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Desegregation at Kansas City's Central High School

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Desegregation at Kansas City's Central High School DESEGREGATION AT KANSAS CITY’S CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL: ILLUMINATING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENT EXPERIENCE THROUGH ORAL HISTORY A DISSERTATION IN Educational Leadership, Policy and Foundations and Social Science Consortium Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by BRADLEY W. POOS B.A., University of Kansas, 2001 M.Ed. Rockhurst University, 2003 M.A., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2008 Kansas City, Missouri 2014 ©2014 BRADLEY W. POOS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DESEGREGATION AT KANSAS CITY’S CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL: ILLUMINATING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENT EXPERIENCE THROUGH ORAL HISTORY Bradley W. Poos, Candidate for Doctorate of Philosophy Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2014 ABSTRACT Central High School, the oldest high school in Kansas City, serves as an example of how radically education in Kansas City, Missouri, has changed over the course of the last 150 years. Beginning as part of Kansas City, Missouri’s, segregated public school system, Central was the city’s first all-white high school and remained as such for the better part of ninety years. In 1955, following the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the Kansas City, Missouri, School district began a process of desegregation; Central High School’s student population promptly transformed from all white in 1955 to nearly all black in 1962. This project explores the history of Kansas City’s Central High School, investigating how the Kansas City, Missouri School District’s approach to desegregation affected Central High School and in particular, Central’s black students. With an emphasis on oral history, I set out to ascertain the African American student experience at Central High School, especially during the magnet years, 1988 to 1999, a period in which the Kansas City, Missouri School District underwent the most expensive and expansive desegregation remedy to date. iii APPROVAL PAGE The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the School of Education, have examined a dissertation titled “Desegregation at Kansas City’s Central High School: Illuminating the African American Student’s Experience through Oral History” presented by Bradley W. Poos, candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee Donna Davis, Ph.D. Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Foundations Doug Bowles, Ph.D. Department of Social Science Consortium Clovis Semmes, Ph.D. Black Studies Program Loyce Caruthers, Ph.D. Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Foundations S. Marie McCarther, Ed.D. Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Foundations iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. STUDY AT A GLANCE: INTRODUCTION, SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY, AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS......................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Scope and Methodology ........................................................................... 3 Research Questions ................................................................................... 9 Overview of Chapters ............................................................................. 10 2. THE EARLY YEARS: RACE AND EDUCATION IN KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, 1821-1867 ...................................................................................... 12 The Origins of a Slave State ................................................................... 12 African American Schooling in Antebellum Missouri ........................... 19 A City Developed ................................................................................... 23 Missouri’s Dual School System.............................................................. 27 Black Enclaves and Growth of Kansas City’s African American Population ........................................................................ 34 3. KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI’S, DUAL SYSTEM AND GROWTH OF PUBLIC SCHOOLING, 1867-1942 .................................................................................. 38 Kansas City, Missouri’s, First Black Public Schools, 1867-1920 .......... 38 The Formation of All-white Central High School, 1867-1893 ............... 44 Down at Eleventh and Locust, Central High School, 1893-1915 ........... 51 New Building; Same Ol’ Central, 1915-1922 ........................................ 57 Growth in Kansas City’s Southeast Corridor, 1922-1929 ...................... 64 v Financial Crisis and the Kansas City, Missouri School District, 1929-1942 ......................................................................................... 69 4. FROM SEGREGATION TO DESEGREGATION, 1942-1962 ............................. 76 World War II and Hope for Equality, 1942-1948 ................................... 76 Racial Homogeneity and Housing, 1948-1952 ....................................... 81 Brown v. Board of Education and Destruction of the Dual System, 1952-1954 ......................................................................................... 84 Desegregation in the Kansas City, Missouri School District, 1955-1962 ......................................................................................... 93 Central High School and Its Neighborhoods, 1955-1962 ..................... 101 5. WHERE’S THE EQUALITY? THE RESEGREGATION OF THE KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI SCHOOL DISTRICT, 1962-1968 .................... 111 Success at Central High School, 1962-1964 ......................................... 111 A Growing Discontentment, 1964-1965............................................... 117 Havighurst and the Middle School Controversy, 1965-1968 ............... 125 The Riot of 1968 ................................................................................... 134 6. DESEGREGATION AVERTED: THE ONGOING STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY, 1968-1977 ................................................................................... 141 Kansas City’s Southeast Side, 1968-1970 ............................................ 141 Falling out of Favor: Central High School’s Public Perception, 1970-1973 ....................................................................................... 145 Federal Oversight and the ESAA, 1973 ............................................... 154 Flat Broke and Federal Scrutiny, 1973-1976 ........................................ 162 Plan 6C, 1976-1977 .............................................................................. 169 7. A NEW DIRECTION: FROM METROPOLITAN PLAN TO MAGNET REMEDY, 1977-1988 ...................................................................................... 179 The Suburban Dilemma, 1977-1980 ..................................................... 179 vi The Growing Popularity of Magnet Schools and Voluntary Desegregation, 1980-1984 ............................................................ 181 All But Forgotten: Central High School in the Early 1980s ................. 186 Money and Magnets in Kansas City, Missouri, 1984-1987 ................. 192 Planning Kansas City’s Computer Unlimited/Classical Greek Magnet High School, 1987-1988 .................................................... 201 8. A NEW ERA: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENT EXPERIENCE AT CENTRAL COMPUTERS UNLIMITED/CLASSICAL GREEK MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL, 1988-1999 ............................................................................ 209 The Computer Magnet, 1988-1991 ...................................................... 209 New Beginnings, 1991-1992 ................................................................ 220 In Full Swing, 1992-1995 ..................................................................... 232 The Class of 1995 ................................................................................. 239 Missouri v. Jenkins and Its Implications............................................... 247 The Final Years, 1995-1999 ................................................................. 251 9: CONCLUSION: INTERPRETATIONS AND APPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH ............................................................................................. 264 The Clock Runs out on Kansas City, Missouri’s, Magnet Plan ........... 264 Oral History Revelations ...................................................................... 268 Concluding Thoughts............................................................................ 275 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................ 277 VITA ................................................................................................................................ 289 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project has been a labor of love, and I would like to dedicate it to all graduates of Kansas City’s Central High School past, present, and future. So here’s to the students of “Dear Old Central,” a school with a storied history that reveals much about race and education in Kansas City. There are many people whom I would like to thank, but of course, my work would not have been possible without the voices of former Central students. I most certainly owe a debt of gratitude to the narrators who were willing to share with me their time
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