Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education 1971
| Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
| Pages | 787-792 |
Page 787
Appellant: James E. Swann
Appellee: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
Appellant's Claim: That the local public school desegregation plan was inadequate to achieve integration and protect the civil rights of its students.
Chief Lawyers for Appellant: Julius LeVonne Chambers, James M. Nabritt III
Chief Lawyers for Appellee: William J. Waggoner, Benjamin S. Horack
Justices for the Court: Hugo L. Black, Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, William O. Douglas, John Marshall Harlan II, Thurgood Marshall, Potter Stewart, Byron R. White
Justices Dissenting: None
Date of Decision: April 20, 1971
Decision: Ruled in favor of Swann by upholding the federal district court's ambitious desegregation plan designed to fully integrate the district's public schools.
Significance: The ruling affirmed the role of federal district courts in overseeing operations of local school districts.
Page 788
Following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ending legally enforced racial segregation (keeping races apart) in public schools, progress toward racial integration (mixing of the races) continued to be slow. The tradition of having separate schools for black and white children was well established in American culture.
The Southern states in particular immediately began thinking of ways to avoid obeying the Court's desegregation (ban segregation) directions given in Brown. In reaction, the Court in Brown v. Board of Education II (1955) directed the lower federal district courts to develop plans to force desegregation. Resistance persisted. One Virginia school board even closed its public schools to avoid integrating them. Tuition monies were granted to students to attend segregated private schools. In reaction, the Supreme Court in Griffin v. County School Board (1964) ordered the public schools to open again. "Freedom of choice" plans were also introduced in which children could choose which school to attend, white or black. The Court in Green v. County School Board (1968) ruled this approach was not strong enough to truly achieve integration. The Court held that the student bodies of each school should be similar in mix of races as the population in the area in general.
As white Americans fled the trouble-ridden cities to suburbs and predominately white schools, the distinct courts decided the primary way to swiftly integrate schools was through busing. Busing involved carrying students long distances on a daily basis to create more racially-mixed schools.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District of North Carolina was large, including both the city of Charlotte as well as...
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