BOSTON SCHOOL ORGANIZING FOR
EQUITY AND DESEGREGATION TIMELINE
(Compiled by Jim Vrabel from his When and Where in Boston: A Boston History Database)
1600s.
1798.
April 28, 1855.
October 1944.
African School is established. Founded by Prince Hall and others after the Massachusetts legislature rejects their petition to be allowed to send their children to attend Boston public schools, it is located initially in the home of Hall's son at the corner of today's Revere and West Cedar Streets on Beacon Hill. They move the school to the basement of the African Meeting House in 1808; it becomes a public school in 1812, and they rename it the Abiel Smith School in 1815.
April 8, 1850.
Boston Latin School is established in 1635. Although generally thought of as the first public school in North America, it charges tuition until 1845. The first free public school is the Mather School in Dorchester, established in 1639. The Massachusetts General Court creates the Boston public school system in 1642 when it requires towns with at least 100 families to establish grammar schools to educate their children.
Roberts v. City of Boston decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upholds school segregation in Boston. Benjamin Roberts sued after his daughter Sarah was denied admission to five schools near their home in the North End and was instead assigned to the Abiel Smith School on Beacon Hill. The decision is cited in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court establishes what comes to be called the "separate but equal" doctrine in 1896.
Massachusetts prohibits school segregation. The new law, which is passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Henry Gardner, is a response to a petition by William Cooper Nell and Benjamin Roberts and makes Massachusetts the first state in the U.S. to ban "separate schools" in which students are assigned based on account of "race, color, or religious opinions."
Massachusetts prohibits school segregation. The new law, which is passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Henry Gardner, is a response to a petition by William Cooper Nell and Benjamin Roberts and makes Massachusetts the first state in the U.S. to ban "separate schools" in which students are assigned based on account of "race, color, or religious opinions."
May 17, 1954.
The Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation in public education. The case resulted from a suit filed by Oliver Brown, after his daughter Linda was denied admission to a school near her home and assigned instead to one an hour away. In its unanimous decision, the court found that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and declared that "delays in desegregating school systems are no longer tolerable."
1940s & 1950s.
Ruth Batson is appointed chairperson of the newly formed Committee on Public Education of the Boston Branch NAACP. Batson runs unsuccessfully for the Boston School Committee in 1951 and 1959 and leads the campaign for school reform and desegregation in Boston in the 1960s and 1970s.
February 1960.
The Citizens for Boston Public Schools is formed. Founded by Dorothy Bisbee, an unsuccessful candidate for Boston School Committee in 1959 from Beacon Hill, its purpose is to improve the quality of education in schools throughout the city. The organization works with the Boston Branch NAACP to document inequality in curriculum, spending, and facilities between schools in white school districts and those in minority districts.
November 7, 1961.
The Citizens for Boston Public Schools is formed. Founded by Dorothy Bisbee, an unsuccessful candidate for Boston School Committee in 1959 from Beacon Hill, its purpose is to improve the quality of education in schools throughout the city. The organization works with the Boston Branch NAACP to document inequality in curriculum, spending, and facilities between schools in white school districts and those in minority districts.
1963.
Boston public school enrollment is some 98,000. An estimated 85% of students are white and 15% are minorities, mostly Black.
June 11, 1963.
Ruth Batson, with 400 other people, present a list of 14 demands to the Boston School Committee, Chaired by Louise Day Hicks, at a special meeting at 15 Beacon Street. Nine of the demands are to improve the entire school system; four to address educational equity; and one to acknowledge the existence of de facto (unintentional) segregation in the public schools. Boston school superintendent Frederick Gillis denies schools in minority neighborhoods receive less-favorable treatment, and he rejects the charge of segregation. Maintaining assignments is based on where students live, building capacities, and unusual traffic patterns. The same evening as the School Committee rejected these proposals, President Kennedy hold a press conference to announce he is filing major civil rights legislation.
June 18, 1963.
The First Boston School Stay Out is held. Proposed by Rev. James Breeden, the boycott is meant to protest conditions, inequality, and segregation in the Boston public schools. Some 3,000 junior high school and high school students refuse to go to their regular classes and instead attend neighborhood-based "Freedom Schools," where receive instruction from a civil rights-based curriculum developed by Breeden and Noel Day.
June 26, 1963.
Hubie Jones and Mel King organize STOP work stop protest against discrimination and 1000 march to Boston Common for that and protesting the murder of Medgar Evers in Mississippi.
September 3, 1963.
The Boston Public Schools Open Enrollment Policy is announced. It allows students to attend any school where seats are available and the curriculum is suitable, provided their parents can arrange for their transportation.
September 5, 1963.
September 1989.
Boston School Department Sit-In is held. Led by Thomas Atkins, a dozen young, well-dressed members of the Boston Branch NAACP occupy the second-floor hallway outside the offices of the Boston School Committee at 15 Beacon Street. It is the first of many demonstrations to protest conditions, inequality and segregation in the schools that are held over the next few years. The demonstration continues overnight, throughout the next day, and during a crowded school committee meeting that night, until police clear the building after receiving a bomb threat.
September 12, 1963.
The Boston Branch NAACP proposes the Atkins Plan. Developed by the organization's executive director Thomas Atkins, the plan calls for addressing desegregation in the Boston school, re-drawing a few school district lines, reassigning students in just 16 schools, and without busing large numbers of students. The Boston School Committee rejects the plan.
November 5, 1963.
The Boston School Committee election is held. All five incumbents are reelected. Unsuccessful candidates include Mel King and John Carney.
February 26, 1964.
The Second Boston School Stay Out is held. Some 8,000 students take part in this second boycott. This time, hundreds of students join them from some two dozen suburban schools in attending "Freedom Schools," where guest speakers include Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop Anson Phelps Stokes and Boston Celtic star Bill Russell.
March 6, 1964.
Massachusetts Commission on Racial Imbalance is created. A year later, on April 14, 1965, it releases a report that declared "Racial imbalance is educationally harmful to all children," and finds 55 schools in the state (45 in Boston) with enrollments in which over 50% of students are minorities. As remedies, the report recommends redistricting, building new schools, closing antiquated ones, and busing students between schools in close proximity, and pledges additional state aid to school districts that agree to take such steps.
April 22-23, 1965.
Dr. Martin Luther King visits Boston. Dr. King is welcomed by a joint session of the Massachusetts legislature at the State House, where he decries school segregation. The next day, he leads a mile-long "March on Boston" from Carter Playground to Boston Common, where he told a crowd of over 20,000 people, "The vision of the New Boston must extend into the heart of Roxbury." King meets with Boston Mayor Collins along with clergy and community leaders who accompany him, they address several current community issues including the schools. Louise Day Hicks informs him that if local civil rights leaders accompany him, they will not be allowed to speak, so the proposed meeting with the Boston School Committee is canceled.
April 28, 1965.
Rev. Vernon Carter begins his protest against school segregation outside the Boston School Department headquarters. A minister at All Saints Lutheran Church, Carter vows to continue his vigil - day and night - for 114 days, until the state legislature and governor take action.
August 18, 1965.
Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Law is adopted. Filed originally by Rep. Royal Bolling Sr. in 1963 and passed by the Massachusetts legislature and signed by Gov. John Volpe, the law empowers the Massachusetts Boston of Education state to withhold state aid to school districts that cannot develop acceptable desegregation plans. Initially, the law applies only to the three municipalities with significant minority populations: Boston, Cambridge and Springfield.
August, 1965.
Operation Exodus is founded by Ellen Jackson and Betty Johnson. Its purpose is to take advantage of the Boston Public Schools Open Enrollment policy to enable Black students to attend better and less-crowded schools outside their neighborhoods. The all-volunteer program involves parents putting together a complicated scheduling operation and utilizing a fleet of rented buses and vans, hired taxis, and borrowed cars, and accompanying their children to and from school every day. Over 300 students take part in the first year, and over 1,100 students within five years.
November 2, 1965.
Boston School Committee election is held. Three of the incumbents and newcomer John McDonough are elected, but Arthur Gartland, who had been the only supporter for school desegregation on the committee, is defeated. Other unsuccessful candidates include Mel King.
September 7, 1966.
Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) begins operating. Conceived by Black leaders Ruth Batson and Betty Johnson, along with Leon Trilling from the Brookline School Committee, it is a product of a discussion by Boston area school superintendents. The state-run, voluntary, one-way program enables students from Boston to attend suburban schools. In its first year, it transports 220 students to seven schools, and as the years pass, it expands to include over 3,000 students in over 30 schools.
September 1966.
Independent Schools open in Roxbury and Dorchester. Formed by parents and funded by residents and charitable organizations, they include the New School for Children, Roxbury Community School, and Highland Park Free School. The New School for Children was launched by civil rights leaders Noel Day, Rev. James Breeden, and Anson Phelps Stokes.
April 7, 1968.
3 days after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, the Black United Front organizes some 5000 African Americans meet at White Stadium in Franklin Park and issues 20 demands for economic and political control by the Black community. Mel King and Byron Rushing amongst the leaders of this.
September 21, 1971.
Lee School Controversy occurs. A few weeks after voting to racially balance the newly built Lee School in Dorchester 3 to 2, the Boston School Committee reverses its vote at a special meeting attended by over 500 parents at the O'Hearn Elementary School. Committee member John Craven Jr., now a candidate for the Boston City Council, switches his previous position to join John Kerrigan and Joseph Lee Jr. in opposing the measure. The School Committee had made an agreement with the State Board of Education in 1967 to open this as an integrated school and was reneging on that agreement; this action was cited in the 1974 Morgan vs. Hennigan decision by Judge Garrity.
1972.
The State withholds $52 Million in State Aid to Boston because of its failure to implement the Racial Imbalance Act.
March 14, 1972.
The Boston chapter of the NAACP files a class action suit on behalf of 14 parents and 43 children that becomes known as Tallulah Morgan vs. James Hennigan. The plaintiffs charged the Boston School Committee "intentionally brought about and maintained racial segregation in the Boston Public Schools."
June 25, 1973.
The Massachusetts Board of Education Racial Imbalance Plan for Boston is approved. Developed by the state after years of the Boston School Department failing to develop its own, the plan is created by Charles Glenn and attempts to reduce the number of racially imbalanced schools, while conforming to state distance standards between students' homes of students and their elementary, junior high, and high schools. It therefore excludes neighborhoods on the periphery of the city (West Roxbury, Brighton-Allston, Charlestown, and East Boston), calls for busing some 18,000 students, and becomes the plan implemented by the federal court in 1974
October 29, 1973.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules the Boston School Committee must racially balance the schools by September 1974.
April - July 1974.
Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Law is amended and weakened. After over 20,000 people attend anti-busing demonstrations opposing the nine-year-old law at the State House, both houses of the Massachusetts legislature vote to repeal it. Gov. Francis Sargent vetoes the repeal, but knowing his veto will be overridden, submits an amended law to the legislature. The new law no longer requires districts to develop racial imbalance plans, but rewards districts that do so with additional state aid. The legislation is quickly adopted and signed into law.
June 21, 1974.
Morgan v. Hennigan's decision finds the Boston public schools have been "unconstitutionally segregated." In his decision on the suit, which was filed in 1972 on behalf of 15 black parents and 43 children, U.S. District Court judge W. Arthur finds the Boston School Committee and School Department "intentionally brought about and maintained a dual school system [through policies] antithetical to a neighborhood schools' system." As a remedy, Garrity orders implementation of a "temporary" plan in September 1974.
September 9, 1974.
An Antibusing demonstration is held in the Government Center. Some 10,000 people protest Judge Garrity's busing order. When U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy attempts to speak, some of those in the crowd shout him down, pelt him with tomatoes and rocks, and chase him into the nearby federal office building bearing his late brother's name. It is the first of many large-scale and angry anti-busing demonstrations held over the next few years.
September 12, 1974.
Phase I of busing begins. Attendance is low across the school system, with only 66% of all students reporting to school. Many are held out of classes by white parents engaged in a boycott to protest the court order. Antibusing demonstrations are held outside some schools, particularly in South Boston, where buses carrying Black students' home from a junior high school are pelted with bottles, eggs, and rocks. Violent incidents - both outside and inside schools - continued for the next few years. That night, hundreds of Black residents and parents meet at Freedom House with Mayor White and criticize him for not keeping their children safe.
October 5, 1974.
Hyde Park High School Violence and fights in the school left 8 students injured. Arriving buses are jeered by white adults and rocks are thrown at them. On October 21 custodian paints over "N…..go home" spray painted on the sidewalk where buses of Black students arrive at Hyde Park High School. Two Black students walking home are sprayed with mace…. On January 21, 1976, 1300 White and Black students fighting inside the school….. April 28, 1976, a bomb threat empties the school and Black and White students begin fighting that requires police to stop it.
October 6, 1974.
Jean-Louis Andre Yvon drove to Southie to pick up his wife who worked at a laundry. He was pulled out of his car by a mob and beaten; he was only saved when a police officer fired a shot in the air.
December 8, 1974.
Judge Garrity places South Boston High School under receivership. Black students had testified about harassment and beatings and administrators and teachers not acting on this.
December 1974.
The week of December 16, eight schools closed after racial violence incidents
December 11 at South Boston HS, Michael Faith, a White student was stabbed by a Black student during a shoving match. Soon an enormous crowd hollering racist chants gathered outside South Boston HS. Boston Police and 125 state troopers charge the mob and bricks and bottles were thrown at them, police car tires were slashed and one overturned. Four school buses came to take the Black students’ home, but there was a diversion as Black students fled out the back door to buses there to escape.
March 21, 1975.
McCormack Plan is submitted. Proposed by the four masters appointed to advise the federal court, it covers the entire city except East Boston, divides the system into eight districts, requires schools to reflect the racial makeup of their district, and reduces busing to less than 15,000 students. The plan wins broad, if not deep, support. But it is criticized for placing too much of the burden for desegregation on the Black community and not promoting sufficient diversity, and subsequently rejected by Judge Garrity.
August 10, 1975.
On July 27 six visiting African-American Bible salesman are attacked at Carson Beach in South Boston. On August 10, a multi-racial demonstration follows on the right to use a public beach. White teens gather to oppose the demonstrators. Hundreds of police separate them. The teens throw rocks over the police's heads at the demonstrators. 800 police deployed, 40 injured, 10 arrested, 700 multi racial demonstrators, 1500 White counterdemonstrators from Southie.
September 8, 1975.
Phase II of busing begins. The assignment plan that is implemented was created by federal court-appointed Experts Robert Dentler and Marvin Scott. It covers the entire city except East Boston, divides the system into nine districts, requires schools to reflect the racial makeup of the entire system (by this time 52% white, 36% Black, 12% other minorities), and increases the number of students bused to some 25,000. The plan, which also closes over 20 schools, most in the Black community, meets significant resistance, particularly in Charlestown, which is included under the court order for the first time. By 1980, Boston public school enrollment drops to some 65,000, with 37% of the students white, 46% Black, and 17% other minorities.
January 21, 1976.
Hyde Park High School 1300 White and Black students fighting inside the school
April 1976.
School desegregation-related violence peaks.
April 5, 1976.
South Boston HS and Charleston HS youth walk out of their schools in a pre-planned protest, go downtown and meet with City Councilors Louise Day Hicks and Albert "Dapper" O'Neill at City Hall. They leave City Hall to go protest at the Federal Courthouse. As they walk that way, Ted Landsmark turns the corner and goes through them as he's on the way to a meeting at City Hall. The teens beat him and break his nose and kick him. On teen holding an American Flag on a staff looks like he's trying to stab him with the flagpole with a flag on it, which becomes a Pultizer Prize winning photo for Boston Herald photographer Stanley Foreman. It becomes the iconic worst symbol of Boston's racism.
April 20, 1976.
Beating of white auto mechanic Richard Poleet by a group of Black youths in Roxbury, during which he is dragged from his car and left in a coma from which he never recovers.
April 23, 1976.
50,000 join the "Procession Against Violence" organized after these many racial incidents. People march from between Boston Common and Boston Public Garden, up Beacon Street, past the State House, left on Tremon Street into City Hall Plaza.
April 28, 1976.
Hyde Park High School— a bomb threat empties the school and Black and White students begin fighting that requires police to stop it.
September 1976.
Judge Garrity revises the student assignment plan with the city divided into 8 districts.
November 1977.
City Councilor Louise Day Hicks, City Councilor John Kerrigan, and Boston School Committee member Pixie Palladino, all major anti-busing leaders, lost re-election. John O'Bryant is elected as the first African American on the Boston School Committee.
November 1981.
Jean McGruire elected to the Boston School Committee as the first African American to do so.
October-November 1983.
Ray Flynn and Mel King top the Primary race and advance to the Mayoral final. Mel King leads the Rainbow Coalition and is the first person of color to be a finalist for Mayor. Flynn elected Mayor. Further focus on ending racial violence, healing, and economic changes during and after the campaign.
1985.
Judge Garrity returns day-to-day control of the schools to the Boston School Committee but keeps "standby jurisdiction" over the student assignment process, faculty hiring, building maintenance, and vocational education. The U.S. Appeals Court declared that Boston's public schools are "unitary" in 1989, and no longer need to use strict racial guidelines in assigning students if minority students are provided equal access to all seats. The federal court ends all control over the Boston public schools in 1990.
Controlled Choice Assignment Plan is implemented. Created by consultants Charles Willie and Michael Alves, the plan divides the system into three K to 8 zones and a city-wide high school zone, requires schools to reflect the racial makeup of their zone, and allows parents to choose schools to which they would prefer their children be assigned. Ultimately, however, the plan relies on a computer-based lottery system to assign students either to schools of their choice, if possible, but if not to schools where seats are available.
August 23, 1996.
A Federal Judge rules in favor of 13-year-old white student Julia McLaughlin to be admitted to Boston Latin School. She was represented by her father, Michael McLaughlin. This ruling overturned a 1970s policy change Judge Garrity ordered for 1/3 of the students at the 3 exam schools to be students of color.
This ruling that led to admissions based on grades and an exam, which led to a huge decline in Black and Latino students being admitted. The policy was only changed in very recent years, leading to some improvement in Black and Latino acceptance in these schools.
July 14, 1999.
Boston School Committee ends race-based assignment of students. The change is prompted by a lawsuit that is filed by four white parents and a group called Boston's Children First that charges the continued use of race in assigning students is unconstitutional. Instead of returning to a neighborhood-based assignment process, however, the school committee continues to employ the computer-based lottery system because of concerns that schools in all neighborhoods are of equal quality.
September 2013.
The Current Boston student assignment plan is implemented. Developed by faculty and staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the plan does away with school zones, but retains the computer-based lottery system that now employs an algorithm that assigns students to the highest quality schools nearest their homes where seats are available. Parent can list three top choices and choose from 10 or more elementary schools in the region they live; there is not a neighborhood school system still.
2022.
Boston public school enrollment is nearly 49,000. Some 14% of students are white, 32% Black, 43% Hispanic, 9% Asian, and 2% of other racial backgrounds.
2024.
Report of the Racial Imbalance Advisory Committee finds 250,000 students of color statewide are attending segregated schools.
Compiled by Jim Vrabel, from his, "When and Where in Boston: A Boston History Database".
Some additional events were added by Lew Finfer of the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative.