Legal experts and city historians gathered at the John J. Moakley Courthouse on Thursday evening to discuss the federal court’s 1974 decision in a landmark civil rights case that ordered the Boston Public Schools to desegregate.
The panel, organized by The Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative, is part of an educational campaign focused on the history and impact of the the city’s busing crisis in the 1970s. Panelists reflected on the years leading up to the lawsuit, formally known as Tallulah Morgan v. James Hennigan, which pitted the parents of Black school children against the Boston School Committee.
On June 21, 1974, Judge W. Arthur Garrity found the Boston School Committee responsible for the unconstitutional and intentional segregation of the city’s public schools.
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the ruling, the panel considered its lasting effects, especially the use of busing as a means of desegregation.
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“What we learned from Boston was you don’t start with simply reassigning kids,” said Charles Glenn, a former official with the state’s Department of Education. “You start with thinking about what kind of educational system you want to add.”
The ruling launched the city into chaos, prompting riots and stabbings memorialized by visual media. But several panelists said the cause of the racial tension that characterized subsequent years ran deeper than images of children being bused across Boston to new schools.
“So often in the storytelling of what happened here in Boston, busing is really made out to be the villain,” said President of the Boston NAACP Tanisha Sullivan. Director of Lawyers for Civil Rights Ivan Madrigal-Espinoza agreed, adding that “our own culture and our values are our enemy,” as opposed to busing.
The case’s impact remained undisputed during Thursday’s event.
Panelists cited it as a mainstay of the city’s racially troubled history. Legal intricacies were discussed at length, and many panelists focused on non-busing aspects of the decision that they consider overlooked.
“Education was an important component,” said Eric Van Loon, an attorney who represented Black parents in the case. “But of course, in the searing memories and the headlines, that’s all lost and forgotten.”
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Over 225,000 students across the state still attend segregated public schools, according to a recent report by the state’s Racial Imbalance Advisory Council. The report, “Racial Segregation in Massachusetts Schools,” found segregation exists as a result of educators who have failed to comply with laws that require integration.
Madrigal-Espinoza pointed to a number of recent instances: the 12-year-old Black student who left the Melrose school district for his own safety after allegedly encountering racial slurs and physical attacks last year; the Southborough teacher placed on leave last month after holding “an impromptu mock slave auction” with students during a history lesson; a 9-year-old Black student with special needs who was allegedly handcuffed in his public school in Walpole the year before.
“These stories happen in our Commonwealth, they happen in the cities where we live, in the communities where we work,” said Madrigal-Espinoza. “This work was not just 50 years ago, … the same issues remain.”
Lila Hempel-Edgers can be reached at lila.hempeledgers@globe.com. Follow her on X @hempeledgers and on Instagram @lila_hempel_edgers.