School desegregation became a significant issue in Boston following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in the 1954 case of Oliver Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al. (347 U.S. 483), which asserted that separate educational facilities for black and white students were inherently unequal, school districts were faced with the task of integrating their public schools. Despite the Brown decision and the enactment of the Racial Balance Act of 1965 in the state of Massachusetts, the Boston Public Schools largely remained segregated.
In response to the inaction, a group of black parents filed suit against the Boston School Committee, then led by James W. Hennigan, in the case of Tallulah Morgan et al. v. James Hennigan et al. (379 F. Supp. 410) on March 15, 1972. The suit claimed that the Boston Public Schools were deliberately segregated. The filing of Morgan v. Hennigan, some say, is linked to a Boston School Committee meeting on September 21, 1971 where the committee voted 3 to 2 against using busing to racially balance the new Lee School; 1 a vote in violation of the Racial Imbalance Act of 1965.
The “Garrity Decision” refers to the opinion on Morgan v. Hennigan filed by Judge Arthur W. Garrity on June 21, 1974. When the school committee failed to submit a plan, the court established a plan that called for Boston Public School students to be bused to schools outside their neighborhoods. The plan determined that “the racial balance in all citywide schools shall be reflective of the total student population in the Boston public school system, with a 5 percent leeway in white or minority enrollments. For example, white students represent 51 percent of the city’s student, so white enrollment could number from 56 to 46 percent at any citywide school. Black and other minority students, who are 49 percent of the city’s total school enrollment, may range from 54 to 44 percent of enrollment at individual citywide schools.” 2
Judge Garrity’s desegregation plan was to be implemented in three phases. Phase I, which began on the first day of school September 12, 1974, involved redistricting, student transportation and the formation of parent-teacher-community involvement committees. This phase only applied to neighborhoods where whites and blacks lived near each other; the Charlestown, East Boston and North End neighborhoods were excluded.
Phase II, also known as “The Masters’ Plan”, was ordered to begin in September 1975, and included all areas of the city except East Boston. This phase involved a “a revision of attendance zones and grade structures, construction of new schools and the closing of old schools and a controlled transfer policy” with limited exceptions in order to minimize mandatory transportation. 3 Essentially students had two options: 1. to attend a school in their community district schools where the enrollment was determined by the school committee or 2. to attend a citywide school where they could list a preferred school in addition to other options if their desired school was unavailable. Opting to enroll in a community district school meant that the school committee determined where students went based on geocode and racial balance. 4 Phase II also linked universities, colleges and community groups to schools.
Phase III began in September 1977 and established the Department of Implementation which oversaw desegregation and the compiling of racial statistics of the Boston public schools.
Footnotes
1. Boston School Committee hearing transcript, 2.
2. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report, 87.
3. Ibid., 77.
4. Ibid., 91.