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Today is the anniversary of the largest civil rights protest of the 1960s, a massive school boycott in NYC 1964. 460,000 students stayed out of school to protest school segregation and racial discrimination in the city's schools 1/ https://www.salon.com/2016/02/03/jim_crow_must_go_thousands_of_new_york_city_students_staged_a_one_day_boycott_to_protest_segregation_and_it_barely_made_the_history_books/
The 1964 NYC school boycott was the product of more than a decade of organizing by Black parents, students, and activists, including Ella Baker and Kenneth Clark. They asked why shouldn't the Brown decision apply to segregated schools in the North? 2/
In 1957, activist Mae Mallory & lawyer Paul Zuber filed a lawsuit against the NYC Board of Ed. The suit protested how the board's zoning decisions produced segregated schools. Mallory & "Harlem Nine" mothers risked jail time to demand transfer to equal schools 3/
The 1964 NYC school boycott was part of a larger fight for civil rights in the North. Student activists staged school boycotts in Boston, Chicago & other cities to protest similar types of segregation and discrimination 4/ http://whybusingfailed.com/anvc/why-busing-failed/civil-rights-activism-in-the-north
The NYT strongly opposed the 1964 school boycott, denouncing it as “violent, illegal approach of adult-encouraged truancy.” This is the main reason the boycott did not make it into history textbooks. The media viewed civil rights in North as less urgent than South 5/
Many White parents also opposed the 1964 NYC school boycott. They organized a "Mother's March" over the Brooklyn bridge to protest integration, using code words like "busing" neighborhood schools." They said they were fighting for their civil rights 6/ http://whybusingfailed.com/anvc/why-busing-failed/the-origins-of-antibusing-politics-in-1950s-new-york
The White parents protest against school desegregation helped pressure Congressmen from Northern states to add a loophole to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They amended Title IV Section 401b so that it would apply to Southern states, but not NYC & North. 7/ http://whybusingfailed.com/anvc/why-busing-failed/antibusing-provisions-in-the-civil-rights-act-of-1964
The 1964 NYC School Boycott is important because the stories we tell about the past shape possibilities today and in the future. Thankfully, the boycott has drawn more attention recently, including this great piece @yasmeenkhan for
@WNYC 8/ https://www.wnyc.org/story/school-boycott-1964/
@WNYC 8/ https://www.wnyc.org/story/school-boycott-1964/
And this excellent article and video @OBWax & @ArpitaAneja did for @TIME 9/ https://time.com/5890985/school-boycott-history/
Today, @TeensTakeCharge & @integratenyc are carrying the legacy of the 1964 school boycott & fighting for integration and equity in NYC schools. I'm thrilled to be in conversation w/ these students @YaleEdStudies panel 2/8 at 7:30p ET Registration: https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L-7y5l3mSYeYeNvn62-vWw 10/end
