''Morgan v. Hennigan'' was the case that defined the
school busing controversy in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
during the 1970s. On March 14, 1972, the Boston chapter of the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
filed a
class action lawsuit
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...
against the Boston School Committee on behalf of 14 black parents and 44 children.
Tallulah Morgan headed the list of
plaintiff
A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...
s, and
James Hennigan, then chair of the School Committee, was listed as the main
defendant
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.
Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...
.
The plaintiffs' legal team decided to pursue the case as a violation of the
U.S. Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
. The School Committee was charged with violating the
Thirteenth
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octa ...
and
Fourteenth Amendments as well as the
1964 Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requir ...
. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants, the School Committee, the Board of Education, and the Education Commissioner, "ha
intentionally brought about and maintained
racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
in the Boston Public Schools."
In short, while Boston was not experiencing "
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...
" segregation (segregation as a result of the law), it was experiencing "
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
" segregation (segregation as a result of action). Judge
W. Arthur Garrity Jr. was randomly assigned to the case. He did not make a decision until June 21, 1974.
At that point he ruled that the city defendants had contributed to the "establishment of a dual school system," one for each race. Garrity's solution to the problem of segregation in Boston would become an explosive issue in the city. The main tactics for reducing segregation were redistricting and busing.
Background
Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
a major
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
movement swept the United States. The 1950s and 1960s were marked by sit-ins, protests, marches and
boycott
A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
s. By the 1960s this movement was brought to national attention as television created almost ubiquitous media coverage. The impact of the civil rights movement on Boston was magnified as the city's population of
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s increased from approximately 42,659 in 1950 to approximately 104,429 in 1970.
In 1954, the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decided a case which would advance the civil rights movement and become a major precedent for the case in Boston. In
Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, the Supreme Court found that public school segregation "denie
to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment."
The judges relied on sociological evidence which showed that separate educational facilities were detrimental to the development of black children. When the decision was implemented in
Little Rock, Arkansas
(The Little Rock, The "Little Rock")
, government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager
, leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_ ...
, the white backlash shocked the nation and the world. While the Brown case put an end to "de jure" segregation, "de facto" segregation would become the focus of activists and legislators in Boston.
In 1961, the Education Committee of the NAACP, led by
Ruth Batson
Ruth Marion Batson (née Watson; 1921–2003) was an American civil rights activist and outspoken advocate of equal education. She spoke out about the desegregation of Boston Public Schools. She served as Chairman of the Public Education Sub-Commi ...
, began a series of meetings with Boston's School Committee in order to make the members admit that de facto segregation existed in Boston's schools. Batson's argument rested on facts: thirteen schools in Boston were at least ninety percent black and the budgets provided for these schools were $125 per pupil less than the average budget for a white school in Boston. The School Committee refused to concede this point. As a result, the NAACP fought back with the traditional methods of the civil rights movement: boycotts and protests. Almost as soon as this movement began a counter-revolution rose up against the
desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
of Boston's Schools.
Even as the School Committee denied any segregation in Boston they supported policies that increased racial imbalance in public schools. Rather than send white students to majority black schools, the Committee constructed
portable classroom
A portable classroom (also known as a demountable or relocatable classroom, portables, bungalows), is a type of portable building installed at a school to temporarily and quickly provide additional classroom space where there is a shortage of ...
s at already overcrowded white schools. At South Boston High, an all-white school, enrollment was over the limit by 676 students during the 1971-72 school year. Girls High, 92% black, was underenrolled by 532 places. Boston's system of
feeder school
A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...
s was probably the most efficient method of segregation utilized by the Committee. Under this system graduates from
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
s (ending with grade 8) went to
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s with grades 9-12.
Graduates from junior high schools (ending with grade 9) went to high schools with grades 10-12.
Junior highs tended to be in white neighborhoods while middle schools tended to be in black neighborhoods. The School Committee incriminated itself by converting two of the largest black junior highs in the city into middle schools for no practical reason. After a decade of protests and arguments and evasions by the Boston School Committee the issue finally came to a head with the 1972
court case
A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either civil or criminal law. In most legal cases there are one or mor ...
.
Legal precedents
One of the reasons Judge Garrity took so long to deliver his decision in this case was because he wanted to make sure that what he decided was backed up by
legal precedent
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
. An important legal precedent for the Boston case was the U.S. Supreme Court case, ''
Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver
''Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver'', 413 U.S. 189 (1973), was a United States Supreme Court case that claimed de facto segregation had affected a substantial part of the school system and therefore was a violation of the Equal Protection Cl ...
''. In this case black and Hispanic parents from
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
filed suit against all Denver schools due to racial segregation. The 1973 decision on this case, written by Justice
William J. Brennan
William Joseph "Bill" Brennan Jr. (April 25, 1906 – July 24, 1997) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1956 to 1990. He was the seventh-longest serving justice ...
, was key in defining de facto segregation. Brennan found that although there were no official laws supporting segregation in Denver, "the Board, through its actions over a period of years, intentionally created and maintained the segregated character of the core city schools." The issue of "intent" would become a key factor in the Boston case.
Another important precedent was the ''
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education'' case. In 1969, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
was segregated by law. It was no surprise that a district court case regarding this issue found in favor of the black plaintiffs, but the important part of this case was the remedy ordered by Federal District Judge
James McMillan James (or Jim or Jimmy) McMillan or MacMillan may refer to:
Sportspeople
* James McMillan (footballer, born c. 1866) (c. 1866–?), played for Sunderland
* James McMillan (footballer, born 1869) (1869–1937), played for Scotland,Everton and St ...
. McMillan ordered extensive busing and regrouping of schools. In an appeal, the judge's orders were found to "exceed...his authority."
However, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Chief Justice
Warren Burger
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...
argued that the equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment gave federal judges a wide berth of authority in implementing desegregation. Burger supported the call for busing. This precedent would give Garrity power of implementation in Boston.
Decision and implementation
Judge Garrity forbade the School Committee from violating the
Racial Imbalance Act in any way, beginning construction of any new school or portable class room or transferring white or black teachers in order to increase racial imbalance. Garrity's plan for implementation of his orders was extreme thanks to the authority granted by the Swann case.
Garrity explained that "neutral conduct
asno longer constitutionally sufficient"; the School Committee would have to actively work to reverse the segregation of Boston schools. Until the Committee had come up with its own plan, Garrity decided to enforce a State Board of Education plan, formulated following the passage of the Racial Imbalance Act.
The Plan
The plan was scheduled to take effect on the first day of school in September 1974. It would reduce the number of majority black schools from sixty-eight to forty-four as well as reduce the number of black students attending imbalanced schools from approximately 30,000 to 10,000. The Board's plan was based on two basic methods: redistricting and busing. The plan would also replace the feeder system of junior and middle schools with a single middle school program.
Reaction
In a city heavily stratified into
ethnic enclave
In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity. The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration ...
s, the exchange of school children between communities was dangerous. Ms. Gloria Joyner, a black mother of two high school students, rode the school bus from
Roxbury to
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
at the start of the 1974 school year. She described the escort required to keep the buses and children safe from white mobs: "our four buses were escorted by three police cruisers, 10 motorcycles, and a state helicopter overhead looking for rooftop snipers." Buses were met with hurled stones and racial slurs.
On November 20, South Boston High School erupted in fights between students. The chaos delayed the start of the school day. The catalyst had been a white male student letting a door slam in the face of a black female student. One teacher, Ione Malloy, explained the atmosphere of the school at this point, "This school is DEATH. The mood of the school is black."
Fights were frequent. The climax of violence in South Boston came on December 11, when a white student, Michael Faith, was stabbed. News of the
stabbing
A stabbing is penetration or rough contact with a sharp or pointed object at close range. ''Stab'' connotes purposeful action, as by an assassin or murderer, but it is also possible to accidentally stab oneself or others. Stabbing differs from ...
spread through the community and by one o'clock 1,500 people surrounded the school waiting for the black students to leave. Bricks and bottles were hurled at police officers. Finally, three decoy buses came out and the mob went after them. The black students left via the back of the building and escaped.
Master Plan
When the Boston School Committee repeatedly failed to submit an acceptable plan for desegregation, Garrity created a committee to formulate a “Master’s Plan.” This plan was submitted in May 1975 and would become Phase II. The plan created a citywide
magnet school
In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
district open to all students regardless of residence. It also included the partnering of public schools to twenty community colleges and universities to improve the quality of education in the former. The plan would call for the busing of 24,000 students. In addition to all this the plan also shifted focus to
elementary
Elementary may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001
* ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007
* ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977
Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...
and middle school aged students.
While the School Committee still claimed not to accept any plan for
forced busing
Race-integration busing in the United States (also known simply as busing, Integrated busing or by its critics as forced busing) was the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts in ...
, this plan was met with less instances of violence than the first phase. In May 1977, Garrity released Phase III, meant to shift control of implementation back to the Boston school system. Despite the School Committee's enduring resistance to busing, the constituents of Boston came to the slow realization that the Committee members themselves were the "architects of inferior schools."
In the November 1977 school board elections, three vocal anti-busing School Committee members were defeated, while
John D. O'Bryant became the first black man to be elected to the Committee in the 20th century. In 1982, Judge Garrity officially turned over monitoring of desegregation to the State Board of Education.
Results
For more than a decade Boston's school system was degraded by violence, hatred, and a breakdown of education. The results of this struggle for
equality
Equality may refer to:
Society
* Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing
** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elite ...
were not lasting. As of late 1989 Boston's School Committee continued to circumvent racial balance regulations. At a meeting in December of that year the Committee discussed racial statistics. One member made a telling inquiry about the Committee's policy: "We are excluding the Latin Schools because the numbers of students are predominantly white, is that it?" Another member provided the official response, to wit, that Latin schools were not incorporated because their admissions were different.
In the 2003-04 school year the majority of black and
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
students in Boston attended schools that were, on average, approximately 10 percent white. In 2003, of all the Boston schools found to be struggling and in need of "corrective action", 90 percent were non-white. It was found that, since 1999, white students had attended schools that had become progressively whiter every year.
["Should Lynn schools use Boston's model?", ''Boston Globe'', December 18, 2004.]
See also
*
List of class-action lawsuits
This page has a list of lawsuits brought as class actions.
Class action lawsuits
Lawsuits related to class action
{, class="wikitable sortable"
! Lawsuit !! Subject of lawsuit !! Court of decision !! Year of decision
, -
, '' AT&T Mobility v. ...
*''
Roberts v. City of Boston
''Roberts v. Boston'', Case citation, 59 Mass. (5 Cush.) 198 (1850), was a court case seeking to end racial discrimination in Boston public schools. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of Boston, finding no constitutional basi ...
'' (1850)
References
External links
*
"(1855)William C. Nell, 'The Triumph of Equal School Rights in Boston'"Brown v. Board of EducationBlackPast.OrgGuide to the Morgan v. Hennigan Case working files at Boston City ArchivesGuide to the Law Department's Morgan v. Hennigan and related cases files at Boston City Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan V. Hennigan
1972 in United States case law
Education in Boston
Cultural history of Boston