School Desegregation in Boston, 1974

This study of the reaction to forced busing in Boston (Massachusetts) that emerged in 1974 illustrates the persistence of race and class discrimination and the counterproductiveness of some imposed solutions. It is focused on white antibusing groups and the complexities of opposition to busing. Racism is essential to understanding the Boston response, but it is not the sole explanation of the resistance to court-ordered desegregation. Nor was the antibusing response a simple manifestation of class conflict, although that undoubtedly played a role. The situation in Boston is examined from its beginnings in the late 1960s and early 1970s through its winding down in the 1980s. The experiences of Boston, and those of school desegregation plans in general, show that partial remedies and remedies that are aimed only at less-affluent Whites are doomed to failure. What has worked best are plans with clear legal requirements consistently enforced by the courts, plans that do not leave out sectors of the population or allow escape over political boundaries. Five tables in the text and three in an appendix of citizen-survey results present findings about public opinion.

Riots in Florida, 1980

There are a great many phrases you can use to describe greater Miami, but “racially harmonious” would not be one of them. From the days of employment identification cards required for people of color to get into Miami Beach, to near-riots over a civic language ordinance, there has always been racial tension in Dade County. And while racial and cultural issues still remain a major concern in 21st century South Florida, never were our problems more evident than in the late spring of 1980. The Miami race riots (also known as the Arthur McDuffie Riots) of May 1980 were the first major race riots after the end of the civil rights movement. The Miami Black community, long abused and neglected by civic leaders who, among other things, placed I-95 straight through the cultural center of their neighborhoods, was getting angrier by the day. Recently arrived Latin and Haitian immigrants were taking jobs and social benefits that had traditionally belonged to Blacks. Cuban refugees wielding money and power were beginning to take control of the city, and as such were awarding minority contracts and jobs to Cubans instead of African-Americans. This, combined with the continuous poverty and degradation of their neighborhoods, had Miami’s Black community ready to snap.

Blacks Define Themselves, 1964-1972

It’s a privilege and an honor to be in the white intellectual ghetto of the West. This is a student conference, as it should be, held on a campus, and we’ll never be caught up in intellectual masturbation on the question of Black Power. That’s the function of the people who are advertisers but call themselves reporters. Incidentally, for my friends and members of the press, my self-appointed white critics, I was reading Mr. Bernard Shaw two days ago, and I came across a very important quote that I think is most apropos to you. He says, "All criticism is an autobiography." Dig yourself. Ok.This was period of powerful and creative social activism for African-Americans, and Howard University was one of its centers. The university had been the site of the NAACP's preparations and moot court arguments for the pivotal Brown v. Topeka Board case before the Supreme Court in 1954, and there was a strong human rights tradition among the faculty and student body.

Maynard Jackson: First African American Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

The election of Maynard Jackson, who has died of a heart attack aged 65, as the first black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1973 was a major landmark in the southern US city's history.

It signposted a change of guard in the local political class from white to black; no white person has since been elected mayor. Jackson, who served three terms in office, was a prominent exponent of affirmative action. In his first two terms, he rattled Atlanta's old cosy business relationships, alienating some, but wooing them back in his third term with deft deal-making skills. In 1978, he signed a law requiring 25% of the city's projects to be set aside for minority firms. The policy, which still operates today, made Atlanta the most hospitable place in America for black entrepreneurs. He also pushed through an affirmative action programme that made it mandatory for contractors to take on minority-owned businesses as partners, and forced the city's major law firms to hire African-American lawyers. He threatened that "tumbleweeds would run across the runways of Atlanta airport" if blacks were not included in city contracts.

Dust Traks 4

Chapter 4

Hurston returned to Florida in 1948 and faded into obscurity and poverty. In 1959 she had a stroke, from which she never recovered, and in October of the same year was sentto Lincoln Park Nursing Home, which was run by the St. Lucie County Welfare Agency, where she stayed for some months. She died on January 28, 1960. She was pronounceddead on arrival at Fort Pierce Memorial Hospital, after being taken there following another stroke. Having no money to cover burial expenses, donations were given to coverexpenses. She was buried at Genesee Memorial Gardens Cemetery (Garden of Heavenly Rest), a segregated cemetery in Fort Pierce, Florida, in an unmarked grave, with manyin attendance. In 1973 the grave was visited by Alice Walker, a well know African- American writer. She found the grave had not been tended and over grown with noheadstone. She purchased a headstone and had it inscribed.

Dust Tracks 3

Chapter 3

Hurston was the first black scholar to research folklore on the level that she did. She researched songs, dances, tales, and sayings. Much of her bookmaterial revolves around issues of slavery and the time period immediately following it. She took her black rural culture and heritage and celebrated it at atime when most black scholars were trying hard to deny and forget it. Hurston also studied voodoo practices in Jamaica, Haiti, and the British West Indies.She took photographs and recorded their songs, dances, and rituals. She had a Guggenheim Fellowship to research in the Caribbean, where she stayed fortwo years.

Dust Tracks 2

Chapter 2

Zora had two siblings: Sarah who was older, and John who was younger. Her father, John Hurston, preferred Sarah over Zora. He resented that Zora wasborn a girl. Her mother, Lucy Hurston, died when Zora was nine years old. Lucy strongly encouraged her to be independent and creative. She encouraged allof her children to "jump at de sun". After the death of her mother Zora was shuffled around by relatives and rejected by her father when he re-married. For aplace to go, Zora resorted to being a hired domestic in several homes.