Summary and Analysis
The School District of Philadelphia "dragged its feet" and is still under court order regarding desegregation.** After the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954, public schools throughout the U.S. had to end racial segregation. In 1956, the governor of Pennsylvania ordered a statewide survey of desegregation in public schools of staff and students. (Philadelphia had discriminatory policies regarding African American teachers and administrators.) In 1957, the governor said state funds would be cut if schools didn't end enforced racial segregation. This threat didn't change the reality of school segregation in Philadelphia. Faculties and student bodies continued to be segregated because of segregated housing and school geographic boundaries . At time the School Board intentionally designed school boundaries that furthered segregation.
From the 1960s - 1970s, there was vocal opposition to school integration in Philadelphia. Mayor Tate and City Council President D'Ortona opposed desegregation and spoke out against busing. At a Northeast Town Meeting on Quality Education and Integration (1964) (see the summary below) some people questioned the need for integration and opposed busing while others wanted their children "to see Negroes (as teachers) in a capacity which brings respect." Attendees also questioned the academic motivation and skills of African American students. It seems adults assumed African American students were academically inferior to white students. The adults also seemed to think giving African Americans a better education would take away from the white students. There were also some parents who feared "too much inter-mingling and a possible aftermath - intermarriage." In the Northeast in the late 1960s, there was busing to Spruance and Carnell elementary schools. There weren't "riots" but there was vocal opposition from the local community (Oxford Circle) and parents assumed the African American students would academically hinder their children. There were also stereotypes regarding "white flight" and African Americans moving into the neighborhood.
Northeast High School was in the news because a group of students from the Northwest part of the city were attending Northeast without transfers. In 1968, Northeast only had 30 African American students out of a student body of over 4000. At the same time, there was an effort to have students from Northeast get to know students from West Philadelphia High School. They had classroom exchanges and a retreat.
In the 1970s, the school district was under court order to integrate schools but it failed. From the Mayors office to the School Board, no one wanted forced busing to integrated schools. The voluntary busing led to African American students being bused but not white students. The School Board established magnet programs and magnet schools to foster integration. In 1979, the Federal Office of Civil Rights charge the School District with violating civil rights laws by allowing white students to transfer out of predominantly black schools in their neighborhoods. This happened in Olney, Oak Lane, Logan, Hunting Park, Kensington, and Port Richmond. A 1979 Supreme Court decision found that all cities had to desegregated schools - "the decision (as) potentially important to northern school districts as the high court's 1954 opinion banning separate segregated school systems was to southern districts." (7/3/79 - see article under 1970s) 25 years after Brown v. Board Philadelphia was still trying to avoid school desegregation. Even though the School District only had a voluntary desegregation plan (versus forced busing) there was vocal opposition. There were protests from parents who did not want their children attending Kensington and Edison High Schools. Local politicians, including Rep. Borski, Councilman Rafferty, and City Commission Chairman Margaret Tartaglione joined and encouraged the protesters. Local TV stations refused to air voluntary desegregation advertisements created by the School Board because the ads were "controversial." There was a forced teacher desegregation plan in 1978 that was upheld by the federal courts in 1984. There was a sharp increase in African American teachers at Northeast High School in the late 1970s because of this plan.
In 1980, the School Board had a $100,000 public relations campaign to promote voluntary desegregation. There were only 8,000 out of 220,000 students who had transferred into special interest magnet schools. Throughout the 1980s the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission took the School District to court over desegregation. The School Board wouldn't budge on mandatory busing. There were more voluntary busing plans. Northeast, Frankford, Olney and Kensington High Schools were targeted for voluntary transfers. If there was a forced busing plan, Northeast High School students would have been bused to Olney High and Lincoln High School students to Gratz High School. As late as 1988, the School District's voluntary school desegregation plan was considered inadequate by the PA Human Relations Commission. By the late 1980s, Philadelphia's demographics, especially school demographics had changed; nearly two thirds of the School District's students were African American.
The School District has been working on issues of fairness and school desegregation for about 45 years. There were many court battles and some protests. The entire process took too long. In the 1950s, the School Board should have "jumped into it" and said "this is the way it's going to be." Instead, they either took baby steps or publicly opposed desegregation. Philadelphia was no different than any other area of the U.S. If Philadelphia had forced busing, there would have been more protests just like in Boston.
**This was written in 2003. For updated information - Philadelphia Education Law Center
This is an article from 2004 about the new ruling on the case.