Integration in Memphis Schools

            Remember that Brown v. Board was in 1954. Memphis did not integrate its first schools until 1961 with thirteen first graders—now known as the Memphis 13. The Board of Education’s subsequent plans for integration did not demonstrate to the courts that integration would be completed in a timely and effective manner, so Plans A and Z were adopted. The plans utilized busing to bring students from their original neighborhoods to a paired school where the majority of students were of a different race. Community reactions to these plans were far from positive and caused lasting effects on both the Memphis City School District, and the city as a whole.

            Economic strains, racism, and classism were all at the heart of anti-busing sentiments within the community. The city of Memphis did not own any school buses at this time—all schools were neighborhood schools and within walking distance. The cost to obtain them was estimated at $1.5 million. Busing also inflated the annual transportation costs to more than ten times its previous number from $51,000 to $524,000. Community organizations, such as Citizens Against Busing (CAB) and Frayser Against Busing (FAB) were created to protest the busing plan. Another popular response was white flight. By January of 1973—when Plan A began—more than 17,000 white students had left the district. By 1978, 40,000 white students had fled to the predominantly white suburbs of Shelby County.

Another alternative to integration was attending private schools. By the time busing plans went into effect, two-dozen new schools had been created and private school enrollment had increased by 14,000. These schools were seen as a refuge for white flight—being able to admit a token Black student, or none at all—and many did not even meet state regulations for education and were later closed.  Reactions to busing shaped the demography of race and class in the Memphis Public Education System. Students left in the public schools were generally black, poor, or both.

These reactions to busing shaped the demography of race and class in Memphis City Schools. During the era of desegregation, there was the unfortunate—and incorrect view—that because schools were attended and run by African Americans those schools were worse than their white counterparts. Traditionally underfunded since their conception, African American schools generally had older textbooks and poorly built facilities. Such impressions lasted through the decades—even in the past five years where this discourse was particularly evident in the school district merger. In Shelby County Schools—the current school district that houses the schools of the city of Memphis—76.7 percent of students are African American and only 7.5 percent White. 75.7 percent of Shelby County Schools students are economically disadvantaged.

Sources:

Marcus Pohlmann, Opportunity Lost: Race and Poverty in the Memphis City Schools (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2010).

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