In this activity, students will analyze seven primary sources relating to the physical protection of students, teachers, and others involved in the desegregation of Boston Public Schools in the 1970s. During this tense time, acts of violence occurred both at schools and within the communities. Students will read primary sources, then move each document to the scale to represent if the document supported that the government adequately protected those involved, or if the government did not protect those involved.
Suggested Teaching Instructions
Appropriate grades: 8-12
Estimated time: 30-60 minutes, depending on level of prior knowledge and depth of document analysis
Groupings: This activity can be done individually, in pairs, or in small groups. The whole class is not recommended unless it is a particularly small class. It IS suggested that you demonstrate how to use the scale if students are not familiar with it. It is particularly important to point out to students that most of the primary sources are more than one page (in some cases, the first page is the least important).
Notes: These are primary source documents directly from the National Archives' collection on the
Morgan v.
Hennigan court case. The format of some documents and occasional legal terminology used in some documents may be unfamiliar to students. Students may be unfamiliar with the different roles of local and state police or the role of the U.S. marshals.
This activity fits into a unit on the Boston Public Schools desegregation and would fit smoothly into a larger unit on civil rights. Prior knowledge on the basics of the Boston Public Schools desegregation would be useful for students and teacher. A primary source that summarizes the court case that led to desegregation is the
original complaint in
Tallulah Morgan et al. v.
James W. Hennigan et al.Historical context: In 1972, parents of African American children brought a class action lawsuit alleging that the Boston School Committee violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by a deliberate policy of racial segregation. Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. found that the Boston School Committee had intentionally carried out a program of segregation in the Boston Public Schools. The ruling, upheld unanimously by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, ordered the Boston School Committee to formulate a permanent school desegregation plan that addressed student assignment, teacher employment, and facility improvement procedures, as well as the use of busing on a citywide basis. The Boston School Committee failed to present an adequate plan; so the court assumed an active role in the formulation of the desegregation plan and oversaw implementation of court-ordered desegregation in the Boston public schools. Throughout this process, Boston police, state police, and ultimately U.S. marshals were called in to protect students who were simply trying to attend school, lawyers and community activists who were threatened as a result of their involvement, and many other community members who were at risk simply for their geographic location or their stance on desegregation and integration.