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Remembering Boston's Tumultuous First Day Of School
ResumeForty years ago this week, classes at Boston public schools started after a week long delay so schools, students and police could have extra time to prepare for the first day of court ordered desegregation.
In 1974, federal judge W. Arthur Garrity ruled that the Boston School Committee had deliberately segregated the city’s schools – creating one system for black students and another for white students — separate, unequal, and unconstitutional. The remedy Garrity ordered was busing.
From the Here & Now Contributors Network, WBUR's Bruce Gellerman takes a look back at the first day of school in Boston, forty years ago.
Note: this report contains offensive language.
- WBUR: ‘It Was Like A War Zone’: Busing In Boston
- WBUR's Learning Lab: A Timeline of School Desegregation in Boston
Reporter
- Bruce Gellerman, reporter for WBUR. He tweets @AudioBruce
This segment aired on September 8, 2014.