Introduction
by Dr. Robert A. Pratt
Busing was clearly one of the most divisive social issues of the 1970s, and would remain steeped in controversy for the rest of the twentieth century. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Swann v.Charlotte-Mecklenburg (1971) understood that busing was necessary in order for meaningful desegregation to occur, mainly because a history of segregated housing patterns made it impossible for neighborhood schools to be desegregated. Busing, therefore, would mean busing white children into blackneighborhoods, and black children into white neighborhoods.
For many reasons, busing was never popular, with whites or blacks for that matter. For many whites, especially those who were opposed to desegregation in the first place, busing became an easy scapegoat, and they could often couch their prejudiced views in anti-busing rhetoric. Blacks, on the other hand, had always been more concerned about equality of educational opportunities, rather than "integration" per se. But most blacks came to embrace desegregation when it became obvious that "separate" would never be "equal." While blacks tended to support busing more than whites, blacks began to have second thoughts when it became apparent that they were shouldering the burdens of busing. Eventually, as whites began to abandon the public schools in droves, busing -- at least for the purpose of achieving a "racial balance" -- was no longer necessary. |
 Yet, despite how one feels about the busing experience in Richmond, the heroic actions of many of the key players should never be forgotten. Then Governor Linwood Holton voluntarily accepted the city's busing decree and tried to set a positive example, but his actions were the exception rather than the rule, and his future career in politics would end because of his progressive leadership. Judge Robert Merhige was publicly vilified because he happened to believe that busing was consistent with the principles espoused in the Brown decision. The law firm of Hill, Tucker, and Marsh, along with other NAACP attorneys, led the legal assault on segregated schools in Richmond.
And then, of course, there were the students themselves who, along with their teachers, tried to adjust to new racial realities, which was not always easy given that the public schools were often the major battlegrounds of the civil rights movement. Those who were inclined to support busing generally believed that, in the words of Thurgood Marshall, if our society expects blacks and whites to work together and live together as adults, then they should play together and learn together as children. As it turned out, they greatly underestimated the opposition.
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