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Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR) was an organization formed in Boston, Massachusetts by Louise Day Hicks in 1974. [1] Opposed to desegregation busing of Boston's public school students, the group protested the federally-mandated order to integrate Boston Public Schools by staging formal, sometimes violent protests. It remained active from 1974 until 1976. [2]
Many citizens felt the racial imbalance in Boston needed to be improved. The African-Americans of Boston had been fighting for equality in black and white public schools for decades before the creation of the Racial Imbalance Act or the formation of ROAR. Due to the inherent segregation within Boston, many schools were composed of either majority white or majority black students. This led to the white schools receiving more funding per student and having newer educational resources while black schools were receiving statistically much less funding and were typically of inferior quality than schools in primarily white districts.
One of the members of the Boston School Committee, Louise Day Hicks, was to become the founder of ROAR. The committee itself denied any accusations of inequity amongst white and black students. Hicks spoke outwardly against the desegregation of schools. The NAACP was not willing to let this segregation continue and filed a lawsuit against the Boston School Committee; this was the beginning of the Tallulah Morgan v. James Hennigan case which would eventually bring about forced busing. On June 21, 1974, Judge Garrity ruled that the Committee was to create a plan to desegregate their schools. When the committee failed to provide such an idea, the federal court became involved. By federal decision, students were to be bused to schools in different districts to decrease the level of inequal education students were receiving. [3]
Those who opposed the forced busing, which happened to be the majority of whites, especially mothers, in Boston, retaliated with protests. They eventually organized to create ROAR. While some of their concerns were legitimate, the organization was ultimately pro-segregation of schools. Not all members were definitive racists, but there was a connection between the group and racism as some of the members spoke outwardly against blacks. [3] Initially a small group of females, they quickly gained local popularity as many locals shared their opinions. The act of forced busing was seen as a populist movement that potentially threatened the traditional values that the women of ROAR held. [2] The fusing of mainly African-American and white districts could dissipate the borders between two very different neighborhoods that held different values, leading to certain groups feeling alienated. [4]
Louise Day-Hicks created "Save Boston Committee" in February 1974 with an agenda to restore "the custodial rights of parents over their children". [5] She believed it was unfair for the government to force all public schools to desegregate, claiming it was neither a viable nor a beneficial way to improve American society and education. The group was later renamed ROAR to oppose the Racial Imbalance Act in 1974. The busing change in their eyes was "a total disaster". [6] Hicks changed the name by the summer to ROAR. She used her position as a mother to rally others into her cause, arguing that the government needed to take a different approach if they wanted a stable nation. Some Americans, namely white mothers believed they were righteous in their cause and that they just wanted to keep the school environment running properly as much as possible.
The group's purpose was to fight off U.S. Federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity's court order requiring the city of Boston to implement desegregation busing — an order intended to eliminate de facto racial segregation in its public schools. To supporters, ROAR's purpose was its namesake; i.e., to protect the "vanishing rights" of white citizens. To its many opponents, however, ROAR was a symbol of mass racism coalesced into a single organization. ROAR was composed primarily of women, and its leaders argued that "the issue of forced busing is a women's issue." [7]
On April 3, 1974, the committee organized a 20,000 person march from Boston City Hall Plaza to the State House. [7] On March 19, 1975, 1,200 ROAR members marched in Washington DC to generate national support for their cause. [8]
Louise Day Hicks, the founder of the organization, firmly opposed the racial integration of schools in Boston for ten years beforehand. [9] Her office served as the headquarters for ROAR, she led a majority of protests, and she responded to all letters addressed to ROAR. [10] Once a fight between Hicks and fellow member Pixie Palladino broke out, members' trust in Hicks began to diminish.
Palladino was considered to be more radical than Hicks. [10] In January 1975, Palladino and eighty ROAR women stormed into a governor's commission on the status of women, dressed in "Stop Forced Busing" T-shirts. [11] On March 10, 1976, Palladino began to create her own group, "United ROAR", which catered to beliefs that were more moderate than those of Hicks. [10]
Fran Johnnene was one of ROAR's most influential members. Johnnene was mostly responsible for holding meetings at her house in Hyde Park, rounding up neighbors and community members. [12] Johnnene was also involved with the less radical anti-busing group, the Massachusetts Citizens Against Forced Busing, in February 1974. Towards the end of 1975, Johnnene left ROAR due to the increased radicalism. [10]
A majority of the group's members were white Boston housewives, known as "militant mothers." [7]
There were instances of both violent and peaceful protest from the organization ROAR. During a protest, a wooden bus was burned as a representation of the forced busing policy. [13] There were also occasions on which school children and parents alike pelted the buses coming from predominantly African-American areas. [14] Protester signs often displayed racial slurs such as, 'Nigger Go Home,' and depicted monkeys. [14] On December 11, 1974, at South Boston High, Michael Faith, a white student was stabbed by a black student by the name of James White. Hicks, present at the scene, attempted to calm the crowd, most of which belonging in ROAR. At that time, she prioritized the black students' safety on their way back home.
However, members also protested in peaceful ways. For example, in the time immediately following the desegregation, majority of white children did not attend school in both the formerly African-American schools and historically white schools. [14] They reenacted the Boston Massacre to symbolize their empathy with the oppressed inhabitants of colonial America. [15] On April 3, 1974, over 20,000 ROAR protesters marched on the State House to show their distaste for desegregation busing. [2] On March 19, 1975, 1,200 members of ROAR marched on Washington DC to gain national recognition for their cause and possibly an amendment placed into the constitution that would make desegregation busing illegal . [8]
By the year 1975, ROAR shifts its focus from busing to feminine issues, including participating in the signing for the year 1975 to be known as "International Women's Year." At that point, the forced busing act was seen more as an attack on women, specifically mothers. ROAR however remained ignored by the government, but continued to protest fervently. Though the media particularly the Boston Globe, often portrayed the group as racist, ROAR leader Virginia Sheehy states that their issues are mainly class-based. Sheehy argued by stating that she initially worked alongside black women in the Home and School Association prior to the forced busing issue. On the other hand, The Real Paper, a local newspaper company stated that the ROAR group is truly fighting for their traditional values. Overall, ROAR helped to consolidate the conservatism movement in the following year. [2]
Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 (1974), was a significant United States Supreme Court case dealing with the planned desegregation busing of public school students across district lines among 53 school districts in metropolitan Detroit. It concerned the plans to integrate public schools in the United States following the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision.
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." To combat discriminatory policies regarding interstate travel, CORE participated in Freedom Rides as college students boarded Greyhound Buses headed for the Deep South. As the influence of the organization grew, so did the number of chapters, eventually expanding all over the country. Despite CORE remaining an active part of the fight for change, some people have noted the lack of organization and functional leadership has led to a decline of participation in social justice.
Anna Louise Day Hicks was an American politician and lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for her staunch opposition to desegregation in Boston public schools, and especially to court-ordered busing, in the 1960s and 1970s. A longtime member of Boston's school board and city council, she served one term in the United States House of Representatives, succeeding Speaker of the House John W. McCormack.
Desegregation busing was a failed attempt to diversify the racial make-up of schools in the United States by sending students to school districts other than their own. While the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, many American schools continued to remain largely racially homogeneous. In an effort to address the ongoing de facto segregation in schools, the 1971 Supreme Court decision, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, ruled that the federal courts could use busing as a further integration tool to achieve racial balance.
The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. is the largest and second-longest continuously running voluntary school desegregation program in the country and a national model for the few other voluntary desegregation busing programs currently in existence. The program enrolls Boston resident students in Kindergarten through 12th grade into available seats in suburban public schools. Conceived by Boston activists Ruth Batson and Betty Johnson, and Brookline School Committee Chair Dr. Leon Trilling, METCO launched in 1966 as a coalition of seven school districts placing 220 students. The Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Act (RIA) of 1966, and amended in 1974, is the legal basis for voluntary interdistrict transfers for the purpose of desegregation, and funding is almost entirely provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Over the years, the academic and social outcomes of the program have been praised, while the increasing gap between cost and funding and the negative experiences of students of color have been the subject of criticism.
Kevin Hagan White was an American politician best known for serving as the mayor of Boston for four terms from 1968 to 1984. He was first elected to the office at the age of 38. He presided as mayor during racially turbulent years in the late 1960s and 1970s, and the start of desegregation of schools via court-ordered busing of school children in Boston. White won the mayoral office in the 1967 general election in a hard-fought campaign opposing the anti-busing and anti-desegregation Boston School Committee member Louise Day Hicks. Earlier he had been elected Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1960 at the age of 31, and he resigned from that office after his election as Mayor.
Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families is a nonfiction book by J. Anthony Lukas, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1985, that examines race relations in Boston, Massachusetts, through the prism of desegregation busing. It received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
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.
Morgan v. Hennigan was the case that defined the school busing controversy in Boston, Massachusetts during the 1970s. On March 14, 1972, the Boston chapter of the NAACP filed a class action lawsuit against the Boston School Committee on behalf of 14 black parents and 44 children. Tallulah Morgan headed the list of plaintiffs, and James Hennigan, then chair of the School Committee, was listed as the main defendant.
The desegregation of Boston public schools (1974–1988) was a period in which the Boston Public Schools were under court control to desegregate through a system of busing students. The call for desegregation and the first years of its implementation led to a series of racial protests and riots that brought national attention, particularly from 1974 to 1976. In response to the Massachusetts legislature's enactment of the 1965 Racial Imbalance Act, which ordered the state's public schools to desegregate, W. Arthur Garrity Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts laid out a plan for compulsory busing of students between predominantly white and black areas of the city. The hard control of the desegregation plan lasted for over a decade. It influenced Boston politics and contributed to demographic shifts of Boston's school-age population, leading to a decline of public-school enrollment and white flight to the suburbs. Full control of the desegregation plan was transferred to the Boston School Committee in 1988; in 2013 the busing system was replaced by one with dramatically reduced busing.
School segregation in the United States was the segregation of students based on their ethnicity. While not prohibited from having schools, various minorities were barred from most schools, schools for whites. Segregation was enforced by formal legal systems in U.S. states primarily in the Southern United States, although elsewhere segregation could be informal or customary. Segregation laws were dismantled in 1954 by the U.S. Supreme Court because of the successes being attained during the Civil Rights Movement. Segregation continued longstanding exclusionary policies in much of the Southern United States after the Civil War. Jim Crow laws codified segregation. These laws were influenced by the history of slavery and discrimination in the US. Secondary schools for African Americans in the South were called training schools instead of high schools in order to appease racist whites and focused on vocational education. School integration in the United States took place at different times in different areas and often met resistance. After the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, which banned segregated school laws, school segregation took de facto form. School segregation declined rapidly during the late 1960s and early 1970s as the government became strict on schools' plans to combat segregation more effectively as a result of Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. Voluntary segregation by income appears to have increased since 1990. Racial segregation has either increased or stayed constant since 1990, depending on which definition of segregation is used. In general, definitions based on the amount of interaction between black and white students show increased racial segregation, while definitions based on the proportion of black and white students in different schools show racial segregation remaining approximately constant.
In the United States, school integration is the process of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and remains an issue in contemporary education. During the Civil Rights Movement school integration became a priority, but since then de facto segregation has again become prevalent.
The Citywide Educational Coalition (CWEC) is a tax-exempt, non-profit educational reform organization whose goal is to provide reliable and objective information on the Boston Public Schools to parents and citizens, enabling citizens to participate in policy making directly and through their school committee and increasing support for public education in Boston, Massachusetts.
Paul Parks was an American civil engineer. Parks became the first African American Secretary of Education for Massachusetts, and was appointed by Governor Michael Dukakis to serve from 1975 until 1979. Mayor Raymond Flynn appointed Parks to the Boston School Committee, where he was also the first African American.
From 1974 to 1976, the court-ordered busing of students to achieve school desegregation led to sporadic outbreaks of violence in Boston's schools and in the city's largely segregated neighborhoods. Although Boston was by no means the only American city to undertake a plan of school desegregation, the forced busing of students from some of the city's most impoverished and racially segregated neighborhoods led to an unprecedented level of violence and turmoil in the city's streets and classrooms and made national headlines.
Until 1950, African Americans were a small but historically important minority in Boston, where the population was majority white. Since then, Boston's demographics have changed due to factors such as immigration, white flight, and gentrification. According to census information for 2010–2014, an estimated 180,657 people in Boston are Black/African American, either alone or in combination with another race. Despite being in the minority, and despite having faced housing, educational, and other discrimination, African Americans in Boston have made significant contributions in the arts, politics, and business since colonial times.
Francesca "Fran" Johnnene was a leading anti-busing advocate during the desegregation of Boston's Public Schools in the 1970s. She was an executive of the Association of Neighborhood Schools and a national representative and board member of Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR), a Boston-based anti-busing organization. She worked closely with Louise Day Hicks and Elvira "Pixie" Palladino to organize anti-busing rallies, letter writing campaigns, and prayer meetings.
Tallulah Morgan was the main plaintiff in the historical case Morgan v. Hennigan, which led to the desegregation of the Boston school system in the 1970s.
Elvira "Pixie" Palladino was an American politician from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for her affiliation with Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR) and her opposition to court-ordered busing in the 1960s and 1970s. She was elected to the Boston School Committee several times in the 1970s, and served three two-year terms. Though she was cleared of bribery charges related to the Boston School Committee in 1981 this ultimately led to the loss of her Committee seat.
Prior to the civil rights movement in South Carolina, African Americans in the state had very few political rights. South Carolina briefly had a majority-black government during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War, but with the 1876 inauguration of Governor Wade Hampton III, a Democrat who supported the disenfranchisement of blacks, African Americans in South Carolina struggled to exercise their rights. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation kept African Americans from voting, and it was virtually impossible for someone to challenge the Democratic Party, which ran unopposed in most state elections for decades. By 1940, the voter registration provisions written into the 1895 constitution effectively limited African-American voters to 3,000—only 0.8 percent of those of voting age in the state.