregation was the perception that blacks were not as intelligent as whites.  Since the Fourteenth Amendment did not guarantee the right to a quality education, if a school chose not to accept them, there was nothing that could be done legally.

          The expansion of equal educational opportunities to black children was the effort, which occupied national attention during the sixties.  The year 1960 was a landmark in the history of civil rights.  Black college students in Augusta and in Atlanta challenged the old separations.  By 1963, some white leaders dared to advocate school integration.  The Augusta Ministerial Association passed a revolution favoring an end of separation of races in schools.  A group calling itself Parents Resolved to Improve Our Education (PRICE) urged the Board of Education to look beyond integration and to better the schools.  The Augusta Chronicle gradually changed its stand.  Integration was being feasible in the field of education, voting and job opportunities. 

          It was April of 1963 that John D. Watkins, on behalf of six hundred black petitioners, asked the Board of Education for its desegregation plan.  Almost ten years had passed since the Supreme Court ordered an end to segregation.  Scott Nixon, a leading member of the Independent party wrote a widely-publicized letter to the Board of Education pointing out that the original act of 1872 called for separate schools for the two races, so it was against the law to integrate.  On April 2, 1964, a year later, Judge Wesley Killebrew was ready with his decision that the 1872 law was unconstitutional in providing for separation of the races.  John Watkins and his law partner John Ruffin appeared again before the Board of Education to request that the new committee act with greater dispatch than the Board exhibited during the past decade (Cashin 113).  An Augusta Council spokesperson, Nancy Anderson, asked the Board of Education to ignore protestors and go ahead with an integration plan.  She praised the restraint of the black petiononersThe restraint ended on June 17, 1964 when the petioners asked to prevent segregated schools from opening in September.  In July 6, 1964, the Board of Education was ready with its plan.  The first three grades would be open to all students, regardless of race, who lived in the school’s attendance zone.  Ruffin stated that the plan had fallen short.  He had clients whose children wanted to attend the upper grades.  The first day of school was August 16, 1964.  No one in Augusta knew exactly what to expect.  Only three black children registered at Forest Hills Elementary and one at Blythe.  At age six, Barbara Maria Grant was the first black student to be admitted to a former all white school.  She attended Forest Hills in Richmond County, Augusta.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 shattered the last public ramparts of segregation.  Lyndon Johnson became unpopular with a large number of Augustans.  It was a fact that Augustans have received Republicans presidents in a friendlier manner than Democratic presidents.  In February of 1965 the Millwee Owens Committee was still planning a step-by-step integration process.  Their recommendation was to open up grades one through six.  The Board of Education agreed.  The ultimate goal was to open all grades by 1966.  Pamela Weston was the first black student to cross the high school color barrier in Richmond County.  She appealed to the courts to permit her to enroll at Richmond Academy.  The New Orleans Court of Appeals ordered the Board of Education to admit her.  On July 1, 1965 Ms. Weston enrolled in summer school without incident.  August 23, 1965 the Board announced how its plan would work.  Forms were mailed to parents permitting them to indicate the school of their choice within their zone.  The way the zones were divided did not change the racial composition very much.  Richmond Academy admitted nine Negroes into its student body of one thousand six hundred and seventy nine this year.  As one of the old myths of the South, the Negro boys would not sit next to the white girls.  The Board of Education also chose to separate boys and girls at Richmond Academy.  In March 1966 the teachers reported that they preferred the separation of boys and girls, so the policy was extended to Butler, Laney and Josey.

          The Board of Education was in preparation of a new plan in 1970.  However, the entire Augusta community was shocked by a racial disturbance in May 1970.  A group of black youths went on a rampage through downtown Augusta breaking windows and turning over cars.  Governor Maddox called out to the militia and ordered them to shoot rioters.  This event was traumatic for black and white citizens and did not help the matters with the Board.  In July 1970, Judge Alexander Lawrence ruled that the Board of Education was not coming up with any answers.  Therefore, he ordered a bi-racial committee to be nominated.  Within a week, the committee was ready with recommendations.  The Faculty Desegregation Policy Plan was the one most debated.  Roy Rollins, who was the superintendent at this time, vowed to go to jail before he would force teachers to go where they did not want to go.  One of the committee members, Mildred Hill, stated that it was not fair to transfer only one or two teachers.  She thought that more teachers should be required to transfer.  Judge Lawrence settled the matter by ordering the Board of Education to assign teachers in the same ratio as the population – sixty percent white and forty percent black.  Three weeks before school opened Rollins had the job of transferring four hundred and eighty-seven teachers amid growing opposition.  Eighty-seven teachers resigned, but replacements were found.  The integration issue was placed before the Board again in July 1971.  A new plan was underway.  Ruffin wanted a sixty to forty white – black ratio in junior and senior high schools.  Schools opened in August of 1971 without an approved plan.  While attorney Pierce negotiated with the Judge, angry parents made their displeasure known. Over five hundred people crowded into Butler High Schools auditorium on August twenty fourth to protest. The high point of the protest was reached on September fourteenth when six thousand five hundred people gathered in the Richmond Academy Stadium for a rally sponsored by Concerned Citizens for Neighborhood Schools.

In October six plans were presented to Judge Lawrence

by the experts. Rollins critique was mostly negative. It

was Judge Lawrence’s position that the Board was guilty

of denying black children their civil rights. (Cashin 118).

            Two months after the gathering of elementary schools, the Board took up of the question of integrating the secondary schools. In April, Richard Miller, a Board member stated that the Board should draw up a proposal. The motion lost to a substitute and lost control of its elementary schools. It also voted to give its complete control over its high schools to the courts. Superintendent Roy Rollins resigned in 1972. Assistant Harvey Duncan took over Rollins term. There was still two and a half years left of Rollins term. It was now Duncan’s place to finish integrating the black and white public schools. Duncan was also reelected to another four-year term in January of 1975. However, Harvey Duncan passed away in August of 1975. The entire school system mourned the loss of this well respected man. After his death the Board is still faced with the issue of completely desegregating the schools.

Blacks and Whites in the South have always taken

a quiet pride in knowing and understanding each

other than, say, blacks and whites in the North.

However, part of the old understanding was that

there were exclusive privileges attached to being

white, one of which was preferential treatment in

schooling (Cashin 141).

          After a few years with integration still an issue, the Board was faced[ii] with setting attendance zones in the summer of 1979. This was done in order to preserve a racial quota. The most controversial schools included Richmond, Laney, and Westside high school. Many Westside parents spoke out and did not want their kids attending Richmond for instance, a predominantly black school. By this year of 1979 the Richmond County Board of Education had come to a conclusion that the schools were integrated. Elementary schools, Middle schools, High schools, and the Magnet schools were finally desegregated. The schools in the white neighborhoods remained mostly white and the black schools in their neighborhoods were also mostly black. Finally integration was no longer an issue in the history of Richmond County Schools public education. The goal of the Board and its entire faculty members was to make sure all children of all races achieved and were given a high-quality education.

          In conclusion Richmond County in Augusta, Georgia successfully integrated their public schools between the 1970s. I graduated from Westside high school in June of two thousand. At that time the school was a fifty to fifty ratio, half white students and half black students. Today in Augusta the white neighborhoods are mainly white schools and the same applies to the black schools. Although Richmond County has improved its quality of education over the years, I feel as though the schools will remain the way in which they were mostly established.


 

[ii]               Segregation and the Civil Rights movement was an attempt by white southerners to separate the races in every sphere of life and to achieve supremacy over blacks.

          In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled to an unequal system of separate schools. The court ordered integration of the schools with deliberate speed.

          The challenge of desegregating schools was brought upon in 1954 by five separate court cases, ultimately joined together and called Brown vs. The Board of Education.

          The expansion of equal educational opportunities to black children was the effort, which occupied national attention during the sixties.

          It was April of 1963 that John D. Watkins, on behalf of six hundred black petitioners asked the Board for its desegregation plan.

          At age six, Barbara Maria Grant was the first black student to be admitted to a former all white school. She attended Forest Hills Elementary school in Richmond County, Augusta.

          In July 1970, Judge Alexander Lawrence ruled that the Board was not coming up with any answers. Therefore he ordered a bi-racial committee to be nominated.

          In October, six plans were presented to Judge Lawrence by the experts. Rollins critique was mostly negative. It was Judge Lawrence’s position that the Board was guilty of denying black children their civil rights.

          Blacks and whites in the South have always taken a quiet pride in knowing and understanding each other than, say, blacks and whites in the North. However, part of the old understanding was that there were exclusive privileges attached to being white, one of which was preferential treatment in schooling.

          By the year of 1979, the Richmond County board of Education had come to the conclusion that the school system was now integrated. Elementary schools, Middle schools, High schools, and the Magnet schools were finally integrated.

          The schools in the white neighborhoods remained mostly white, and the black schools in their neighborhoods were mostly black.

http://www.richmond.k12.ga.us/ -this website contains information regarding Richmond County in Augusta Georgia.

http://www.naacp.org/- this website contains information on blacks civil rights and desegregation.

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/3/82.03.06.x.html- this website contains information containing racial tensions and discusses school desegregation.