1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

Since the 7959 Report went to press, there have been developments in
the field of public education of great import to the future of America.
One school system closed its doors in September 1959 to avoid the
necessity of abandoning racial segregation as required by court order
and they were still closed during the school year 1960-61. Tuition
grants disbursing State and local funds to pupils who prefer to attend
nonsectarian private schools have been widely used in one State, thus
weakening the financial support of its public education system. Legislation
adopted in other Southern States suggests the possibility of further
school closings and extension of the tuition-grant system. Statewide
compulsory school attendance laws, effective in all States except Alaska
since 1918, are being repealed in the South. As a result, early school
dropouts are increasing at a time when far more education than the
minimum assured by such laws is needed to develop the full potential
of the Nation's youth. Extreme official action to maintain segregation
in spite of a Federal court order, and the accompanying civic disorder
and white boycott of two public schools in one city in 1960-61, has been
a national and international embarrassment. Harassment and economic
reprisal against the few whites courageous enough to attempt attendance
at these schools continues. The success of extra-legal activities in this
city has strengthened the position of those bent on similar opposition
elsewhere.
Measured by the number of school districts initiating or extending
desegregation each year, progress in 1959-61 was at a much slower
pace than in earlier years. Conflicting and confused lower court decisions
have created prolonged uncertainty and invited more litigation.
The <strong>Commission</strong> believes that it can contribute most by an analysis
of relevant court decisions, principally those of the past 2 years. This
report will begin with the Supreme Court doctrine that racial segregation
hi the public schools is inherently unequal. It will consider all
pronouncements of the Supreme Court indicating what a racially nondiscriminatory
system is, and how the change from segregation to nondiscrimination
may be achieved. Then the implementation of these
principles at the local level (both with and without court approval) will
be analyzed to show how they are being interpreted and, in some instances,
misinterpreted.
Progress in desegregation in the school years 1959-61 will be recounted,
as will the measures adopted by some Southern States to restrict
or limit school desegregation. The threat to the very foundation of
public education arising from the closing of public schools and the provision
of tuition grants to avoid desegregation will also be discussed.
Of course segregation exists widely in public schools in the North
although there it presents somewhat different legal problems. The
School Segregation Cases dealt with racial segregation by explicit legislative
measures (which in 1954 were compulsory throughout 17 Southern
States and permissive in 3 more) .* In the North no laws explicitly
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