Item #17572 Archive of Three Reports on 1960s Southern School Desegregation. Desegregation Civil Rights.
Archive of Three Reports on 1960s Southern School Desegregation
Archive of Three Reports on 1960s Southern School Desegregation
Archive of Three Reports on 1960s Southern School Desegregation
Archive of Three Reports on 1960s Southern School Desegregation

Archive of Three Reports on 1960s Southern School Desegregation

Civil Rights, Desegregation

Archive

Archive of three reports on Southern school desegregation during the 1960s. Produced by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1962, 1963, and 1966-67. All three are first edition.

The first report is Civil Rights U.S.A. / Public Schools Southern States 1962. First edition. 6” x 9” inches. 217 pages. A bold, community-driven report from the United States Commission on Civil Rights focusing specifically on the process of desegregation in southern schools in Kentucky, Tennessee, Memphis, North Carolina, and Virginia. This pamphlet is a rich map of the communities across the Mid-Upper South and the challenges facing integration efforts. The report takes place 8 years after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, and does not mince words regarding its intent to see that decision be put into practice: "The time for community preparation has passed, and an 8 year history of resistance or indifference to compliance with the law of the land no longer serves as an excuse for delay." The report's geographic focus on the Middle and Upper South is significant, as desegregation had to penetrate that region before any progress was to be had in the Mississippi or Alabama. It states that Memphis's white population, given its ties with the Deep South, could hardly be expected to act on desegregation without pressure. In fact, some districts in Mississippi had court ordered desegregation as recently as 2017. Nevertheless, this report is a fascinating look at the protracted struggle that desegregation has been. This report's is a fascinating record of the fight for desegregation but also could not have predicted the epochal Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed just a year after, that delivered a mortal wound to the Jim Crow regime and alleviated many of the structural frustrations expressed by the contributors. This piece is in very good condition, in its original wrappers with a clean interior.

The second report is Civil Rights U.S.A./ Public Schools Southern States 1963. First edition. 6” x 9” inches. 60 pages. A bold, community-driven report from the United States Commission on Civil Rights focusing specifically on the process of desegregation in North Carolina schools. This pamphlet is a rich map of the communities in North Carolina and the challenges facing integration efforts. It includes a wide variety of media, from analysis of the Caswell and Durham trials, public attitude surveys, district maps, and a chart with data reflecting the existing status of desegregation in major districts and concludes that full public school desegregation was “not likely in North Carolina unless forced by court decrees.” It cites the North Carolina Pupil Assignment Act, which was passed in reaction to the Supreme Court’s invalidation of school segregation in 1954’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, as a stricture which “presented an insurmountable barrier to anything more than token desegregation.” This report's dire prognosis is, however, brought into relief by the fact that the epochal Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed just a year after, delivering a mortal wound to the Jim Crow regime and alleviating many of the structural frustrations expressed by the contributors. This piece is in very good condition, with moderate foxing, two inch separation of wrappers along upper spine, and a one inch tear on the last two pages and rear wrapper.

The third report is Southern School Desegregation 1966-67. This first edition book is "a printed version of the mimeographed report which was released and distributed by the Commission on August 8, 1967." Data were obtained by the Commission primarily from field investigations (mostly in rural school districts) and analysis of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's files and operations during the school year. Results of the study showed: that the percentage of Negro children attending desegregated schools in the Southern States in 1966-67 increased substantially over the previous school year; that this progress had been accompanied in many communities by a spirit of acceptance and understanding; that more than 4/5 of the Negro children in the 11 Southern States and more than 9/10 in the 5 Deep South States still attended all-Negro schools; and that very little desegregation of full-time teachers had taken place. Comes with a paper memorandum insert from the Commission denoting the printing origins of the book. This piece is in very good condition, with sharp edges, a tight binding, and a clean interior, while also having very minor foxing on verso of front and back wrappers. An interesting historical record that shows the strength of the Civil Rights Act and the dissolution of Jim Crow in education.

Item #17572

Price: $385.00