Hope, John, III, Ed.
Abstract
appropriate for the Commission on Civil Rights to commemorate the
Supreme Court's decision with an examination of the civil rights
progress between 1954 and 1974. The first report in the series provided a
brief historical background. This second report covers equality of
educational opportunity. Among the report's findings are the following:
school desegregation has progressed substantially in the South; progress
in the North has been minimal; without positive action, segregation in
urban areas (both North and South) appears likely to increase, and
urban-suburban racial subdivisions will be intensified; most fears about
school desegregation have proved groundless, and desegregation is
working where it has been genuinely attempted; "freedom of choice" has
proved a totally ineffective method of school desegregation; the federal
government's commitment to desegregation must include the termination
of federal assistance to school systems maintaining segregated schools;
desegregation of dual school systems has often resulted in displacement
or demotion of black school staff; and, there is evidence that
disciplinary action against minority pupils in some desegregated schools
has resulted in high numbers of expulsions and suspensions.
