Chicago Public Schools boycott

Last updated

The Chicago Public Schools boycott, also known as Freedom Day, was a mass boycott and demonstration against the segregationist policies of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) on October 22, 1963. [1] More than 200,000 students stayed out of school, and tens of thousands of Chicagoans joined in a protest that culminated in a march to the office of the Chicago Board of Education. [2] The protest preceded the larger New York City public school boycott, also known as Freedom Day.

Contents

History

Although Brown v. Board of Education prohibited racial segregation in schools, in 1963, Chicago's public schools continued to be segregated as a result of residential segregation. [3] This was exacerbated by the migration of more black Americans from the Southern United States to Chicago during the Jim Crow era. [4] School boundary lines were drawn specifically to preserve racial segregation, even as predominantly black schools grew overcrowded. [4] Classes were held in hallways, and there were not enough books for all of the students. [4] Some schools held double shifts, meaning students attended less than a full day of class. [5] Rather than send black students to underpopulated white schools, Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools Benjamin Willis instituted the use of mobile classrooms; 625 [6] aluminium trailers parked in the parking lots and playgrounds of overcrowded schools. [1] Rosie Simpson of Englewood, Chicago, coined the term "Willis Wagons" to describe the mobile classrooms. At one high school, these trailers were used to maintain segregation within the school; black students' classes were held in Willis Wagons, while only white students went to class in the school. [4]

Freedom Day

In response to the school segregation enacted by Willis, community members began organizing resistance. Organizers included Chicago activist Albert Raby. [7] The Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO) took the lead, organizing "Freedom Day," the mass boycott and protest. [8] According to the chairman of the CCCO, Lawrence Landry, "The boycott is an effort to communicate dissatisfaction on how schools are being run." [9] The Chicago Defender estimated that forty percent of CPS students would participate in the boycott. [9] On October 22, 1963, nearly half of all CPS students skipped school, leaving schools on Chicago's South Side and West Side mostly empty. [3] The Chicago Tribune reported that 224,770 students were absent from CPS, amounting to 47 percent of the student population. [10] Some students opted to attend makeshift Freedom Schools instead. [11] In addition to the boycott, nearly 10,000 protesters marched in Chicago's downtown, stopping outside the Chicago Board of Education offices. Chicago police kept protesters from entering the building. [5]

While Freedom Day was popular and widely covered, it did not have significant impact in changing the policies of Superintendent Willis. Ultimately, CPS was not moved to integrate after Freedom Day, despite the best efforts of Black activists and the CCCO. [8] Use of Willis Wagons prevailed, [4] and Willis himself did not retire until 1966 (albeit four months before the end of his term). [6] However, the size of the first Freedom Day protest inspired subsequent boycotts in Chicago [12] and the United States. [13] [14]

The Freedom Day protest inspired Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s move to Chicago in 1966. [4] Before Freedom Day, in August, 1963, then-college student Bernie Sanders was arrested while protesting the policies of Superintendent Willis. [15] [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil rights movement</span> 1954–1968 U.S. nonviolent social movement

The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United States. The movement had its origins in the Reconstruction era during the late 19th century, although it made its largest legislative gains in the 1960s after years of direct actions and grassroots protests. The social movement's major nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience campaigns eventually secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congress of Racial Equality</span> Civil rights organization in the United States

The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about equality for all people regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Christian Leadership Conference</span> African-American civil rights organization

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civil rights movement.

Albert Anderson Raby was a teacher at Chicago's Hess Upper Grade Center who secured the support of Martin Luther King Jr. to desegregate schools and housing in Chicago between 1965 and 1967. Raby was a part of the civil rights movement and helped create the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO), the mission of the CCCO was to end segregation in Chicago schools. Raby tried to stay out of the media and public eye, which limited information known about him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Public Schools</span> Public school system of the municipal government of Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the fourth-largest school district in the United States, after New York, Los Angeles, and Miami-Dade County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham campaign</span> American civil rights campaign in Alabama (1963)

The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Women's Political Council (WPC), founded in Montgomery, Alabama, was an organization that formed in 1946 that was an early force active in the civil rights movement that was formed to address the racial issues in the city. Members included Mary Fair Burks, Jo Ann Robinson, Maude Ballou, Irene West, Thelma Glass, and Euretta Adair.

The Chicago Freedom Movement, also known as the Chicago open housing movement, was led by Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel and Al Raby. It was supported by the Chicago-based Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The movement included a large rally, marches, and demands to the City of Chicago. These specific demands covered a wide range of areas besides open housing, and included quality education, transportation and job access, income and employment, health, wealth generation, crime and the criminal justice system, community development, tenants rights, and quality of life. Operation Breadbasket, in part led by Jesse Jackson, sought to harness African-American consumer power. The Chicago Freedom Movement was the most ambitious civil rights campaign in the North of the United States, lasted from mid-1965 to August 1966, and is largely credited with inspiring the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Freedom Schools were temporary, alternative, and free schools for African Americans mostly in the South. They were originally part of a nationwide effort during the Civil Rights Movement to organize African Americans to achieve social, political and economic equality in the United States. The most prominent example of Freedom Schools was in Mississippi during the summer of 1964.

Benito Juarez Community Academy,, is a public 4–year high school in the Pilsen neighborhood on the west side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Juarez is named for Mexican president Benito Pablo Juárez García. The school is a part of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district. As of 2014 it is the largest high school in Pilsen. It was designed by architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnnie Carr</span>

Johnnie Rebecca Daniels Carr was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from 1955 until her death.

The Seattle school boycott of 1966 was a protest against racial segregation in the Seattle Public Schools. On March 31 and April 1, thousands of students left classes at their public schools, with the large majority of them attending community Freedom Schools instead.

Mae Mallory was an activist of the Civil Rights Movement and a Black Power movement leader active in the 1950s and 1960s. She is best known as an advocate of school desegregation and of black armed self-defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Frinks</span>

Golden Asro Frinks was an American civil rights activist and a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) field secretary who represented the New Bern, North Carolina SCLC chapter. He is best known as a principal civil rights organizer in North Carolina during the 1960s.

Eva Maria Lewis is a student protester, advocate, poet, and artist. From South Side, Chicago, she is a contributor to Teen Vogue, founder of The I Project, Youth for Black Lives, and an organizer of the July 11, 2016 youth march on Millennium Park to protest police brutality.

Stanley E. Branche was an American civil rights leader from Pennsylvania who worked as executive secretary in the Chester, Pennsylvania branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and founded the Committee for Freedom Now (CFFN).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City school boycott</span> Civil rights protest, February 3, 1964

The New York City school boycott, referred to as Freedom Day, was a large-scale boycott and protest against segregation in the New York City public school system which took place on February 3, 1964. Students and teachers walked out to highlight the deplorable conditions at public schools in the city, and demonstrators held rallies demanding school integration. It has been described as the largest civil rights protest of the 1960s, involving nearly half a million participants.

The Chester school protests were a series of demonstrations that occurred from November 1963 through April 1964 in Chester, Pennsylvania. The demonstrations focused on ending the de facto segregation that resulted in the racial categorization of Chester public schools, even after the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka (1954). The racial unrest and civil rights protests were led by Stanley Branche of the Committee for Freedom Now (CFFN) and George Raymond of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP).

The Committee for Freedom Now (CFFN) was an American civil rights organization in Chester, Pennsylvania, that worked to end de facto segregation and improve the conditions at predominantly black schools in Chester. CFFN was founded in 1963 by Stanley Branche along with the Swarthmore College chapter of Students for a Democratic Society and Chester parents. From November 1963 to April 1964, CFFN and the Chester chapter of the NAACP, led by George Raymond, initiated the Chester school protests which made Chester a key battleground in the civil rights movement.

Benjamin Coppage Willis was an educator and school administrator who served as superintendent of various school districts, most notably as superintendent of Chicago Public Schools.

References

  1. 1 2 "Fifty years ago today, the school boycott that rocked Chicago". Washington Post. October 22, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  2. ↑ "50th Anniversary Of 1963 Chicago School Boycott Inspires New Documentary (VIDEO)". Huffington Post. October 23, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "School Boycott | Facing Freedom". facingfreedom.org. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "1963 Chicago Public School Boycott". Chicago Tonight | WTTW. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  5. 1 2 Russum, Barbara (2012-10-22). "Today in history: 200,000 students boycotted Chicago public schools". People's World. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  6. 1 2 Lyall, Sarah (1988-08-31). "B.C. Willis, 86; Led Chicago Schools for 13 Years". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  7. ↑ Joravsky, Ben. "Remembering Chicago's great school boycott of 1963". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  8. 1 2 Danns, Dionne (2003). Something Better for Our Children: Black Organizing in Chicago Public Schools, 1963–1971. Psychology Press. ISBN   9780415935753.
  9. 1 2 "It's freedom day! expect thousands to participate". The Chicago Defender. October 22, 1963 – via Proquest.
  10. ↑ "224,770 or 47 Pct. of all Pupils, Miss Classes". Chicago Tribune. October 23, 1963 – via Proquest.
  11. ↑ Blakemore, Erin (January 15, 2020) [original March 14, 2018]. "Why MLK Encouraged 225,000 Chicago Kids to Cut Class in 1963". History Channel.
  12. ↑ Robinson, Peggy (February 26, 1964). "2 BIG UPSETS: BOYCOTT WINS! CLAY DOES, TOO!". The Chicago Defender– via Proquest.
  13. ↑ "CRCC Organizes Freedom Day Schook For April 17 [sic]". The Chicago Defender (Daily). March 17, 1964 – via Proquest.
  14. ↑ Demand for School Integration Leads to Massive 1964 Boycott — In New York City , retrieved July 13, 2017
  15. ↑ Skiba, Katherine. "Arrest photo of young activist Bernie Sanders emerges from Tribune archives". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  16. ↑ "The Story Behind Bernie Sanders's 1963 Arrest".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.