NPS Form 10-900-b NRHP Listed: 9/6/2000 0MB No. 1024-0018 (Revised March 1992) NHL Listed: 9/6/2000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form This form is used for documenting multiple property groups relating to one or several historic contexts. See instructions in How to Complete the Multiple Property Documentation Form (National Register Bulletin 168). Complete each item by entering the requested information. For additional space, use continuation sheets (Form 10-900-a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer to complete all items. _X_New Submission __Amended Submission A. Name of Multiple Property Listing RACIAL DESEGREGATION IN PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES THEME STUDY B. Associated Historic Contexts (Name each associated historic context, identifying theme, geographical area, and chronological period for each.) C. Form Prepared by name/title Susan Cianci Salvatore/ Preservation Planner; Waldo E. Martin, Jr.; Vicki L. Ruiz; Patricia Sullivan; and, Harvard Sitkoff / Historians organization National Park Service, National Register, History and Education, National Historic Landmarks Survey; National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers; and, Organization of American Historians date August 30, 2000 street & number 1849 C Street, NW. Room NC 400 telephone 202-343-8175 city or town Washington state =D-=C;...... ____ zip code 20240 D. Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this documentation form meets the National Register documentation standards and sets forth requirements for the listing of related properties consistent with the National Register criteria. This submission meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60 and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation. (o See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Signature and title of certifying official date State or Federal agency and bureau I hereby certify that this multiple property documentation form has been approved by the National Register as a basis f r evaluating i)ted p o erties for listing in the National Register.~ ' , J () O C) date of action ' Racial Desegregation in Public F.ducation in the U.. S. Theme Study Name of Multiple Property Listing State Table of Contents for Written Narrative Provide the following information on continuation sheets. Cite the letter and the title before each Hetion of the narrative. ~n page numbers according to the instructions for continuation sheets in How to Complete the Multiple ~ Documentation Form (National ~ister Bulletin 16B). Fill in page numbers for each section in the space below. Page Numbers E. Statement of Historic Contexts 1-108 (If more than one historic context is documented, present them in sequential order.) F. Associated Property Types _109-117 (Provide description, significance, and registration requirements.) G. Geographical Data 118 H. Summary of Identification and Evaluation Methods 119-124 (Discuss the methods used in developing the multiple property listing.) I. Major Blbllographlcal References 125 (List major written works and primary location of additional documentation: State Historic Preservation Office, other State agency, Federal agency, local government, university, or other, specifying repository.) Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected ror applications to the National Register of Historic ~ to nominate prope1rties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this req!Jest is required to obulin a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et~.}. Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 120 hours per rnponH including the time for reviewing lnstrUJctions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden Nttmate or any aspect o,f this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-1121; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024--0018), Wahington, DC 20503. NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 RACIAL DESEGREGATION IN PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE U.S. Page 1 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form E. STATEMENT OF HISTORIC CONTEXTS INTRODUCTION In 1998 the U.S. Congress authorized the National Park Service to prepare a National Historic Landmarks Theme Study on the history of racial desegregation in public education. The purpose of the study is to identify historic places that best exemplify and illustrate the historical movement to provide for a racially nondiscriminatory education. This movement is defined and shaped by constitutional law that first authorized public school segregation and later authorized desegregation. Properties identified in this theme study are associated with events that both led to and followed these judicial decisions. Some properties have already been identified as National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) for their association with well-known decisions and events in the African American strategy to desegregate schools. Currently three landmark schools represent the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board ofEducation (1954) that overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that found separate facilities for blacks constitutional if they were equal to the facilities for whites. Another landmark school, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is associated with President Eisenhower's decision to use federal troops to enforce school desegregation under the U.S. Constitution. These and other historically designated properties discussed in this study are identified as NHL for National Historic Landmark or NHS for National Historic Site and the year designated, i.e., Hampton Institute (NHL, 1969). School desegregation is most commonly associated with the powerful African American struggle to gain equal rights as citizens. However, other ethnic groups also experienced limitations in school equality for their children. This narrative thus considers the school desegregation struggles of the principal communities of color together and separately as dictated by the historical record. While the African American story anchors this narrative, this study integrates the school desegregation struggles of Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Chicano/Latino Americans. School desegregation has been an important part of their ongoing freedom struggles. From a national standpoint, the impact of both the resurgent Black Freedom Struggle and the black campaign to desegregate schools and put an end to the separate but equal doctrine has been catalytic and influential. Both the larger struggle and the black desegregation movement influenced - and at times were influenced by - the distinctive and ongoing comparable struggles of other people of color. Therefore, this study will give attention to the often separate paths of these multiple and parallel freedom struggles and school desegregation struggles in particular. In addition, it likewise bears reiteration that this work will treat those historical moments where these struggles intersect. As Chicana historian Vicki L. Ruiz has argued, these often alternative school desegregation narratives represent important and revealing "tapestries of resistance" to the dominant historical narrative of educational exclusion and inequity in the name of white supremacy. Where some or all of these school desegregation struggles intersect--moments of cooperation as well as moments of conflict--are often telling. Two examples will suffice for illustrative purposes here. First there were the court briefs filed by lawyers representing a specific bloc, say the NAACP Legal Defense Fund representing black interests, for cases on behalf of other groups, as in Mendez v. Westminster (1946), where the issue was educational equity for Mexican NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 RACIAL DESEGREGATION IN PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE U.S. Page 2 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Americans. Second, there were the conflicts among communities of color, most often between blacks as the most powerful bloc and other communities of color, about how to divide allocations for school desegregation projects, such as cultural enrichment programs. The emphasis throughout the study however, is on the struggles of people of color for educational equity and empowerment, on one hand, and against educational inequity and apartheid, on the other. These stories provide an instructive understanding of the modem struggle for human rights as well as the modem American struggle for democratic rights. There are three subdivisions in this study. The first treats the period from the origins of the problem of separate or segregated schools for people of color through the pivotal Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision which legalized separate but equal facilities as constitutional and resulted in separate and unequal public schools. The second considers the period from Plessy and subsequent