People, Locations, Episodes

Mon, 06.02.1969

The United States v. Montgomery County Board of Education is Decided

*On this date in 1969, United States v. Montgomery County Board of Education was decided.

In this action, the United States District Court in Montgomery, Alabama, ordered the local Montgomery County Board of Education to desegregate the county school system's faculty and staff based on race. 

This action commenced in May 1964 to end racial segregation in Montgomery County, Alabama, public schools. The District Judge issued his initial order in 1964 requiring the integration of certain grades. He followed this with yearly proceedings, with reports by the school board and hearings, opinions, and court orders.

The 1968 court order dealt, among other things, with faculty and staff desegregation and provided that the school board must move toward a goal whereby "in each school, the ratio of white to Negro faculty members is substantially the same as it is throughout the system."

A panel of the Court of Appeals modified the order, and an equally divided Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing.

New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

The sale began-young girls were there, Defenseless in their wretchedness, Whose stifled sobs of deep despair Revealed their anguish and distress. And Mothers stood with streaming eyes, And saw their dearest children... THE SLAVE AUCTION by Frances E. W. Harper.
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