Vincent Cirigliano - assignments PDF

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Vincent Cirigliano HIS 200: Applied History Southern New Hampshire University March 27, 2021 Topic: The case study I have decided to choose for the final project is Module 6. This is the case study that focuses on school desegregation, more specifically on the events that took place in Boston, Massachusetts during 1974. This is when federal judge W. Arthur Garrity ordered the Boston public schools to begin the forced busing of students to achieve racial desegregation. This caused a violent public controversy that exposed the racial and class divisions in Boston society. State police and National Guardsmen were even called on to escort African American students in to the schools. Research Question: How did the desegregation of Boston Public Schools compare to other major school systems, in non-Southern US cities, in 1974? It is more commonly known that segregation was occurring on the regular in the US south at this time, but northern US cities can sometimes be left out of the discussion. This is likely because of the Civil War going in favor of the Union. What are other notable moments in American history in which segregation was challenged in public schools? What was the first major national news story involving desegregation in the American school system. Search Terms: Search terms that I have included in my research so far: Boston, 1974, busing, desegregation, and public schools, and W. Arthur Garrity. I then narrowed my search using filters to find primary and secondary sources. Sources: To get into my research and narrow down my subject matter I focused on finding two primary and two secondary sources for this assignment. One secondary source is

Beyond Boundaries: Envisioning Metropolitan School Desegregation in Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia, 1963-1974. (2020). Journal of Urban History, 46(1), 129–149. This source provides more insight into comparing Boston with how other cities were dealing with desegregation at this time. Another secondary source is Kerry Dunne, (2016) Busing & Beyond: School Desegregation in Boston. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/busing-beyond-school-desegregation-in-boston.

This

source

contains statements and facts, most specifically the story of Sarah Roberts, the first back girl to sue the city of Boston for having to walk past five schools in order to attend an inferior blackonly school in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of the city. In this story she loses, but this event while not necessary to the changes to segregation in the 20 th century, likely played a role in helping public sentiment evolve in favor of desegregation and equal rights. One primary source I selected is 142 Remarks on Boston School Desegregation Violence. October 12, 1974. (2001). American Reference Library - Primary Source Documents, 1. Which is a direct source of President Gerald Ford’s reaction towards the violence that had occurred in Boston Schools on that day. A firsthand account and response from the leader of the country. A second primary source I selected is “Letter from the Massachusetts Black Caucus to Judge

W.

Arthur

Garrity,

Jr.,”

Digital

Public

Library

of

America,

http://dp.la/item/5900ec2af45fabf8fc011c989e4e46a6. This firsthand account by the Black Caucus represents the sentiment felt in the African American community of Boston at this time. Fears of violence, calling in the National Guard to secure the city. An intense (valid) perspective that cannot be ignored.

Thesis Statement: Based on my research to date, I will try to support the following thesis: Even with the work of civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr, Jesse Jackson, and Malcolm X, as well as the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) securing equal educational opportunity for all. African Americans were still being marginalized and segregated in schools well into the 1970s. Real change did not begin until Boston (Massachusetts) and other major metropolitans began to actually enforce the ruling. A major contributing cause was the forced busing of African American students in the city of Boston in 1974, 20 years after Brown v. Board of Education. I am catering this thesis to a general yet informed audience. A basic academic audience would be drawn in by using familiar names from the civil rights movement, like MLK and Malcolm X; those who had been involved in the fight for equality (civil rights) relevant to the decades between Brown v Board of Education and the forced busing of students in Boston in 1974. I intend to discuss failed attempts at desegregation and how other cities (specifically Detroit and Philadelphia) each had to “awaken” to this crisis for real change to happen. Although court rulings had found in favor of desegregation, simply having a court ruling or law put on the books was not creating actual changes in the schools themselves. Just about anyone would benefit from researching this topic, but an adult audience would be most appropriate. I believe this topic is open to even the most unknown audiences within America because of the racial climate that has accompanied the USA throughout its history....