We discuss segregation, the civil rights movement, and resistance to school integration in Boston with Matthew Delmont, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College and author of the influential book Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation. I also speak with Ted Landsmark, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Director of the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center, about his perspective on Boston’s record on integration and his experience being attacked at City Hall Plaza (captured in the Pulitzer Prize winning photo by Stanley Forman, the Soiling of Old Glory).
Readings:
Mug battle question: In 1975 an “anti-busing” amendment was attached to the federal education spending bill (the one that passed–several previous amendments did not) that said that no federal funds could be used by school systems “to assign teachers or students to schools for reasons of race.” What was the name of the Senator who wrote the amendment?
Answer: Joe Biden. Congratulations to Anna Yerxa for winning it in a showdown!
Further reading (and listening and viewing): There are few topics in Boston’s history that have received more attention than “busing.” Many of the books on the topic that are most read and assigned however are problematic in ways that become clear in Prof. Delmont’s book Why Busing Failed (see “Moving Beyond ‘Common Ground'” on the book’s companion site).
- Beyond Busing: Boston School Desegregation Archival Resources (Northeastern Library)
- Boston Public Schools Desegregation Project (Northeastern Digital Repository Service)
- Busing and Beyond: School Desegregation in Boston (DPLA)
- Busing in Boston: A Research Guide (Suffolk University Moakley Archive and Institute)
- Morgan v. Hennigan (1974)
- Leon Neyfakh, Fiasco Season 3 (the Battle for Boston)
See below for the full interview with Prof. Landsmark: