Boston’s Busing and Desegregation

Middle School – Grades 6-8-- Lesson Plans and Curriculum Resources

The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism. The Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary School Sixth-grade Class in 1974. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.

Lesson Overview  

      There are widely held perceptions that the Civil Rights Movement needed to target only injustice and segregation in the South. However, Boston, like many other northern cities, was home to de-facto segregation and was not exempt from the civil rights struggles that gripped the nation. Boston became a battleground for one of the country’s most polarizing civil rights issues: the struggle for integrated schools. In 1855, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts banned segregated schools; however, by the 1960s and 1970s, Boston schools were racially segregated and unequally cared for. During the 1974-1975 school year, the city was embroiled in conflict as it attempted to implement the court-ordered busing of students in predominantly white or black schools. This unit teaches the events of Boston’s busing to middle school students using a variety of artifacts and skill-based tasks. These adaptable lessons focus on developing geography skills through use visuals, charts and maps to complement  the learning of content and primary source analysis. They can be done independently, or a teacher could teach all the lessons could be taught as a mini-unit.

Standards

MA Common Core State Standards for ELA, March, 2011

• Grade 6-12 Speaking and Listening, Comprehension and Collaboration (p. 63)
• Grade 6-12 Reading Standards for History and Social Studies, Key Ideas and Details and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas  (p. 74)

MA History and Social Studies Curriculum Framework, August, 2003

• USII.25 Analyze the origins, goals, and key events of the Civil Rights movement.

Essential and Higher-Order Thinking Questions

• How could learning about Boston’s busing and desegregation crisis in the 1970s change our perceptions about civil rights and our beliefs about our community?
• Did a single issue cause segregation in the Boston Schools?
• How does viewing primary source video help us understand the emotions and feelings in Boston around busing and desegregation?
• How do key events in a timeline help us understand the complexity of Boston’s busing and desegregation?

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Understand the internal and external factors that led to the federal government’s  forced integration of Boston Public Schools
• Understand the effects and consequences of court-ordered busing in Boston Public Schools and the community
• Learn about the history of busing and desegregation in Boston using resources that present multiple perspectives on the topic
• Learn to synthesize and analyze information from multiple sources and in multiple formats (print, audio, video, primary and secondary sources)

Unit Overview

Lesson 1: Building Awareness of  Boston’s Busing and Desegregation

Components and Procedures

Opening Activity 1: Defining Civil Rights

For younger students (grades 6 and 7), teachers should review the concept of “Civil Rights” and “Justice” with students to help them draw on background knowledge. The following activities are adapted from Facing History and Ourselves’ Civil Rights Investigations Curriculum for Boston Public Schools. Some suggested activities are:

• Have students turn-and-talk and answer  “What are civil rights?”  and “Where do they [civil rights] come from?”
• Using the Facing History’s Civil Rights Investigations curriculum (https://www.facinghistory.org/sites/default/files/PPS_CivilRightsInvestigations_web.pdf) has two activities Civil Right or Privilege? (page 195) and Civil Right? Human Right? Privilege? (page 196) to help students understand the meaning of civil rights?

Anticipation Guide: Civil Rights, Education and Desegregation

Overview: Teachers will start a lesson on busing and desegregation with this anticipation guide and a four-corners activity. Students will react to a list of open-ended statements. Students will read each statement, think about it, circle whether they agree or disagree with the statement and provide a brief rationale as to why they are in agreement or not. An anticipation guide is provided a few pages below.  The following statements are included in the guide:

• Education is a civil right; and therefore, all children are entitled to it.
• Segregation does not necessarily affect the performance of a school. (in other words: a segregated school should be as good as any school in its district.)
•  It would be always wise to trust politicians and government to do the right thing when it comes to segregation and education.
• Segregation in schools only occurs when there are laws in place that mandate it.
• The problems of school segregation occurred in areas far away from my community.
• School segregation wasn’t important enough a topic to civil rights leaders to consider when compared to access to transportation, businesses and economic opportunities for African Americans.
• Integrated education does not do anything to improve education.
• The needs of larger society are more important than the needs of the individual.*
• After a community has been through a time of conflict or violence, it is better for everyone to move on and forget the crimes or hardships of the past.*
•  For there to be integration in schools, schools must have equal numbers of white and non-white students.

*These questions are taken verbatim from Facing History and Ourselves

Sources:

“Anticipation Guide.” Teaching Strategies. Facing History and Ourselves, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <https://www.facinghistory.org/for-educators/educator-resources/teaching-strategies/anticipation-guides>.

“Four Corners.” Teaching Strategies. Facing History and Ourselves, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <https://www.facinghistory.org/for-educators/educator-resources/teaching-strategies/four-corners>.

Four-Corners Strategy

“Four Corners.” Teaching Strategies. Facing History and Ourselves, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <https://www.facinghistory.org/for-educators/educator-resources/teaching-strategies/four-corners>.

This strategy is adapted from Facing History and Ourselves curriculum to enrich discussion on the points touched upon by the anticipation guide. Students will “show their position on a specific statement (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) by standing in a particular corner of the room.”

Directions for Four-Corners Activity:

1.   Label the room (preferably the four corners of the room) with signs that say “strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree.”

2.   Tell the class you are going to do this activity with 2-3 of the statements found in the anticipation guide.

3.   Have a student read a statement (either tell him/her which statement to read, or have the student choose a statement and read it.)

4.   After listening to the statement and thinking about it, students will stand next to the position they identify with the most (agree, disagree, strongly agree, strongly disagree).

5.   Allow students in each group to discuss why they chose the particular position. Give students a chance to change positions if something has made them change their opinion.

6.   Have one person from each group report out on the reasons each group came up with for strongly agreeing, agreeing, disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement.

*Questions 8 and 9 are taken verbatim from these Facing History and Ourselves sources:

“Anticipation Guide.” Teaching Strategies. Facing History and Ourselves, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <https://www.facinghistory.org/for-educators/educator-resources/teaching-strategies/anticipation-guides>.

“Four Corners.” Teaching Strategies. Facing History and Ourselves, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <https://www.facinghistory.org/for-educators/educator-resources/teaching-strategies/four-corners>.

Building Background Activity: “‘It was Like a War Zone’: Busing in Boston”

Gellerman Bruce “It was Like a War Zone: Busing in Boston” WBUR. http://www.wbur.org/2014/09/05/boston-busing-anniversary September 5, 2014.

Timing: 15 min per segment (watching/reading 10 min clip plus five minutes to respond to three short questions), two segments, 30 min total time

Building Background

Since the 2014-15 school year marks the 40th anniversary of Judge W. Arthur Garrity’s order to desegregate Boston Public Schools, it is vital to build students’ background knowledge so they have familiarity with this lesson’s topic. Students will listen to and read the WBUR story ‘It Was Like a War Zone’: Busing in Boston http://www.wbur.org/2014/09/05/boston-busing-anniversary and read the accompanying text.  

Vocabulary to review:

• desegregation
• busing
• unconstitutional
• pelted
• alienated
• boycott
• discrimination
• enraged
• triple-decker
• deplorable
• demonstrators

Reading the Document

Print out copies of “‘It Was Like a War Zone’: Busing in Boston”

• Have students circle unclear or important words.  

• On the left side of their article, students should summarize and annotate the key details after every paragraph or two.

• On the right side of the paper, students should analyze how key sentences and phrases explain how Boston was like a war zone during busing.  

Ask students to respond in 1-2 sentences to the following questions after listening and reading the article:

1. What was something that you learned about busing that surprised you?
2. What questions do you have about busing/desegregation in Boston after reading and listening to this story?
3. Consider the title, ‘It was Like a War Zone: Busing in Boston.’ How does the information in the article support the article’s title?

Lesson 2: Background on Boston’s busing and desegregation through primary source analysis.

Political Cartoon Analysis

Microlabs: Stimulus Based Instruction

Mircrolabs: Stimulus  Based Instruction: SSS Social Science Based Stimulus. July 10, 2014. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <http://media.wix.com/ugd/493de7_8b544f5a7e874479a385c76e80639b67.pdf>

Commodore, Chester. "Brown v. Board Of Education." Landmark Cases of the Supreme Court: Political Cartoon Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <http://www.streetlaw.org/Images/w430/Photo/Photo/143>

Political cartoons express social, political or historical messages about a specific event. When analyzing them, emphasis is placed on finding symbols, metaphors, irony, labels and humor (in many cases) or tone. In this activity, students face each other in even lines and discuss their analysis of the political cartoon.

Directions:

1. Make sure students have a copy of the Brown v. Board political cartoon (or project it).
2. Give students three minutes to analyze the cartoon on their own, looking for symbols and metaphors as well as identifying the irony and the tone (mood) of the cartoon.
3. Have students get up and form two lines. Every student in the line should be facing a classmate.
4. Tell students in one line, they are the “number ones”. Students in the other line are “number twos”. The numbers are important to the activity but do not make one student or group more important than the other.
5. Tell “ones” they have to identify symbols and metaphors. A symbol is any image that represents another thing, like Uncle Sam representing the United States in a political cartoon. “Twos” have to find details that contribute to the irony or  mood of the cartoon.  
6. Students have one minute to do their tasks. After one minute, all “twos” will move one step to the right, and the “two” at the end of the line on the right side will become the first person on the left side of their line.
7. Give “ones” one minute to explain the symbols and metaphors they found while “twos” quietly listen.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7.
9. “Ones” will move one step to the right. the “one” at the end of the line on the right side will become the first person on the left side of their line.
10. “Twos” will have one minute to explain the irony and mood of the cartoon while ones quietly listen.
11. Repeat steps 8 and 9.
12.  While still in lines, teacher directs a small discussion on the analysis of the political cartoon.

Building Background: Students will read the following excerpt from PBS’ Brown V. the Board of Education The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow and the corresponding sources on Massachusetts’ schools’ racial integration and answer the accompanying questions

Brown v Board of Education (1954) and Boston and Integration.

Directions: Read the article and sources in the packet and answer the questions.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which says that no state may deny equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction. The 1954 decision declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. Following a series of Supreme Court cases argued between 1938 and 1950 that chipped away at legalized segregation, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka reversed an earlier Supreme Court ruling (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896) that permitted "separate but equal" public facilities. The 1954 decision was limited to the public schools, but it was believed to imply that segregation was not permissible in other public facilities. The key phrase in the ruling delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren was as follows:

"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system. ... We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Brown v. Board received its name from the lawsuit brought by the parents of eight-year-old Linda Brown, who had to travel a great distance to attend grade school while white children went to a school a few blocks away. The NAACP brought suit on behalf of her parents to admit her to her neighborhood school. The Brown case was one of a total of five cases charging that segregation in education was a violation of the equal protection of the laws clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. They included Briggs v. Elliot at al. (South Carolina) Davis at al. V. County School Board of Prince Edward County (Virginia); Gebhart et al. V. Benton (Delaware), and Bolling v. Sharpe (District of Columbia). Four of the cases were brought by the National Association For the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and were argued before the Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall. Marshall would later become the first black justice on the Supreme Court.

Source: Wormser, Richard. “Brown V. Board of Education (1954)” The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. PBS. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_brown.html

Guiding Questions:  

1.  How did Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) show that segregation in education violated the the Fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution?

2.  What does Chief Justice Earl Warren mean when he says, “Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children?” How does he back up that statement?

3.  Based on the article what impact can you infer that Brown v. Board of Education had on education in the United States?

Background on early integration of Boston’s schools

Legally, Boston schools were integrated unlike those in the south and other areas, where “de jure” segregation mandated by law that white students and students of color attend separate schools.

Sarah Roberts v. Boston (1850)

In 1848, the City of Boston ruled that five-year-old Sarah Roberts should enroll in an all-black public elementary school, even though she had several white schools closer to her. Sarah’s father, Benjamin Roberts, one of the first African American printers, challenged the Boston School Committee’s decision in court. In 1850, Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided in favor of the Boston School Committee and held that “racial segregation of public schools was permitted under the United States Constitution.” The case would be used to set the precedent for the Supreme Court case that upheld segregation, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

"Long Road-Roberts vs. Boston." Long Road-Roberts vs. Boston. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://www.masshist.org/longroad/02education/roberts.htm>.

Massachusetts Legislation to Integrate Schools (1855)

Possibly influenced by protests and a boycott organized by black parents, in 1855 the Massachusetts legislature passed the country’s first law prohibiting school segregation. As footnote 6 of Justice Earl Warren’s opinion on Brown V. Board of Education states, “Segregation in Boston public schools was eliminated in 1855.”  

"In Pursuit of Equality - Separate Is Not Equal." In Pursuit of Equality - Separate Is Not Equal. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/2-battleground/pursuit-equality-1.html>.

"Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 347 U.S. 483 (1954)."Justia Law. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/347/483/case.html#F6>.

Class Picture from the David A. Ellis School

1930s Class Picture, David A. Ellis School. Included in a David Ellis School publication, Voices of Achievement.  The image was provided to us by Discover Roxbury.

Guiding Questions:

Analyze the three sources provided above. What do they tell us about whether Boston’s schools were de facto or de jure segregated, and whether or not every school was segregated or if this varied across the city?

Think-Pair Share and whole group activity: After reading about Brown v. Board of Education and the sources related early school integration in Boston, ask students the following questions and have students turn to a partner and discuss: Does having laws prevent segregation from happening? What are some ways people segregate (distance themselves) from others that are different from themselves?

Go over responses with the whole class and list their responses on the board. Introduce “de facto” segregation as  racial segregation, especially in public schools, that happens “by fact” rather than by legal requirement. In other words, be clear that segregation occurred due to factors other than specific laws mandating it.

Map Analysis Activity

Use Colton’s Racial and Ethnic Demographics in Boston since 1974 Desegregation and Busing (http://sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Colton_Paige.pdf) to show students how neighborhoods, and therefore the neighborhood schools, in Boston were segregated.  

Student Directions for Activity:

1. Two copies of maps looking at Racial/Ethnic Demographics in Boston have been provided to you, along with two copies of the document analysis sheet adapted from the Library of Congress.
2. Study each map individually, paying close attention to the key and the scale. Tell students to make a copy of the scale at the bottom of the map to measure distances between points.
3. Record your analysis of each map on the analysis sheets provided to you
4. Answer questions provided by your teacher?
5. Discuss your analysis with your classmates.

After breaking down the maps with the analysis tool, answer the following questions (in a thorough, well-written, short response) in the worksheet provided below.

Colton, Paige Haines. 'Racial & Ethnic Demographics In Boston Since 1974 Desegregation/Busing'.  Tufts University. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Dec. 2014.

High Schools 1970

Citation: Colton, Paige Haines. 'Racial & Ethnic Demographics In Boston Since 1974

   Desegregation/Busing'.  Tufts University. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Dec. 2014.

Primary Source Analysis Tool (Adapted from Library of Congress)http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Primary_Source_Analysis_Tool.pdf?loclr=blogtea

Source: ________________________________________________________

Further Investigation

Primary Source Analysis Tool: Analyzing Maps adapted from the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Maps.pdf

Further Investigation

Here is a link to the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis tool:

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Primary_Source_Analysis_Tool.pdf?loclr=blogtea

Here is a link to the Map Analysis Guide from the Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Maps.pdf

Map Analysis Questions Worksheet: Colton’s 1970 Demographics Map

1 Map Title: ____________________________________________

2. Date: _______________________________________________  

3. Who made it? ________________________________________

4. What type of map is it?_________________________________

5. What are some of the features on the map?

6. Why  was this map made?

7. Why is this map important to the topic of Boston’s busing and desegregation?

8. What do the reddish, blue and orange dots represent, and why is this important?

9. What are four observations (just the facts) that you saw in this map?

10. What inferences can you make based on your observations?

11. What can the viewers of this map (you!) infer about how racial demographics affected school population and segregation in Boston?

Document-Based Analysis via Response Groups and writing

Students will look at short primary source excerpts to help them to analyze the issues that contributed to there being “de facto” desegregation in Boston Public Schools. Using the documents provided as evidence as well as other materials in the class. Students will write a response to this question:

Although laws in Massachusetts called for integrated schools, and there was evidence of integration in Boston schools before 1974, what factors would contribute to many schools in Boston still being segregated?

Going over the question: Have students turn to a partner and discuss what they think the question means. Go over the question with the class as a whole.

Analyzing the Documents using Response Groups

The Response Groups strategy was developed by the Teachers’ Curriculum Institute as a part of the History Alive! program. In this strategy, students receive written and/or pictorial information and consider open-ended questions on that material. Presenters are then chosen to share their group’s ideas prior to opening the discussion to the entire class.

Teacher should put the documents in a folder for students to review. Have students in the group review  three to four documents each (their choice). As they analyze each document they should answer open-ended questions  to help them analyze each document. They can use a blank copy of  our adaption of  the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool included in this plan.

More information on response groups can be found in these sites:

• http://info.teachtci.com/forum/responsegroups.aspx
• http://teachinghistory.org/nhec-blog/24651

Source 1: Excerpt from “Busing in Boston” by Robert Coles

Coles, Robert. "Busing in Boston." New Republic 2 Oct. 1965: n. pag. Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching: A Resource Guide for K-12 Classrooms. Ed. Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray, and Janice L. View. 1st ed. Washington D.C.: Teaching for Change and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 2004. 331-35.

“Their meeting with the principal was the beginning of a long hassle they were to have with the Boston school system. They were nodded on up the bureaucratic ladder until on July 7 they reached the school committee itself  in Boston, an unsalaried elective office often used as a political launching pad. They reminded the committee that their children were going to overcrowded schools in a slum

area, while thousands of empty seats were available elsewhere in the city. Their complaints were taken under advisement.”

Source 2: Unidentified mother in Busing in Boston by Robert Coles

Coles, Robert. "Busing in Boston." New Republic 2 Oct. 1965: n. pag. Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching: A Resource Guide for K-12 Classrooms. Ed. Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray, and Janice L. View. 1st ed. Washington D.C.: Teaching for Change and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 2004. 331-35.

“Why do they always push us around ? They move our children out of their school, and tell us the last minute, and then we’re supposed to take them over to the new school there they can’t even hear themselves think, the machines are making so much noise. And there’s glass all over to fall and cut yourself, and you practically have to make a path through the mess of old buildings.”

Source 3: Jonathan Kozol’s reflections as a Boston fourth-grade teacher

 Kozol, Jonathan. "Death at an Early Age." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 Sept. 1967. Web. 24 Jan. 2015. 

“The room in which I taught my Fourth Grade was not a room at all, but the corner of an auditorium. The first time I approached that corner, I noticed only a huge torn stage curtain, a couple of broken windows, a badly listing blackboard and about thirty-five bewildered-looking children, most of whom were Negro.  At the other end of the auditorium there was a classroom similar to mine. The room was relatively quiet during the first hour of the morning. Not until ten o'clock did the bad cross fire start. By ten thirty it attained such a crescendo that the children in the back rows of my section couldn't hear my questions, and I couldn't hear their answers. The room, being large and wooden, echoed every sound. Sometimes the other fourth-grade teacher and I would stagger the lessons in which our classes had to recite aloud. But this makeshift method meant that one class had to be induced to maintain an unnatural rule of silence during major portions of the day. We couldn't always do it anyway, and usually the only solution was to try to outshout each other, so that both of us often left school hoarse or wheezing.”

Source 4: Jonathan Kozol’s reflections as a Boston fourth-grade teacher

 Kozol, Jonathan. "Death at an Early Age." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 Sept. 1967. Web. 24 Jan. 2015. 

“Hours were lost in this manner, yet that was not the worst. Soon after I came into that auditorium, I discovered that our two fourth grades were also going to have to share the space with the glee club, with play rehearsals, special reading, special arithmetic, and at certain times a third- or fourth-grade phonics class. I began to make head counts of the numbers of pupils:

Seventy children from the two regular fourth grades before the invasion.

Then ninety with the glee club and remedial arithmetic.

One hundred and seven with the play rehearsal.”

Source 5: Ruth Batson, education chairperson of the Boston branch of the NAACP

"Interview with Ruth Batson." Interview with Ruth Batson. 8 Nov. 1988. Web. 24 Jan. 2015. <http://digital.wustl.edu/e/eii/eiiweb/bat5427.0911.011ruthbatson.html>.

“When we would go to White schools we'd see these lovely ah, classrooms, small sizes, a, a small number of children in each class. The teachers were permanent. Um, we'd see wonderful materials. When we'd go to our schools we would see overcrowded classrooms, children sitting out in the corridors and so forth. And so then we decided that where there were a large number of White students, that's where the care went. That's where the books went. That's where the money went. In fact, we knew that there was more money being spent in certain schools, White schools--not all of them, but in certain White schools--than there, than there was being spent in Black schools. So therefore, our theory was move our kids into those schools where they're putting all of the resources so that they can get a better education.”

Source 6: Harvard Divinity Report on school expenditures, 1964

When compared to schools with predominantly white students, schools with predominantly black students received 10% less for textbooks, 19% less for library and other reference books, and 27% less for students’ health care. Overall, the school system spent 29% more on students in predominantly white schools than on students in schools with a predominantly black student body.

Source 7: Excerpt from Boston Against Busing by Ronald Formisano

Formisano, Ronald P. Boston against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s. University of North Carolina Press, 1991

“As blacks continued to migrated from South to North and into central cities after World War II, white movement to the suburbs from cities accelerated enormously. It was, in fact, the greatest exodus in United States history. It drained the white population out of the city limits and engorged the near and far suburbs.”

Source 8: Excerpt from Boston Against Busing by Ronald Formisano

Formisano, Ronald P. Boston against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s. University of North Carolina Press, 1991

“In the 1950s, Boston’s suburbs grew from two to three million, spurned by the growth of electronics industries on Route 128 girdling Boston. By 1960 Boston’s ratio or population to central city was one of the lowest in the country. Of Course, the suburbs were entirely white, while blacks, Hispanics, and later, Asians, were ringed into the central city by the suburban noose.” 

Student Writing Product: A written response to the following question: Although laws in Massachusetts called for integrated schools, and there was some evidence of integration in Boston schools before 1974, what factors contributed to many schools in Boston still being segregated?

Directions: Ask students to use a properly cited quote from at least one of the above sources in a 1-2 paragraph open response reacting to the question above.

Lesson 3 Components and Procedures

Opening Activity: “Eyes on the Prize” - Watch a five minute clip of the movie starting at about the two-minute mark until 7:44.  A link to  the film is available at: http://vimeo.com/65530064. Answer the following questions as you watch:

1. What were some of the issues in Boston’s public schools that caused black parents to be concerned about the quality of education?
2. How did African Americans respond and organize to battle segregation in the Boston Schools?
3. What was the reasoning black parents used for wanting to send their children to white schools?

Vocabulary:

protest

alienated

freedom schools

Activity: Garrity’s Decision: Analyze text Using the WIN strategy

Morgan vs. Hennigan." Long Road to Justice. The Massachusetts Historical Society. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. <http://www.masshist.org/longroad/02education/morgan.htm#>.

Use this web page to give students background to the Garrity decision. Have students quickly annotate the three paragraphs using the WIN strategy. The steps for this are as follow:

1. Underline W’s (who, what, where, when/people, things, places, times).

2. IN (in as few words) -- After analyzing what is underlined, write a short summary for each paragraph - eight words or less.

3. Complete the graphic organizer provided to help students understand the Garrity decision.

Activity: Analyzing the Reaction to Busing through Eyes on the Prize

Students will watch an 18-25 minute clip from the “Keys to the Kingdom” episode of Eyes on the Prize (5:20–23:05). Again, here is the link to Episode 13: http://vimeo.com/65530064. As students watch the film, they should record notes about how Boston’s residents responded to court-ordered busing. Included is a template based on Facing History and Ourselves’ Field note 4: Part One (https://drive.google.com/a/bostonpublicschools.org/file/d/0ByTX0BjoJnZaSUJaTkIwaHNhQUU/view?usp=sharing) so that students can record  this information. Students should jot notes about what they see and hear, just like newspaper reporters would do if they were on the scene. Dates are important. Remind students that taking detailed notes will help them in writing their article.

We suggest pausing the film several times to give students the opportunity to record notes,ask questions, check their comprehension, and turn to their neighbor to discuss issues raised in the film. Again, here is a link to the episode http://vimeo.com/65530064.

Teachers can also use these questions from the Eyes on The Prize Study Guide to the Television series to serve as checks for understanding.

Hayden, Robert C. Eyes On the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 : A Guide to the Series. Blackside, Inc., 1987. Web. 21 Jan. <https://www.facinghistory.org/sites/default/files/publications/Eyes_on_the_Prize.pdf>

1. What rights did the “forced busing” protesters think they had lost? What were the similarities and dissimilarities between the campaign against desegregation and the civil rights struggle?

2. Do you think that the white majority had a moral and legal responsibility to help blacks in Boston’s impoverished neighborhoods? Do civic responsibilities cross community boundaries or is each community responsible for only itself?

3. How do you think young students would have reacted to the busing without pressure from their parents and the presence of the media?

4. In Milliken v. Bradley, a case involving school desegregation in Detroit, Michigan, in 1974, the US Supreme Court ruled that busing procedures were confined to school districts within the city. In Boston, desegregation busing had also involved only city schools. What do you think would have happened if suburban communities had been affected by court-ordered busing?

Lesson 3: Timeline Project on Boston’s Busing, Segregation,  and Desegregation

Timeline Activity: Students will work collectively as a class or in groups to create their own timeline that analyzes the important events of Boston’s busing and desegregation.  They will consider timelines created by historians and journalists, and select a limited number of key events to include on their own timeline.

Timeline Opener: Students will use one of the three timelines provided below to look at important events. To begin the activity, they will work in groups (3-4) to evaluate one of the time lines provided. They should attempt to answer these open questions as they evaluate a timeline:

• What are the strengths of this timeline?
• What are the weaknesses?
• How do you plan to use it to build your own timeline?

Links to the timelines:

(Note: if students have computer access, this is the best timeline for them to use)

Balonon-Rosen, Peter. “Boston School Desegregation And Busing: A Timeline Of Events.” Retrieved from: http://learninglab.wbur.org/2014/09/05/boston-school-desegregation-and-busing-a-timeline-of-events/   WBUR Learning Lab. September 5, 2014

Wolff, Jeremy. “A Timeline of Boston School Desegregation, 1965-1981”.  Prepared for the Union of Minority Neighborhoods by Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at The Northeastern University School of Law.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B32jrjfDUw4CaWttSzhuRGprcUk/view?usp=sharing

Note : Use only  years 1972-1975 of the Wolff timeline as is it over 100 pages long.

“Selective Historical Timeline.” Desegregation Era Records Collection Boston Public Schools. Retrieved from

http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/guide%20to%20the%20desegregation-era%20records%20collection_tcm3-23340.pdf. December 19, 2014.

Materials to create a timeline:

Students should have access to butcher paper (or any large piece of paper), markers, printed images and note cards to build their timeline. Access to a computer is key so students can research information to build their timeline.

If you have a tech-savvy group of students and computer access, they can create a timeline on PowerPoint or a cloud-based timeline site such as HSTRY, Tiki-toki or dipity.

A minimum of 10 events is suggested. Events need to be evaluated by the group and determined to be important in the development of this historical event. The dates on the timeline can range from the mid-1800s until present. Students should used colored codes  to categorize events in the following categories :

1. Causes
2. External Factors (society, politics, laws outside the city)
3. Reaction of black parents
4. Reaction of white parents to busing
5. Violence
6. School committee decisions
7. Effects (what transpired good or negative as a result of the busing decision)

Each of these categories needs to have a color code. Each event can be coded as more than one color/category. Connections need to be made between events so that  “little bits and pieces of history out of context and unconnected to larger historic themes.”(Fillpot).

Works Cited

Coles, Robert. "Bussing in Boston." New Republic 2 Oct. 1965: n. pag. Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching: A Resource Guide for K-12 Classrooms. Ed. Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray, and Janice L. View. 1st ed. Washington D.C.: Teaching for Change and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 2004. 331-35.

Colton, Paige Haines. 'Racial & Ethnic Demographics In Boston Since 1974 Desegregation/Busing'.  Tufts University. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Dec. 2014.

Formisano, Ronald P. Boston against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s. University of North Carolina Press, 1991

Gellerman Bruce “It was Like a War Zone: Busing in Boston” WBUR. http://www.wbur.org/2014/09/05/boston-busing-anniversary September 5, 2014.

 Kozol, Jonathan. "Death at an Early Age." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 Sept. 1967. Web. 24 Jan. 2015. 

Hayden, Robert C. Eyes On the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 : A Guide to the Series. Blackside, Inc., 1987. Web. 21 Jan. <https://www.facinghistory.org/sites/default/files/publications/Eyes_on_the_Prize.pdf>

Morgan vs. Hennigan." Long Road to Justice. The Massachusetts Historical Society. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. <http://www.masshist.org/longroad/02education/morgan.htm#>.

"Reporter's Notebook" Civil Rights Investigations Boston Public Schools Collaborative. 40 Years Later: The Legacy of Boston Busing Edition ed. Brookline, Mass.: Facing History and Ourselves, 2014. Print.