Writing Plan Progress Check 2
Adam R. Choyce
HIS-200 Applied History
November 23, 2023
Topic and Research Question
Topic:
For my historical event analysis, I have chosen to focus on the desegregation in the
Boston school systems. In 1974, W. Garrity made the Boston public schools start busing the
students to other schools to create a racial desegregated school system. At the time due to racial
protest and riots, this was very significant. Due to the call for desegregation, Boston politics were
affected, and it contributed to the demographic shifts of the school aged population. This led to a
decline in public school enrollment and white families moving out to suburbs to avoid
desegregation.
Research Question:
Was Boston the first city to implement desegregation, or had other
cities led the way with less media attention? What were the accommodations set for the students
who now had longer bus rides to and from school? Were there maximum allowable travel times
set to desegregate students?
Search terms used so far:
School Desegregation
,
Boston Desegregation Busing, Brown v
Board of Education, 1974 Garrity.
My analysis needs to take into account how this issue played out, both for Boston and for the
nation, in the subsequent years. One valuable source, then is
Deep are the Roots: Busing in Boston
by
Jane M. Hornburger (1976)
.
The Journal of Negro Education
, This article summarizes the
challenges and forecasts the forgoing effects of the eventual desegregation success that occurred
in Boston.
Another extremely valuable source is Why busing failed: Race, media, and the national
resistance to school desegregation by Matthew F. Delmont (2016). This book gives an alternative
view on how busing during desegregation was looking back probably not the best route to
success. Analyzing historical events we need to remember to not lean in any one direction but
stay neutral giving a true clear picture not an opinionated skewed view.
