Document Against Segregation In Schools

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Kayla Daniels March 3rd, 2011 In America segregation in schools used to be the normal way of life to the whites but for blacks it was unfair and they wanted dramatic change. In the year of 1962 in the city of New Rochelle, the superintendent and the New Rochelle Board of Education faced a class action by eleven African American students; stating that they were gerrymandering the elementary schools in the district in order to make a school with only black students "Lincoln Elementary". Prior to the civil rights movement many African Americans never stood up for their rights until now. Racism plays a key role for the outcome of why these schools no longer exist. Without protests, riots and many other strong…show more content…
A treadmill is a machine where athletes exercise by walking or running never going anywhere but remain in the same exact place. The meaning of this article is that from prior cases they stayed in the same place. No matter how much they thought things would improve, schools stayed segregated. Segregation affects a child’s ability to grow and learn. Parents soon recognized that there children deserved to be treated equally instead of feeling beneath everyone else. By the late 1950s, the Lincoln Elementary School was one of twelve elementary schools in New Rochelle. It had the highest percentage of African American students and some of the lowest test scores (Document 7). The districts were dividing the districts borders to the white’s advantage to create a de facto all black school. Districts were drawn as a primarily white community within the borders of the Lincoln School area traveled to the Webster School for their education rather than attending Lincoln. Parents believed that it was unfair to force the students to go to Lincoln school based on their living vicinity. There were many other students who lived in other school district lines but were still forced to go to Lincoln elementary because they were black. They believed school the…show more content…
Many parents were arrested for trying to enlist their children in to all white schools. Because enlisting them was not a crime they were falsely arrested for loitering. A man by the name of dennis was arrested for loitering while trying to enlist 11 African American students into a white school (document). At times like this racism was at an all-time high. Many African American parents were losing jobs if they supported the lawsuit. But many parents believed that it had to end and they wanted 100 percent equality. On Jan. 24, Judge Irving Kaufman ruled that the New Rochelle school board intentionally segregated blacks and ordered the district to develop a desegregation plan. The district appealed to hearing and loosed in August. In addition the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case. In 1964 the school was demolished and a park was built in place of it. Without the fight from parents and black leaders Lincoln elementary would have stayed for a few more years. A lot of strength came out of New Rochelle; they led by example and paved a way for the future. Seclusion of races in the New Rochelle school district came to an end and black children were given equality opportunities in
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