Boston Public Library
Boston School Desegregation: A Bibliography
Government Information
In the history of Boston in the late twentieth century, the
events around the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools in the 1970s is big
topic. While the roots of the issue stretched
back to the 1960s and 1950s, problems of inequalities in education in Boston
came to light with the U.S. District Court decision in the case of Morgan v
Hennigan (379 F.Supp 410, also available as a document from the ERIC database). This led to a well known chain in events,
ending with oversight of the Boston Public Schools passing into the hands of W.
Arthur Garrity, the judge in the case, until the 1980s. The following is
not exhaustive, but represents materials held by the Boston Public Library and
some materials available from databases.
Books- Popular Literature
- Common Ground, by J. Anthony Lukas. (First
edition and Second
edition) This Pulitzer Prize volume follows how busing affects
three Boston families, one Irish American from Charlestown, one African
American from Roxbury, and one Urban Professional living in the South End.
(1985)
- Liberty's Chosen Home, by Alan Lupo. (First
edition and Second
edition) This was written shortly after the 1974-75 and 1975-76
school years by a reporter various Boston media outlets at the time. (1977)
- Boston Against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the
1960s and 1970s, by Ronald Formisano. (First
edition and Second
edition) This was an attempt to view the issue beyond the usual
racial prism. (1991 and 2001)
- Southie Won't Go: A Teacher's Diary of the Desegregation
of South Boston High School, by Ione Malloy. An account of a year in the life of the school most
impacted by busing. (1986)
Books- Scholarly Work and Dissertations
- Desegregation: The Boston Orders and Their Origin, by
John Adkins. A 1975 work by the Boston Bar Association.
- Organization
of Anti-Busing Protest in Boston, 1973-1976, by Thomas Begley.
(1981)
- School
Desegregation and Defended Neighborhoods: the Boston Controversy, by
Emmett Buell. (1982)
- The
Hardest Lesson: Personal Accounts of a School Desegregation Crisis,
by Pamela Bullard and Judith Stoia. (1980) Describes how the
desegregation of Boston's schools in the 1970s affected the lives of
selected individual students and several adults, chosen to represent a cross
section of the community.
- Nothing
Will Stop Us: the Climax of Racial Segregation in the Boston Public Schools,
1963-1974, by Howard John Chislett (1979)
- Schools
on Trial: an Inside Account of the Boston Desegregation Case, by
Robert A. Dentlet and Marvin Scott. (1981)
- Busing,
by Thomas Cottle. (1976)
- Battle
of Boston, by Jon Hillson. (1977)
- An
Alternative Plan for the Integration of Boston's Public Schools, by Mel King. (1973)
- Great Expectations: the History of School Desegregation
in Atlanta and Boston, 1954-1990, by Susan Margaret McGrath. (1992
dissertation available through Dissertation Abstracts) The Boston
Public Library does not hold this in print or microform.
- From
Little Rock to Boston: the History of School Desegregation, by
George R. Metcalf. (1983)
- Social
Conflict and Social Movements: an Exploratory Study of the Black Community
of Boston Attempting to Change the Boston Public Schools, by Tahi
Lani Mottl. (1976 dissertation available through Dissertation
Abstracts)
- Court
Desengagement in the Boston Public Schools: Toward a Theory of Restorative
Law, by Marsha Marie Murningham. (1983)
- The
Effects of Court-Ordered Desegregation on the Public School System of
Boston, Massachusetts, by Mark D. O'Donnell. (1996 dissertation
available through Dissertation Abstracts)
- "I
Respectfully Disagree with the Judge's Order": the Boston School
Desegregation Controversy, by J. Michael Ross and William Berg.
(1981)
- Boston's
Experience with School Desegregation and White Flight, by Christine
Rossell. (1977) The Boston Public Library does not hold this in
print or microform.
- Boston
School Integration Dispute: Social Change and Legal Maneuvers, by J.
Brian Sheehan. (1984)
- Black
Sisyphus: Boston Schools and the Black Community, 1790-2000, by Bryn Eric Upton. (2003 dissertation available through Dissertation
Abstracts)
Government Information and Related Materials
- Boston Public Schools
- Massachusetts Board of Education
- Boston School Desegregation. Report to the United
States District Court, District of Massachusetts. Jul
15, 1983. Available on microfiche as part of the ERIC collection,
EDs 236277 and 236278. Not yet digitized.
- Report
No. 2 to the United States District Court, District of Boston, on School
Integration. Feb 1, 1984. Vols. 1 & 2 are available online.
- Report
No. 3 to the United States District Court, District of Boston, on School
Integration. Jul 15, 1984. Vols. 1, 2A,
and 2B are available online
- Report
No. 4 to the United States District Court, District of Boston, on School
Integration. Feb 1, 1985. Available online.
- Report
No. 5 to the United States District Court, District of Boston, on School
Integration. Jul 15, 1985. Vols. 1 & 2 are available online.
- Massachusetts Research Center
- Massachusetts Task Force on Racial Imbalance
- United States District Court. District of
Massachusetts
- United States Commission on Civil Rights
- United States Comptroller General
Other Materials
- The City
of Boston Archives has extensive holdings of materials relating to
desegregation.
- The ERIC database of
the United States Department of Education holds many items relating to
desegregation in Boston.
- The Microtext
Department holds a 2 reel collection of articles from the Boston
Globe entitled Boston Busing, 1969-1975. These are arranged
chronologically. The call number is LC214.53.B67B38x.
Compiled by John J. Devine of the Government Information
Department with the assistance of the entire staff of the Government Information Department and Michael D'Ortenzio, Jr.
