We're for Integration

Category
Additional Images
Text on Button WE'RE FOR INTEGRATION Phila. School Employees
Image Description

Black text on a white background.

Curl Text HORN CO. PHILA, PA, 19126 (union bug)
Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

The struggle for desegregation in schools was a major component of the Civil Rights Movement, and the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education outlawed school segregation in 1954.  Despite this ruling, actual change was slow to occur, and it took years for many schools to be integrated. 

Despite the fact that desegregation efforts in northern cities received much less attention than those in their southern counterparts, the integration process in Philadelphia was not an easy one. The city had a long history of keeping Black and white students and teachers separated. District policies kept Black teachers from teaching white children and Black administrators from supervising white teachers.  In 1961, the NAACP in Philadelphia started a school desegregation lawsuit in federal court, and in 1963 the court ordered the school board to develop a desegregation plan and file regular progress reports. Although the school board organized committees and ordered studies and reports, led largely by school employees,  change was limited to symbolic victories.

Sources

Mezzacappa, D. (2019, January 02). Philadelphia has a history of grappling with teacher segregation. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://thenotebook.org/articles/2018/12/26/philadelphia-has-a-history-…

School Segregation and Integration. (n.d.). Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-a…

Phillips, A. E. (2000). The struggle for school desegregation in Philadelphia, 1945-1967 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pennsylvania.

Catalog ID CA0595