Reading, Writing, & Race

by Douglas, Davison M.

• ISBN13: 9780807845295
• ISBN10: 0807845299
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

Using Charlotte, North Carolina, as a case study of the dynamics of racial change in the 'moderate' South, Davison Douglas analyzes the desegregation of the city's public schools from the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Educationdecision through the early 1970s, when the city embarked upon the most ambitious school busing plan in the nation. In charting the path of racial change, Douglas considers the relative efficacy of the black community's use of public demonstrations and litigation to force desegregation. He also evaluates the role of the city's white business community, which was concerned with preserving Charlotte's image as a racially moderate city, in facilitating racial gains. Charlotte's white leadership, anxious to avoid economically damaging racial conflict, engaged in early but decidedly token integration in the late 1950s and early 1960s in response to the black community's public protest and litigation efforts. The insistence in the late 1960s on widespread busing, however, posed integration demands of an entirely different magnitude. As Douglas shows, the city's white leaders initially resisted the call for busing but eventually relented because they recognized the importance of a stable school system to the city's continued prosperity.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Challenging Separate and Unequal Education in North Carolina Before Brown	p. 6
the Pursuit of Moderation North Carolina Struggles with the Demands of Brown	p. 25
a Moderate Southern City Responds to Brown the Token Integration of the Charlotte Schools	p. 50
the Convergence of Morality and Money Charlotte Confronts the Civil Rights Movement	p. 84
the Beginnings of the Swann Litigation	p. 107
the Meaning of Green for Charlotte	p. 130
the School Busing Storm Comes to Charlotte	p. 162
the Supreme Court Settles the Issue	p. 190
the Search for Stability	p. 215
Epilogue	p. 245
Notes	p. 255
Bibliography	p. 325
Index	p. 343
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