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In Bolling v. Sharpe (1954),1 the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in the public schools of the District of Columbia violated the "due process" clause of the Fifth Amendment and was, therefore, unconstitutional. The High Court's ruling was controversial and divisive. Confronted with different views on what desegregation meant, District of Columbia residents both praised and condemned Bolling. Overall, black Washingtonians welcomed the Bolling decision. Many blacks had participated in protests and strikes to publicize the terrible conditions in their schools. These activists believed that desegregation would help to eliminate the overcrowding and part-time classes that were pervasive in black schools under the dual school system.2
While blacks and their white allies applauded the ruling to desegregate the public schools, there was significant opposition to Bolling among many white Washingtonians and white civic organizations like the Federation of Citizens' Association (FCA). The FCA argued that integration would lead to inferior schools and filed several lawsuits against the Board of Education to stop desegregation before the beginning of the school year in September 1954.3 However, the courts dismissed the lawsuits and desegregation proceeded smoothly despite a short-lived protest and walkout by several hundred white students at Anacostia and McKinley high schools.4 The Board of Education desegregated 122 of 163 schools in the District. However, desegregation had no immediate impact in improving the overall conditions in the schools.
A few years after the end of segregated education, there was a general perception that the public school system was failing and that its students were mired in academic quicksand. To black activists, overcrowding, part-time classes and a shortage of teachers were enduring problems that the school superintendent and the school board had been unable to solve. Furthermore, opponents of desegregation blamed Boiling for forcing white Washingtonians to move to the suburbs in search of better schools for their children.
In 1958, school officials promoted Carl Hansen, an innovative young educator, to the position of school superintendent in hope that the school system would improve under new leadership. Hansen created several effective but controversial programs that resulted in overall improvement in the schools. However, his initiatives were unsuccessful in stemming the white exodus from the school system. The eight-year period from 1954 to 1962 was a critical one...