Increasing Desegregation of the Old South Post-1970 (Edexcel A-Level History): Revision Notes
Increasing Desegregation of the Old South Post-1970
Legal foundations from the 1950s and 1960s
The journey towards desegregation in the Old South was built on major legal victories achieved in the 1950s and 1960s. These landmark decisions and acts of legislation established the legal framework for racial equality:
Key legal milestones:
- 1954: The US Supreme Court ruled in Brown v Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas that racially separated public schools were unconstitutional. This was a turning point that challenged the legal basis of segregation.
- 1956 and early 1960s: The Supreme Court declared racially segregated public transportation illegal, extending desegregation beyond schools.
- 1964: The Civil Rights Act was passed, giving black Americans full civil equality with white Americans in public facilities, employment and education.
- 1965: The Voting Rights Act removed barriers that had prevented black Americans from exercising their right to vote, particularly in southern states.
Despite these legal victories, the reality in the Old South remained far from equal. The law had changed, but society was slower to follow. A significant gap existed between legal equality and actual social change.
Challenges in implementing desegregation
Although federal legislation established legal equality, putting these changes into practice across the Old South proved extremely difficult. Several factors contributed to this slow progress:
Massive white resistance emerged as the primary obstacle to integration. This resistance took multiple forms:
- State governments actively opposed federal desegregation orders
- Violence and intimidation were used against black Americans who attempted to exercise their new rights
- White communities organised to prevent integration of schools and public facilities
A particular problem was the existence of local community schools in areas with distinct black and white populations. Because neighbourhoods were segregated by race, neighbourhood schools remained effectively segregated even after Brown v Board of Education. If a school drew its students from an all-white or all-black neighbourhood, the school would remain segregated regardless of the law.
The Little Rock Crisis (1957)
The events at Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 illustrated the scale of resistance. Federal armed forces had to be deployed simply to allow seven black students to attend an all-white school, demonstrating how fierce opposition to integration could be. This dramatic confrontation revealed that legal rulings alone were insufficient to overcome entrenched segregation.
Supreme Court enforcement in 1969 and 1971
By the late 1960s, it was clear that legal changes alone were insufficient. The US Supreme Court took more aggressive action to enforce actual integration:
Alexander v Holmes County School Board (October 1969)
The Court demanded racial integration of schools immediately, rather than the gradual approach that had been tolerated. The phrase "with all deliberate speed" from Brown was no longer acceptable – integration had to happen at once.
Charlotte Mecklenburg case (April 1971)
This ruling went further by introducing bussing as a solution to residential segregation. The Court ordered that children should be transported by bus from black-only and white-only neighbourhoods to ensure full racial integration in public schools. This was controversial but effective in breaking down the barriers created by segregated housing patterns.
Bussing became one of the most contentious aspects of desegregation. While it successfully integrated schools, it sparked significant debate and resistance from both white and some black communities who preferred neighbourhood schools.
The transformation of school segregation
These Supreme Court decisions led to a dramatic social revolution in southern education. The statistics tell a remarkable story of rapid change:
- 1969 (when Richard Nixon became president): 68% of black American children attended segregated schools
- 1974 (when Nixon resigned): Only 8% of black American children attended segregated schools
This represented a transformation of the educational landscape in just five years. The armed standoff at Little Rock in 1957 now seemed like a distant memory as integrated education became the norm rather than the exception across the Old South. The dramatic drop from 68% to 8% demonstrates how effective Supreme Court enforcement was when combined with federal determination.
Political participation and representation
The Voting Rights Act enabled black Americans to play a full and active role in Old South politics for the first time since Reconstruction. This led to significant political breakthroughs:
Congressional representation:
Black Americans were elected to represent southern districts in the US Congress, giving them a voice in national legislation.
Mayoral elections:
Black Americans were elected mayors of major southern cities, demonstrating their growing political influence:
- Atlanta, Georgia
- New Orleans, Louisiana
Maynard Jackson (1973):
Jackson became the first black American since 1877 to win election as mayor of a major southern city when he was elected mayor of Atlanta. This 96-year gap illustrates how complete black Americans' exclusion from southern politics had been during the Jim Crow era.
Andrew Young:
A close aide of Martin Luther King, Young later became mayor of Atlanta. Under his leadership, Atlanta won the honour of hosting the 1996 summer Olympic Games. This international celebration in a city that had once been deeply segregated symbolised how far the South had progressed.
The election of black mayors in major southern cities represented more than symbolic victories. These officials gained real political power to shape policies, allocate resources, and transform their cities' relationships with black communities.
Opportunities beyond education and politics
Desegregation extended beyond schools and voting booths into other areas of southern life:
Housing:
Residential areas that had been exclusively white began to allow black Americans to purchase and rent homes. This broke down the neighbourhood segregation that had made school integration so difficult.
Sports:
Professional sports teams that had been exclusively white, such as baseball teams, now included black American players. This integration of sport both reflected and encouraged broader social change.
These changes opened up new possibilities for black Americans to participate fully in southern society across multiple spheres of life.
The bifurcation of black American society
However, not all black Americans benefited equally from desegregation and civil rights legislation. Following the end of legal segregation in 1964-65, black American society became divided in two:
The black American middle class:
Many black Americans were able to take advantage of new opportunities. They:
- Received college educations
- Entered professional careers
- Achieved financial stability
- Moved into previously white neighbourhoods
Those left behind:
Others remained trapped in poverty, experiencing:
- The same poorly paid jobs they had before
- Poor housing conditions
- Limited educational opportunities
- Social and economic marginalisation
Understanding Bifurcation
This bifurcation (splitting into two distinct groups) of southern black American society became a defining feature of the period from 1970 to 2009. Legal equality did not automatically translate into economic equality, and class divisions within the black American community became increasingly significant.
The civil rights victories created opportunities, but access to those opportunities depended heavily on factors like education, family wealth, and social connections. This meant that while some black Americans experienced dramatic upward mobility, others saw little improvement in their daily lives.
Key Points to Remember:
-
The 1950s and 1960s established legal equality through Brown v Board of Education (1954), the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965), but implementation in the Old South was slow due to massive white resistance.
-
Supreme Court decisions in 1969 (Alexander v Holmes) and 1971 (Charlotte Mecklenburg) enforced immediate integration and introduced bussing, leading to a dramatic drop in school segregation from 68% to 8% between 1969 and 1974.
-
Political participation increased significantly, with black Americans elected to Congress and as mayors of southern cities. Maynard Jackson (1973) was the first black mayor of a major southern city since 1877, and Atlanta hosted the Olympics in 1996 under black mayor Andrew Young.
-
Desegregation extended beyond schools to housing and sports, but black American society became bifurcated, with some joining the middle class whilst others remained in poverty.
-
The period 1970-2009 saw real progress in dismantling legal segregation in the Old South, but economic inequality and de facto segregation persisted, showing that legal equality did not automatically create social or economic equality.