The Southern Case for School SegregationKilpatrick, James Jackson
History
The Southern Case for School Segregation
Kilpatrick, James Jackson
African Americans -- Segregation; Segregation -- Southern States
[7] The doctrine apparently originated in _Roberts_ v. _City of
Boston_, 59 Mass. 198, 206 (1850), upholding school segregation
against attack as being violative of a state constitutional guarantee
of equality. Segregation in Boston public schools was eliminated in
1855. Mass. Acts 1855, c. 256. But elsewhere in the North segregation
in public education has persisted in some communities until recent
years. It is apparent that such segregation has long been a
nationwide problem, not merely one of sectional concern.
[8] See also _Berea College_ v. _Kentucky_, 211 U. S. 45 (1908).
[9] In the _Cumming_ case, Negro taxpayers sought an injunction
requiring the defendant school board to discontinue the operation of
a high school for white children until the board resumed operation of
a high school for Negro children. Similarly, in the _Gong Lum_ case,
the plaintiff, a child of Chinese descent, contended only that state
authorities had misapplied the doctrine by classifying him with Negro
children and requiring him to attend a Negro school.
[10] In the Kansas case, the court below found substantial equality
as to all such factors. 98 F. Supp. 797, 798. In the South Carolina
case, the court below found that the defendants were proceeding
“promptly and in good faith to comply with the court’s decree.” 103
F. Supp. 920, 921. In the Virginia case, the court below noted that
the equalization program was already “afoot and progressing” (103 F.
Supp. 337, 341); since then, we have been advised, in the Virginia
Attorney General’s brief on reargument, that the program has now been
completed. In the Delaware case, the court below similarly noted that
the state’s equalization program was well under way. 91 A. 2d 137,
149.
[11] A similar finding was made in the Delaware case: “I conclude
from the testimony that in our Delaware society, State-imposed
segregation in education itself results in the Negro children, as a
class, receiving educational opportunities which are substantially
inferior to those available to white children otherwise similarly
situated.” 87 A. 2d 862, 865.
[12] K. B. Clark, Effect of Prejudice and Discrimination on
Personality Development (Midcentury White House Conference on
Children and Youth, 1950); Witmer and Kotinsky, Personality in the
Making (1952), c. VI; Deutscher and Chein, The Psychological Effects
of Enforced Segregation: A Survey of Social Science Opinion, 26
J. Psychol. 259 (1948); Chein, What are the Psychological Effects
of Segregation Under Conditions of Equal Facilities?, 3 Int. J.
Opinion and Attitude Res. 229 (1949); Brameld, Educational Costs,
in Discrimination and National Welfare (MacIver, ed., 1949), 44-48;
Frazier, The Negro in the United States (1949), 674-681. And see
generally Myrdal, An American Dilemma (1944).
[13] See _Bolling_ v. _Sharpe_, _post_, p. 497, concerning the Due
Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
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