By
Stephanie Smith
Fall
2005
Michael
Gagnon
HIST 3090
Desegregation of Atlanta Public Schools
Segregation, as odd as it sounds, was the first step
towards equality for the black race.
Segregation gave blacks opportunities, although limited, to engage in a
somewhat normal life. Some people
accepted this concept of everyone being equal and some people did not. Those members of society who disagreed with
the decision to free slaves fought back with violence, which led to some of the
most disturbing moments in American history.
However frightening this must have been, advocates of racial equality
continued to fight back. This struggle
was more than evident across the states of the U.S. but none more evident than in the South. With freedom came certain rights, like the
right to an education. Although the
school system was segregated, it is not anymore. This struggle for education is apparent in
the South.
Segregation was official by 1860, however between
1865 and 1950 a series of Jim Crow laws were passed in Atlanta, Georgia dealing with the segregation of public schools. In 1872 an educational statute was passed in Atlanta stating that black and white students must attend
black and white schools, respectively.
The penalty for schools that allowed black and white student attendance
would be denied money from the public school fund. The money from the school fund was extremely
important because it gave schools the ability to buy supplies, books, and pay
salaries. In 1895, Georgia added an educational state code. This code confirmed the fact that black and
white students were not allowed to attend the same school. Teachers who were caught teaching black and
white children within the same school were penalized by forfeiting their
salary. This continued for many years
and many people complied for the sake of not getting hurt or killed or just not
getting paid. Whether citizens agreed or
not, people of Georgia were forced to live this way. In
1957 an educational statute was passed in Atlanta, Ga. stating no public funds to be given to non-
segregated schools, the penalty would be a felony charge. The threats alone prevented most people from
having their own views on racial equality.
If a teacher did want to teach both races, at the same school, he or she
could not for fear of being prosecuted or even hurt. All of this would change with the help of
some courageous and strong willed individuals.[1]
After initially giving blacks these
“limited freedoms,” certain outgoing and probably vary brave individuals began
to fight for rights to some legitimately needed institutions, such as
education. Blacks were allowed to go to
school and were finally allowed the “privilege” of learning how to read and
write, but were confined to black only schools.
Due to the fact that until this time blacks were not allowed to be
educated, these schools most likely did not have very experienced
teachers. The supplies offered to these
schools were probably not adequate either.
People of the black community began to question the true equality of the
system which was in place.
In 1869 a doctor names Daniel
O’Keefe petitioned the city council of Atlanta for the creation of a public school system. The city council agreed and an Atlanta Board
of Education was created. These
individuals involved in the Board of Education not only provided a means for
the creation of educational provisions but they also provided advocates of
educational equality an institution at of which they could bring their
arguments to, and they did. [2]
In 1896 a court case was bought
forward challenging the so called equality of our nation. This case, Plessy v. Ferguson, became a landmark case which began a war for equal
education. The fourteenth amendment of
the Constitution states that anyone born or raised within the United States was a citizen of the United States and of the state in which they reside. States do not have the right to deny any
citizen of their rights to life, liberty, or property without due process. Nor can states deny any citizen equal
protection of the laws of that state. In
the case of Plessy v. Ferguson,
this very concept of every man created equal was challenged. The argument was that segregated schools went
against this constitutional right. The
outcome of this court battle was the formation of a doctrine, “separate but
equal.” The doctrine stated that if the
segregated schools were equally facilitated than they did not violate the
fourteenth amendment’s protection clause.
In other words, both the schools had teachers, books and classrooms,
therefore, they were equal. [3]
The separate but equal doctrine was overturned
eventually, after only fifty eight years.
Finally an extremely audacious and infuriated mother of a child by the
name of Linda Brown put her foot down and decided she had had enough. Mrs. Brown was a black mother of an eight
year old daughter named Linda, who lived in Topeka, Kansas. Mrs. Brown’s
daughter attended grade school and was forced to travel across Topeka in order to go to school every day. All of Linda’s white friends were allowed to
go to the white school just a few blocks away.
Linda’s mother did not see this as fair so she filed a suit suing the
Board of Education in federal district court.
Her argument was different than most in that she stated the use of
separate facilities had certain inherent inequalities. For example, intangible factors like the self
concepts that these children forms, inferiority. The lower courts dismissed her claim and
sided with the separate but equal doctrine.
Mrs. Brown did not stop there however, she and other families within
other school systems joined together and appealed to the Supreme Court. The National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) also joined in on the fight along with Thurgood
Marshall. The group won their argument
and that case marked the end of “de jure” segregation, segregation of public
places enforced by laws.[4]
The Brown v. Board of Education suit was companioned
with another which was comprised of parents living in the neighborhood of
Anacostia in Washington D.C. This group of
parents called themselves the Consolidated Parents Group. The group wanted the new John Phillip Sousa Junior High school to open as an integrated school. The school board rejected the idea and the
school opened as an all white school.
One of the plaintiff’s sons, Spottwood Bolling, hired a law professor
from Howard University named James Nabrit and together they filed a suit in the District
Court. Unlike the Brown case, Bolling
did not refer to the Fourteenth Amendment; instead he referred to the fifth,
the right of due process of the law. The
key argument presented by Chief Justice Warren was the absence of an equal
protection clause within the Fifth Amendment.
Warren had to prove that segregation of schools directly
violated the constitutional rights of students based on the Fifth Amendment’s
promise of “liberty.” On 17 May 1954,
the court decided that racial segregation in the public schools of Washington D.C. was unjustifiable and it did violate the Fifth
Amendment rights of its students,[5]
All of the cases previously mentioned were located in
other states across the United States; however the same struggles were present in the
South. The desegregation of the South
was a long slow moving process, taking many more years than did other places
across the map. This slow process could
be contributed to the large sections of Georgia that remained rural.
Desegregation within these rural areas was often met with violence. A woman by the name of Shirley Brandon
recalls a time, while living in the city of Snellville, Ga., around 1957 to about the mid nineteen seventies
when there was a slue of violence. As
she thinks back in time she can remember seeing men dressed in all white (KKK
members), standing in front of the local store, and preaching about the will of
God and the “abomination” of man. When
Shirley was about twenty years old a black man was beaten outside of a local
store in the next town over, in Stone Mountain. Shirley said that it was very frightening to
think about the actions that white people were taking during that time. She then states, “It was a very scary time
for blacks back then.” As for Atlanta, which was more urban or industrialized,
pro-segregation fighting was much more restrained and some what civil. Most of the fights took place in the courts,
picket lines and in verbal protesting.[6]
In 1950 the city of Atlanta was accused of neglecting the black public
schools. A suit was filed stating that
the Atlanta school system was violating the constitutional
rights of the black students who attended these schools. Due to the lack of funding provided to these
schools, students were not given an equal opportunity to learn. Therefore, the Atlanta schools system was violating the Fourteenth
Amendment by neglecting the financial duties imposed upon them; this case is known as Aaron v. Cook. The trial when forward and the prosecutors
presented witnesses and other sufficient evidence supporting their claim, but
the case was dismissed. Once the African
American community heard the decision, outrage began to expand across the
predominant members. The city of Atlanta probably did not want any riots or protests or
anything of that matter ensuing, because that would only bring attention to the
state. Parts of Georgia were not following the law quit as adamantly as they
should and they were probably violating some constitutional rights in the
process. In order to keep the African
American community quiet, the city of Atlanta derived a plan to raise taxes and use the money
restore or enhance the black public schools.
Surprisingly this actually began to happen, and predictably it did not
last a single year.[7]
In 1955 the Atlanta school study
council evaluated the Atlanta
public school system. After analyzing
the processes and methods practiced by the system, the council concluded that
the Atlantic public school system was practicing segregation in regards to
their public schools. The council
advised the system on how to restructure the administrative team, improve
curriculum by providing extra money for supplies, and enhancing the teacher
population by offering to pay more money.
They sought for an extra one hundred dollars to be given per student per
year for needed supplies. They also
wanted the salaries of the teachers to increase by sixty dollars per month. Needless to say, one year later (1956), six
bills were passed in Atlanta, Georgia. The overall outcome was the
decision to provide money to private schools (white schools) and to begin
closing down the integrated schools of Atlanta. Also during
1956, the decision to void the Brown verdict was passed by the Senate. The Supreme Court was now under attack by
southerners who were eager to reverse the Brown decision. The Atlanta public school system also divided into sections
based on color (race).[8]
In February 1957 a black man filed a lawsuit against
the University of Georgia, claiming his application was denied based on his race. The claim was later dismissed. Atlanta school system received another lawsuit on January
11, 1958. This suit was filed by ten
parents of black children who attended school in the Atlanta area. The
parents were joined by the NAACP and Thurgood Marshal. This case is known as Calhoun v. Latimer. They accused the system of failure to comply
with the directions imposed by the Supreme Court, requiring them to desegregate
the schools. The Atlanta Board of
Education dismissed the claim stating the plaintiffs did not attempt to correct
or even approach the local administrative heads/ principals. The controversy that this case brought to the
public eye sparked protest among the pro-segregation members of the
community. Certain groups began to
emerge such as, MACE, GUTS, and the Separate Schools Inc. All of these organizations had one thing in
common, they were against educational equality.
Although the Atlanta public school system provided legal arguments
disputing the Calhoun case, in 1959 it was finally brought before the
court. Those being charged were firmly
grounded in their opinions stating, “There has been no proof of any
discrimination.” On June 16, 1959 the Atlanta school system lost its case. Judge Frank Hooper deemed the system
segregated and demanded it create a plan to desegregate. He verbally expressed his disagreement of the
defenses claim that black students and their parents chose to attend segregated
schools, stating this was incorrect.
There were some families that stood up for their rights, but there
probably were many families that did choose to attend segregated schools in
fear of abuse, verbal and/or physical.
One’s pride can sometimes be outweighed by fear.[9]
Two schools that were not afraid to open their doors
to all children, despite all the controversy, were B.B. Harris Elementary and
Duluth Elementary in Gwinnett, Ga. These two
schools were exposed to an integrated educational system in 1966. Although the number of black students was a
major minority, they were allowed to enroll.
This was a major advancement in the Atlanta public school system. Finally the system was attempting to
desegregate. Along with the few black
students present at these schools, were a number of black teachers who were
hired to teach. The Duluth Elementary school became the Duluth Middle School in 1970.
Researchers have said that the low population of the area was the main
reason Gwinnett
County, Ga. conquered segregation. In 1967 Federal agents evaluated schools
across the United
States
to see if any discrimination was being practiced. The agents evaluated the Gwinnett County school systems and announced that the system was nondiscriminatory.[10]
One would think that such problems within the public
school systems are ancient and everyone is treated fairly, however this is not
the case in Oakland, California. A woman
named Rosemary C. Henze preformed a research study in 2001 on the development
of enter-ethnic relations. She found
that some children still felt unsafe in their own school. The daily threats and constant verbal abuse made
certain children afraid to go to certain schools. These threats were usually made in regards to
race, ethnicity or even language. Schools
in the Oakland area were becoming segregated strictly out of fear
amongst students. The idea that
something like that is still happening in America is disheartening.[11]
The goal behind all the legal battles presented is
that of equality. American history is
plagued by some of the most disturbing displays of inhumane treatment,
especially the treatment of black Americans.
The struggle of these people can be examined in every aspect of daily
life activities such as, transportation, consumption of goods and services,
dining, lodging, and education.
Education for blacks was a problematic concept, in that most of the battles
had to be fought within the courts. With
some of the other efforts, a strike would have been sufficient. However, with education a strike would have
been exactly what the white people wanted, so it would not have done much
good. Through the cases and over time
the black community won small battles and finally gained the educational
equality they deserved.