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Teacher Unionism, Civil Rights, and the Desegregation of the Boston Public Schools, 1963-1981

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Teacher Unionism, Civil Rights, and the Desegregation of the Boston Public Schools, 1963-1981 TEACHER UNIONISM, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND THE DESEGREGATION OF THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 1963-1981 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Jennifer Pish Harrison, B.A. Washington, DC May 1, 2013 Copyright 2013 by Jennifer Pish Harrison All Rights Reserved ii TEACHER UNIONISM, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND THE DESEGREGATION OF THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 1963-1981 Jennifer Pish Harrison , B.A. Thesis Advisor: Joseph A. McCartin, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Court-ordered school desegregation in Boston in the 1970s is but one component of a larger movement to desegregate the schools that officially began in 1963. This dissertation places court-ordered desegregation in the context of the larger movement and links that story to one that has been mostly overlooked by those who have written about racial strife in Boston: the story of the teachers, the rise of their union, and the relationship between the civil rights and union rights struggles in the city. When the NAACP formally challenged the Boston School Committee over the issue of de facto segregation in 1963, teachers were mounting a campaign for collective bargaining rights. Over the ensuing years, teacher unionism developed alongside the movement to desegregate the public schools, and both movements ran along parallel tracks through much of the 1960s. During these years, both the civil rights movement and proponents of teacher unionism found a common adversary in the Boston School Committee. In the1970s, the trajectory of the two movements intersected in the complicated arena of court-ordered school desegregation. The Boston Teachers Union took a neutral stance on student busing, but its defense of the traditional tenets of trade unionism, and seniority in particular, caused internal divisions, especially between older, white teachers and newer black hires. The layoffs of 710 white teachers in 1981, a consequence of shrinking enrollments due to “white flight,” iii aggressively challenged the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement and prompted the union to fight to protect the seniority rights of its members, even if it meant a disproportionate loss of jobs for black teachers recently hired under court order. The fight over the senior teachers’ jobs in 1981, and the BTU’s failed campaign to have these teachers rehired, marked an important and defining clash between the union, court-ordered desegregation mandates, and race. Ultimately, the failure of the civil rights and union rights struggles to fully align their interests and strike an enduring alliance in the battle over the future of Boston schools in the 1960s and 1970s contributed to a legacy of missed opportunities for true reform. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The path to complete the research and writing of this dissertation has been long, and many people helped guide me on the way. I am most grateful to my advisors at Georgetown. Dorothy Brown steered me through the early years of degree requirements and comprehensive exams and helped focus my historical interests. Upon her retirement, she gave me what proved to be the single best piece of advice of my graduate school career, when she advised me to ask Joseph McCartin to oversee my dissertation research and writing. It is impossible to overstate the amount of support Professor McCartin has provided to this dissertation. He has been generous with his time and his expertise in a way that has been both humbling and energizing. His vast knowledge of labor history and his deft way with complex ideas made this dissertation stronger in every aspect. His attention to the smallest historical detail and his encouragement to seek out the more subtle connections between Boston teachers and civil rights spurred the expansion of my topic and gave me many interesting pathways to pursue. I am eternally grateful for his guidance and support. Michael Kazin and Chandra Manning were also pivotal to the completion of this dissertation. Professor Kazin, first as my teacher, and then as a member of my dissertation committee, has been a wonderfully positive influence on my development as an historian. Even as my timeline to completion stretched out, he has always been ready to share his superior insight and offer kind encouragement. Professor Manning, who graciously signed on to my committee even though my topic strays far from her own research, pointed me toward important ideas that I had not yet considered. When I was ready to defend, the willingness of both v Professor Kazin and Professor Manning to read and offer their feedback within a very short timeframe showed a true generosity of spirit and intellect. I could not have gotten to this point without their support. I am also grateful to the many people who helped me track down sources. The Boston Teachers Union does not have a formal archive, but I was very fortunate to come into contact with several people who provided crucial pieces to the historical puzzle. Ed Donnelly, a former student of Prof. McCartin whose parents are teachers in the Boston Public Schools, introduced me to his father, also named Ed Donnelly. In turn, the elder Mr. Donnelly introduced me to several teachers at West Roxbury High School (now called the West Roxbury Education Complex). One of the teachers I met there, Roberta O’Leary, graciously shared her experience as a teacher in the 1970s and then offered to look through her personal files from that era. Within a week of meeting her, she delivered a large parcel of old newsletters, clippings, and press releases to my home. I would never have seen these documents otherwise. Another vital link to sources came from meeting with Ed Doherty, who served as BTU president in the 1980s and is now the Special Assistant to the President at AFT Massachusetts. Among many helpful pieces of advice, he suggested I reach out to Elaine Catino in the BTU offices, who had saved copies of the Boston Union Teacher going back to the 1960s. She invited me into her office, gave me desk space and use of the copy machine, and was a major source of encouragement during that stage of research. I cannot say enough for the generosity of Boston teachers in general, and for these individuals in particular. Quite simply, I would not have had the records to complete my research without the help of these four people. vi There were also many archivists who went out of their way to assist me, and I would like to acknowledge a few of them here. John McColgan, Sheila Spaulding, and Kristen Swett at the City of Boston Archives guided me through Boston’s school desegregation records, and the collections most vital to my topic. Daniel Golodner, the American Federation of Teachers Archivist at the Walter P. Reuther Library, helped coordinate my visit to Wayne State University and ensured that the time I spent there was utilized to the fullest extent. Elizabeth Mock, University Archivist and Curator of Special Collections at the Healey Library, UMass Boston, steered me toward the records most helpful to my topic within Judge Garrity’s papers. Finally, I’d like to thank my family. They have spent years encouraging my work and bolstering me in every way possible. My parents, Patty and Bob Pish, have been unfailingly supportive during this process. My dad has always had an uncanny ability to know when to ask and when not to ask about the status of the work, and my mom has always been ready with an open ear and buckets of encouragement. During the final, crucial stage of preparing the draft for defense, she spent a week with me and held down child care detail so that I could focus exclusively on the dissertation. Joan and Doug Harrison have also been fierce supporters and have always treated me as much more than a daughter-in-law. They have logged many, many hours with the grandkids so that I could work, and graciously accepted my absence at family events while I met one deadline or another. These four people have been my own personal cheering section, and I share this accomplishment with them. Matt has seen this process through from grad school application to defense. He has given more than seems humanly possible and sacrificed much so that I could get to this stage. There are many persons that played vital roles in supporting my work, but without him, it would not vii exist. I dedicate this dissertation to our children, Paige and Brendan. They are my greatest inspiration and bring joy to my life every day. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 THE FIGHT FOR SCHOOL INTEGRATION BEGINS: BOSTON SCHOOLS IN THE EARLY 1960s ........................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 2 TEACHERS’ RIGHTS: THE BTU AND THE FIGHT FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ........................................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER 3 CIVIL RIGHTS AND UNION RIGHTS: RISING MILITANCY IN THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 1966-1970 ............................................................. 106 CHAPTER 4 BOSTON’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON THE EVE OF COURT-ORDERED BUSING .................................................................................................................... 161 CHAPTER 5 COURT-ORDERED SCHOOL DESEGREGATION COMES TO BOSTON .......... 213 EPILOGUE .................................................................................................................
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