Baltimore MD - A History Of Desegration and Riots

Note: These are points of research derived from a debate that I recently had with a person who noted how good the "Negroes of Baltimore" now have it today.

The underlying question that all of this brought to mind for me is - With the consideration of how important EDUCATION has been in the history of the civil rights struggle for African-Americans how is it that today the schools that were once the focal point for admissions by Black student have now eroded into educational wastelands?

It is my opinion that the call for "Integration" of yesterday is very different than that which was necessary in the past.  The 1960/70's type of school integration was an attempt to break down racist societal and academic policies banned Blacks from quality schools and then banished them into inferior majority Black schools while purposefully restricting the funding that these schools received.

Today while the failing schools remain as a threat to the development of our young people, they exist in the context of a Black society which has earned its freedom under the law, which has placed  favored politicians and administrators running the schools but which has also failed to take ownership of the other variables which bear upon the situation that can't be reduced into claims of gross negligence by the greater society.  

The Baltimore Riot of 1968

The Baltimore Riot of 1968 began two days after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, rioting broke out in 125 cities across the United States. When rioting did break out on Saturday, April 6, the Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew, called out thousands of National Guard troops and 500 Maryland State Police to quell the disturbance. When it was determined that the state forces could not control the riot, Agnew requested Federal troops from President Lyndon B. Johnson. The riot had broken out mainly in the black ghettoes of East and West Baltimore [1] in which extensive property damage and looting occurred. Many of the business destroyed in the riot were located along the main commercial avenues of the neighborhoods and were often owned by Whites of a Jewish background. There is some debate within the black community about whether or not this riot, in which innocent people were murdered, should be called a "riot," a "civil disturbance," or a "rebellion." While the assassination took place elsewhere, Baltimore's large African-American population, led to Dr. King's death having a large impact on the city

Desegregation Of The Baltimore City Schools

The desegregation of American schools was a pivotal part of the civil rights movement, as no progress in the civil rights movement would have been made if America’s schools remained segregated.

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Because of the rapid growth of the African American community in Baltimore, the schools became over crowded. Due to the over crowding of the schools, Baltimore decided to district the schools. (Crain 1968, 74) This means that if someone did not live in the district of a certain school, they could not attend that school. This was a way for the school system to remain segregated. Negroid and Caucasians still lived in different areas of Baltimore, therefore, Negroid and Caucasian children went to different schools. Obviously desegregation had not taken full effect.