Rebecca Zantjer Integrated Memories: Historical Background Draft Wednesday, November 21 2012

A City Divided Against Itself Kalamazoo, Michigan in the 1960's was a city divided. The city was bifurcated racially into neighborhood ghettos that concentrated the African-American population of the city into the north and east communities of the city. Although Blacks comprised only 10.0% of Kalamazoo's total population, Black families were clustered into four primary neighborhoods, with Black individuals comprising 28.1%, 79.3%, 58.1%, and 30.4% of census tracts 1-4 respectively. In contrast, of the remaining 44 census tracts, 34 contained less than 2.0% Blacks with 9 census tracts reporting a 0.0% Blacks population.1 This segregation of family populations was replicated in the dichotomies that existed between "Black" and "White" schools throughout the Kalamazoo Public School (KPS) system. This division was most apparent at the elementary school level. Of the 29 KPS primary schools in existence in 1968, 5 schools contained 91.2% of all Black elementary students in the district. Northglade, and Lincoln were majority Black, with Black students comprising 86.3% and 95.4% of the total school population. By contrast, 20 of the elementary schools contained 10 or less Black students with 6 schools reporting zero Black students. A report compiled in 1968 also revealed that the KPS was deeply segregated at the junior high school and high school levels. The study found that 95.5% of all Black junior high students attended three of the five junior high schools. Kalamazoo also contained two senior high schools: Kalamazoo Central High School (hereafter referred to as Central or KCHS) and Loy Norrix High School (hereafter referred to as Loy Norrix). At the time of this study, a staggering 93.2% of all Black senior high students attended Central. Whereas Black students comprised 19.7% of Central's student population, Black students accounted for only 1.6% of the student body at Loy Norrix. The result of these segregated schools was a significant gap in achievement between schools that were predominantly Black and schools that were predominantly White. More and better resources were allocated to majority White schools2. The unequal distribution of funding and resources led to students in primarily Black schools to fall behind. In the 1969 Report of the Racial Balance Committee, it was found that, "the predominantly black attended schools achieve at a level two grades below national norms in grade six." In 1970 the District Court found thatby the time they graduated, Black students had fallen as many as four grades behind their White counterparts.3

Taken from the 1970 Census data. http://www.socialexplorer.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/pub/reportdata/htmlresults.aspx?ReportId=R10342829&Items PerPage=100&Page=4 http://www.socialexplorer.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/pub/reportdata/htmlresults.aspx?ReportId=R10342843&Items PerPage=10 2 Opinion of the United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit in Oliver vs. Kalamazoo Board of Education December 9, 1974: Page 13 3 Opinion of the United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit in Oliver vs. Kalamazoo Board of Education December 9, 1974 (page 9)

Unrest and Violence As a nation, America itself was going through a period of civil division and racial turmoil. In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. People were speaking out against the systems of institutionalized racism that continued to marginalize and disenfranchise minority groups. The decade was a scene of increasing tension and violence; and Kalamazoo Central High School became a reflective microcosm of that struggle. Local news reports, school documents, and eye witness testimony speak to the increasing racial violence and social tension that became part of daily life at Kalamazoo Central High School. A junior high school superintendent reported that, at one time, as many as 20 racial group fights were occurring per day. Between 1970-1971, schools were dismissed early multiple times because the school environment was deemed "not safe" for students. Although not exclusive, the three incidents that I will report briefly below are examples of events that were typical of that time. In September 1968, a noontime fight broke out in the cafeteria. School officials then determined that tensions in the school were too high to continue holding classes and the buses were ordered to take students home. All Kalamazoo public schools remained closed for almost a week (and, according to some reports4, Central High School specifically remained closed for 10 days) . Reports from The Times-Picayune assert that the fight was caused in response to demands by the Black Action Movement that the head football coach, Paul Baldwin, be replaced. Baldwin was accused of issuing invitations to practice to only White students, thereby lessening the chances of Black students making or holding starting positions on the football team. Dr. John Cochran, Superintended of the KPS, maintained that all practices were public notice. This incident followed a series of demonstrations and walk-outs by White students at the introduction of three Black students to the cheerleading squad. In April 1969, violence erupted again at Central when a ceremony to commemorate the one year anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was cancelled by school officials because the "script" for the program was "inappropriate." Newspaper clippings (and another one) describe students throwing rocks and overturning police cars. Small shops and businesses in the downtown region were vandalized, causing over $3,000 in damages. Finally, in 1970 schools were again closed for the week. Although I have been unable to find primary source documents that relate the details of what happened to cause this school closure, recorded comments from the school board meeting held Monday, May 4th, 1970 reveal both the parents' concern about the situation in the schools and give a record of the Dr. John Cochran's (the KPS Superintendent)report on what happened at Central that day. He stated that: 1. Twenty students were reported as having been hit or assaulted. 2. One of these students was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He was treated and released to his parents. Two of the above students were taken to the hospital by their parents. They were treated and released. 3. Six students were reported as having been arrested. They were led off school grounds--in, or near, the Community Services building parking lot.
4

D'Avanzo, Matt. "School District Desegregation and its Impact in Kalamazoo, MI" page 4

Dr. Cochran also stated that he had a report from the Buildings and Grounds Division which estimated the total damage done at Central that day to be a total of $275 to $300, mostly in broken windows. In today's costs, that damage would have totaled between $1570 to $17135. Integration Begins It was during these turbulent times that the school district began talking about taking steps to integrate the schools. On November 6, 1968, the President of Kalamazoo Board of Education (KBE) appointed a Citizens' Committee on Integration (also known as the Racial Balance Committee) to recommend, among other things, "general guidelines for the achievement of socio-economic and racial integration throughout the Kalamazoo public schools6." The Committee's report was submitted on August 18, 1969 and found serious "racial isolation" in the District's schools. The Committee recommended a three-step integration plan be adopted. Phase 1 and Phase 2 were preparatory and were recommended to begin in September 1969. These preparations included in-service training for faculty and the hiring of more Black teachers and school personnel. Actual desegregation Phase 3 scheduled to commence in September 1971. The KBE approved this plan at the regularly scheduled school board meeting on May 7, 1971. Originally the plan to integrate the schools was targeted solely at the high schools in Kalamazoo Central. When that plan was expanded, however, to include the elementary and junior high schools, the Kalamazoo community reacted with great hostility towards the proposed integration plan. The next board meeting, held in late May of 1971, drew of 2,100 attendees many who were adamantly opposed to the plan to integrate the school system. School board elections were held the following month and, on June 14, 1971, two new members (who had campaigned heavily on the principle that they opposed the May 7th integration plan) were elected to the Kalamazoo Board of Education and at the next Board meeting the Committee's plan for the desegregation of public schools in Kalamazoo was rescinded. In the wake of this dramatic overturn of events, Michelle Oliver (with the backing of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples [NAACP]) filed a lawsuit against the Kalamazoo Board of Education stating that they were unlawfully segregating the schools . Her petition asked the courts to legally enforce the original May 7th integration plan. Later that summer, Federal District Court Judge Noel P. Fox, Jr. issued a preliminary injunction ordering the KBE to proceed with the original desegregation plan. Although the Board responded with antagonism, promising they would fight the injunction all the way through the legal process, the Kalamazoo Public Schools were officially integrated in September 1971. Oliver v. Kalamazoo Board of Education Over the next few months, Judge Fox listened to testimony and evidence from both community members and school officials to determine whether or not the injunction to integrate the school systems should remain permanent. His ruling, handed down in this date, was monumental and in it the Kalamazoo Board of Education was found guilty of de jure segregation.

5 6

Inflation rates calculated using the Inflation Calculator at http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ 368 F. Supp. at 192

De jure segregation is a condition in which school and government officials are shown to have taken explicit actions and measures to knowingly preserve a system of segregation in the school system, even in the presence of federal laws that make segregation illegal. (When segregation is enforced by law, it is known as de facto segregation). In the precedent set up in Keyes v. School District No 1, a finding of de jure segregation requires a showing of three elements: 1) action or inaction by public officials (2) with a segregative purpose (3) which actually results in increased or continued segregation in the public schools. Specifically, the Kalamazoo Board of Education was found guilty of using three techniques to maintain a segregated system in the Kalamazoo Public Schools. These included: 1. Using attendance zone policies that further perpetuated racial segregation. 2. Building and siting schools in areas that would maintain racial segregation. 3. Assigning staff and faculty to schools on the basis of race and in ways that maintained the Black/White division. Attendance Zone Policies The KBE was found to have intentionally drawn up attendance zones that assigned students in majority Black areas to one school while assigning students in majority White areas to another school. The KBE claimed that this was part of the "Neighborhood School" policy (in which students are sent to schools within their geographic neighborhoods) and that the school board was not responsible for people choosing to live in racially segregated areas. The courts, however, found that this was not the case and that individuals were often assigned to schools that had a majority of students of the same race even if there were schools that were closer to them geographically. Furthermore, students who were in "between areas" (equally spaced between two school districts) were overwhelmingly assigned to schools with a clear Black or White majority, depending on the student's race. In areas of the city that were changing rapidly, or were a cluster of White students were located in a majority Black area, the KBE would implement optional attendance areas which gave White families the opportunity to send their children to majority White schools instead of being forced to attend the majority Black schools. (As far as the record shows, however, Black families were not given this same opportunity). An example of how these policies were enacted in daily life in Kalamazoo was the story of the Harding elementary school, which closed in 1960. Half of Harding's parent population, which was 15.7% Black had their children reassigned to Edison School. The other half which was less than 2% Black has their children reassigned to an optional attendance zone. the Board then located a portable building at a nearby predominately White school, despite available space at Edison, which had a substantial number of Black students7 School Construction and Siting The courts found that, when new schools were being built or new additions were being added to existing schools, the KBE chose to place schools in places that would perpetuate racial segregation.
7

Opinion of the United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit in Oliver vs. Kalamazoo Board of Education December 9, 1974: Page 10

They would place schools in areas that were clearly majority White or Black and avoid building schools in mixed ethnic areas. Specifically, the court records two incidents as examples of this type of policy: The KBE built Northglade elementary in a predominately Black area to "contain the future growth of the Black elementary school student population on the north side in...three schools." The KBE voted to add classrooms to White schools, even though there was available space in predominately Black schools.

Staff Assignment The Kalamazoo Public School system was proven to have a history of assigning Black faculty and staff to primarily (almost exclusively) to only Black majority schools. Of the Black elementary staff in the Kalamazoo public schools in 1970, 80% were concentrated in the four elementary schools which contained 80% of the Black elementary students. Conclusion Based on this evidence, Judge Fox ordered that the integration injunction be made permanent. Although the KBE appealed the case (eventually going to the Michigan Supreme Court), his decision was upheld by higher courts. His ruling is telling of both the KBE's actions prior to 1970 and the new attitudes that were taking hold in the education system post-1970: "The State Board's persistent failure to implement the Joint Policy Statement of 1966 has been effective notice to local school districts throughout Michigan of a policy of non-supervision in the area of desegregation. These school boards were able to conclude that they could take actions for perpetuating Black schools without the interposition of the State Board and the State Superintendent. This non-action exacerbated the segregated condition in many school systems in the State of Michigan, diminished the likelihood of voluntary desegregation and permitted or perhaps encouraged the kind of counterproductive action exhibited in Kalamazoo on July 6, 19718."

383 F.Supp at 190.