Welcome
This item is protected by copyright and/or related rights.
During the Desegregation of Boston Public Schools in the 1970s, a plan to integrate the city’s schools by busing students to different neighborhoods was met with intense backlash and often violent protest from many white residents. This period revealed how deeply entrenched structural racism and racial identity were in a northern city decades after the Supreme Court ruled segregation unconstitutional.
Desegregating Boston Schools: Reports from the 1970s is a digital history resource for students and teachers hosting primary source records from Boston’s Citywide Coordinating Council, an independent body overseeing the desegregation of Boston schools as well as digital projects created by graduate students at Boston College.
“Law & Order BPS: Police Presence in High Schools During the Desegregation of Boston Public Schools, 1976” by Kelly Lyons uses data visualizations to consider the relationship between increased police presence and student behavior. “Monitor Report Timeline” by Kenneth Haley utilizes timeline software to better understand the interconnectedness of events from this era in Boston schooling.
To get started learning about the Desegregation of Boston Schools, check out Boston Desegregation in Context.