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

4. Desegregation in the South
By May 1959, 733 out of a total of 2,839 biracial school districts in
the 17 Southern States (25.8 percent) were desegregated in some degree.
1 In the next 2 years 44 additional districts initiated desegregation
for the first time and 2 desegregated districts in each of 2 States merged.
Thus, at the close of the 1960-61 school year, 775 out of 2,837 biracial
Southern school districts, or 27.3 percent, were desegregated at least in
part—an increase of only i .5 percent.
The 44 school districts that initiated desegregation in 1959-61 include
31 that voluntarily admitted Negroes to formerly all-white school and
13 that did so under Federal court order. Two States that had been
completely segregated, Florida and Louisiana, were added during this
period to those having some school desegregation. In the former, one
district voluntarily desegregated; 2 in the latter, one desegregated under
Federal court order. 3 Four Southern States remained completely segregated
on the elementary and secondary level in 1959-61, and three
of these have no public educational institutions at any level attended
by members of both races. Appendix IV, table i, shows the breakdown
by States.*
This chapter will consider significant developments in the States that
initiated, and those that expanded, their desegregation programs in
1959-61. Special mention will be made of the desegregation of schools
attended predominantly, or exclusively, by dependents of United States
military personnel. The remainder of the chapter will be devoted to a
summary of the official attitudes of those States in which there is no
school desegregation. Prospects for the future will be indicated.
INITIAL DESEGREGATION 1959-61
Florida
Dade County is located at the southern tip of Florida. It is a metropolitan
community with a population of about 900,000 people, approx-
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