Kelly Poole
History 3090
Dr. Gagnon
Slowly but Surely, Two Decades of Desegregation in Dallas, Texas
Racial desegregation within public schools was initially ordered in 1954 with the decision to the Supreme Court case, Brown v. The Board of Education. In response the ongoing societal subordination in the United States, first and foremost African-Americans knew that in order to begin to gain full equality, their school systems must be the same as whites. The last half a century involved dividing class differences in the U.S. that were very race related. Although blacks had been emancipated almost 100 years prior, the fear of a “race war” had driven whites mad with fear, as they pushed the blacks as far away as they could get them. Cities were filled with both races, divided by rivers, walls, roads, signs, or whatever could draw the racial line. In the mid 20th century, Dallas, Texas, like any other urban area, had a large African-American population of twenty five percent, almost all who resided below the city, south of the Trinity River. Dallas, being one of the last urban areas to desegregate, was arguably the most peaceful and law abiding throughout integration
Dallas, Texas prided itself as city of wealth, class, and conservatism. It consisted of seventy percent whites in the 1950s, and was a run and established on the Anglo business class the made up the Dallas City Council who mandated and basically controlled any political or socio-economic events that happened within the city. Post Brown, the Dallas City Council, Dallas citizens, and the Dallas School Board knew that something would eventually have to be done; desegregation was in fact inevitable. Starting with court cases in 1957 filed by the NAACP for Dallas desegregation, to the 1976 plan of “Confluence of Culture Desegregation,” Dallas took arguably two full decades to fully complete the process. Although it took some amount of time, the desegregation of Dallas is historically known as one of the most orderly, peaceful, and successful of all U.S. urban cities. On the other side, Little Rock, Arkansas showed nationwide what a violent and unsuccessful process of integration could look like at its worst, and Dallasites had a growing fear that this could very well reoccur within their city. The NAACP took an attempt to desegregate Dallas schools in 1957, but was overruled by Judge William S. Atwell. After battling in Atwell’s court for resolve, it was not until the case was taken to the Fifth Circuit Court that integration was officially ordered five years later. The City Council, consisting of Dallas’ most powerful white businessmen, formed a committee with a few prominent African-American leaders in Dallas. The Dallas School Board advised this new council that a gradual desegregation would be the most peaceful solution, integrating one grade, per year, at a time; but that eventual approval of their plan would be left up to the courts. On September 6th, 1961, the first grade was to be desegregated in all Dallas public schools.
Before the city was court ordered to desegregate in the fall of 1961, there had been ongoing court cases for nearly six years that were to bring the official ruling on the manner in which Dallas would officially integrate. The citizens hoped that it would not happen overnight, but instead that the courts would approve the gradual plan, adopted originally from Nashville, Tennessee. Dallasites were fearful as they watched the residents of Little Rock, that lied within a neighboring state, as their economy as business life within their city collapsed. Dallas, a city almost completely dependent on corporations and extreme capitalism that ran even the government of their city, could not afford to have a melt down similar to Little Rock. Now, in mid 1959, the NAACP’s case for integration in Dallas had been turned over to Judge T. Whitfield Davidson, and the infamous Thurgood Marshall appeared in Dallas courts. There was a seriousness brought anew and the outcome for lawful desegregation was becoming more likely. The decision was final in favor of desegregation in late 1960, but the school board submitted the “Stairstep Plan” to Judge Davison asking that Dallas’ desegregation be gradual. The Dallas School Board was rewarded, and fears of immediate integration were laid to rest on June 4th, 1961 by Judge Davidson with a plan of “salt and pepper” desegregation, also known as Dallas’ new “Stairstep Plan.”
Dallas’ most strategic and educated move during desegregation was to form the Bi-Racial committee. In order to be a member of the original Dallas City Council you must be a CEO or President of your company in the city. Joining with the head of the Dallas elites understood the gravity of the situation, formed this committee, and then began taking steps to involve the Mayor, Dallas Police Department and local media in requiring the peacefulness of the citizens of Dallas during this process. During the summer of 1961, there were many steps taken in city of Dallas to prepare for the first day, September 6th, of desegregation. Although the process would be slow, and only a few schools specifically in the 1st grade would be integrated, the business leaders feared for the economical damage if the proper steps were not taken to protect the city from a crisis. But first was first, the DCC bi-racial committee agreed that the public must be desegregated first. On July 26, 1961 blacks were allowed to each at over forty restaurants. The African-Americans were peacefully accepted at lunch counters all around the city, and the city kept working relentlessly to organize for September 6th. On September 5th, the Dallas Times Herald published its front page as an editorial, pleading,
…The wisdom, the tolerance, the calmness, the patience of every Dallas citizen is needed.Our people must maintain law and order… We cannot fail to resolve it- peacefully. We will do so if we approach it with firmness and resolution as men and women of good will.
Police Chief Jessie Curry assured Dallasites and the rest of the U.S. on the night of September 5th, that officers were to “enforce the law impartially.” Chief Curry described how his men had been trained to specifically stay emotionally uninvolved, and keep all personal beliefs to themselves, only enforcing the law.
In late August, the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. W. T. White, and Dallas Mayor, Earl Cabell met daily with Police Chief Curry to ensure the success of September 6th, and all were known for taking a no non-sense attitude in punishing anyone who would disturb the peace. On the morning of September 6th, ten African-American girls, and eight African-American boys entered eight Dallas area elementary schools without any problems, with policemen and news reporters standing in the distance at each sight. Dallas was applauded nationwide on its success of non-violence or disruption, mainly attributed to the leaders of the Dallas who contributed serious organization and careful planning before there was a chance for negative energy to arise. Dallas’ smooth success of desegregation was headlining nationwide, even The New York Times boasted and congratulated “the atmosphere [that was] one of mild suspense rather than tension.” U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, at the time, even called to congratulate Mayor Cabell on Dallas’ success, especially since he had given special to civil rights. Although it was the last of major urban cities, and the last of Texas cities to desegregated, it seemed as though it had been the most successful. Dallas had executed a plan of steadfast persistence and zero tolerance, set by city leaders; willingness to accept the rulings of the courts, exemplified by Dallasites that had respectfully set an example for any communities to follow.
Although the initial desegregation of Dallas public schools ran smoothly, there was a problem with speed at which it was being performed post September 1961. Similar to the Supreme Court ordering integration to be at “deliberate speed,” the city of Dallas seemed to be dragging along with desegregating its schools, lacking any ‘deliberate’ speed. By 1962, only 19.3 percent of all bi-racial districts were desegregated in Texas, including Dallas; a small number compared other states like Kentucky, Maryland, and Oklahoma who were all at over eighty percent. During the early 1960s, Dr. W. T. White and the Dallas School Board hesitated in using just force to order speedy desegregation. Black leaders of Dallas were also lacking in the forefront, and would in turn eventually cause the federal government to become more involved in the city’s plan. By 1966, all Dallas junior highs were desegregated, by the largest numbers yet within any public schools in Dallas. Exactly six years later, on September 6th, 1967, the final phase of the “Stairstep Plan”, the opening of new schools and the added enrollment of 1,000 new students, was complete according to Superintendent Dr. W. T. White, and all districts were “completely integrated.” Although there were almost 10,000 African-Americans integrated in by the end of the first school year of desegregation, only few more than 100 of them were actually integrated within white classrooms. But because the city had only used and abided by “token desegregation”, or the “deliberate efforts to keep racial integration at a minimum”, there were many courts cases ahead of Dallas’ school districts. Nolan Estes was elected Superintendent in 1968, after the retirement and long time reign of the conservative Dr. W. T. White. It was clear that there would more changes in the years to come due to the acceptance of the small changes, but leaders of the city felt as though they had successfully completely their initial “Stairstep Plan.”
Due to the conservatism that had been bread in Dallas’ city leaders and citizens, the desegregation of the city was lacking. Initially the nation watched as African-Americans casually graced the halls of white Dallas public schools, and ate at the counters of white restaurants, even in the prestigious Neiman Marcus Zodiac Room with absolutely no disturbances, and if anything, complete acceptance. It was not until there was an issue of strict school zoning laws that integration became a problem. Dallasites did not have extreme conflicts with their white children crossing county lines to go to school with blacks, but when the issue of living next to blacks arose, the citizens’ attitudes changed slightly. Although it would be almost impossible to have a city entirely integrated without one “incident”, Dallas, Texas did a good job of coming fairly close.
The 1970s in Dallas was a new era for schooling altogether, and because of the small and “token desegregation”, there was much work to be done to satisfy the African-Americans and federal government. In 1970, the Dallas Independent School District was charged with dual school systems by the Fifth Circuit Court, where Judge William M. Taylor declared that the 159 one-race schools, meaning one race made up ninety percent of the entire school, needed to be further integrated. Accordingly, a similar case was brought nationally, Swann vs. Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education, and the Supreme Court also ruled against the existence of “dual systems,” and left it to individual school districts to form a plan of action. In response, the DISD answered with the “Confluence of Culture Desegregation Plan” requiring and beginning busing for inner-city black kids to white schools on September 7, 1971. Once again, policemen formed a plan for protection, and were at each school that integrated by bus. Allied with the Dallas City Council against busing, parents became extremely bothered and upset in the next few years as the level of adequate education was lowering for black, white, and Hispanic students. Overall, busing was causing many white families to flee to the suburbs, increasing spending for the city of Dallas, and was opposed city-wide and was widely condemned by The Dallas Morning News and Superintendent Estes. After 3 years of forced busing, in 1974 the Chamber of Commerce funded and set up a committee consisting of forty men from the three prominent races within Dallas, in which they were intended to operate and out from under the business elites of the city and instead specifically further confront desegregation.
Parents of bused students, whites and Mexican-Americans in particular, were very outspoken after the forced busing decision in 1971. Whites were more threatened by the social and racial integration, and bitter over the loss of adequate education that their children had previously received, and Mexican-Americans’ children were typically bused farther across the city than they liked, and they feared losing contact. By 1975, over 50,000 whites had moved to the suburbs after the forced busing and fear of extreme desegregation. Still, most high schools were mostly white, or most blacks, with only a hand full of other races mixing in. Problems with behavior among students in already “integrated” schools arose when the DISD found that two-thirds of all students suspended or in trouble were African-Americans. Plans like inner-school suspension made a special effort to keep these kids in school, instead of constant suspension. After all these issues came to the light, the Fifth Circuit Court rejected many of these original busing laws of 1971, and began a new desegregation trial led by the ideas of the Dallas Alliance. Judge Taylor began the trial in early 1976, listening to the ideas of multiple groups, even Superintendent Estes, in order to come with a new a better proposal. Taylor was initially dissatisfied, and eventually made his decision to accept the plan from the Dallas Alliance Task Force on March 10th, 1976.
Political support, from people such as Mayor Robert Folsom, gave the citizens of Dallas a new hope that Judge Taylor’s new plan would be more efficient in solving the city’s urban schooling problems. A few elements of the plan of 1976 was that it was agreed that the Tri-Ethnic Committee would be continued in case any other problems were to arise, forced busing would be reduced to grades 4th-8th; there would vanguard, academies, and magnet schools for all ages that any student could transfer to freely: if there was a small percentage of minority at one school they would be encouraged to transfer; and certain school districts would be left out because of their already “natural integration” or extreme predominate race population. The districts were also required to integrate more of their faculty within schools, provide more cultural courses, and provide bilingual education all at every grade level within schools. Many city leaders were very happy with the court order, and encouraged the citizens to accept the terms and coordinate with all of its policies. Although the plan was by no means perfect, many Dallasites saw the trouble within other cities, more specifically Boston, and believed it would be easier to make a few changes than endure any violence. Initially the plan was widely accepted, but over time blacks and Mexican-Americans rejected the ideas feeling misrepresented by conservative black leaders who did not petition for proper rights, and faced with the fact that many Dallas schools were left segregated. Although the Dallas Alliance Task Force itself and the conclusion and acceptance of Taylor’s plan were accomplishments in themselves, many minority citizens still felt betrayed and minimized. The new plan of ’76 was taken to the Supreme Court by the Dallas NAACP, but quickly sent back the Fifth Circuit Court where it was ruled that Judge Taylor’s decision was sufficient and the case should have never been heard again, siding with the previous ruling in Swann vs. Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education.
What many called the “selling of the plan” was a network idea around Dallas developed by the Dallas City Council, mainly led by advertising CEO Sam Bloom, called “Dallas, Keep It Together,” that was advertised everywhere including all over Dallas TV stations in order to promote peace and shed a positive light on Taylor’s decision. “Dallas, Keep It Together” was a formula to maintain order and support among the tri-racial city, and keep with the idea of non-violent protest and orderly conduct. It’s clear that power and persuasion of the upper-class dominated the entire city; in this case helping its success in maintaining non-violent atmospheres around the city and in schools. Bloom used his power for good, at least in the eyes of the whites, but realized,
When you’re dealing with masses, humanity as a whole, you can’t hope for absolute approval. Its does even happen in church.
Dallas was a city that had integrated all of their public facilities overnight with virtually no commotion, but needed more supervising and problem solving, like “Dallas, Keep It Together,” when it came to the issue of desegregation.
Still today, most of the city lies completely segregated. There have never been any serious race riots, or extreme violent occurrences, but debate over the standards of schools, mainly attributed to race differences within communities, still proceeds. The vast majority of “desegregating” occurred from 1961-1982, predominately ending when the Dallas School Board finally dropped the fight for further desegregation. Dallas as city has many gaps among students’ performance academically, not only among black and whites, but also Hispanics. Many schools today are forced to take on somewhat of a challenge of being an “ESL” school district or “English as a Second Language.” In one community there lies a public schools system that is traditionally ranked among the top fifteen school districts and high schools to attends in the United States, and just down the street about two and half miles sits a high school where Spanish is its predominate language, and drop out rates are almost twenty five percent. Historically, the area called Highland Park, was specifically set aside to as a park and residential area overlooking the city, and today, due to the works of the Dallas elite and the DCC, has remained culturally and ethnically untouched. The Trinity has segregated “good” schools from “bad” schools, whites from blacks, rich from poor, North Dallas from South Dallas, English from Spanish, and even cultures from one another; and who can tell just how long it will stay that way.