Nixon Era Federal Mandates and White-Flight
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a giant step forward for many and showed the progression of the government in recognizing all its citizens. However, this step did not translate to all levels; the federal mandates needed to be equally applied at state and local levels. The Act wasn’t applied equally; it wasn’t enough to say to do it. Many schools, cities, and localities found ways around the Act. TPS was no exception. In May of 1965, TPS submitted a plan for desegregation to the US Commissioner of Education. The plan had almost no changes that would actually see any real desegregation in Tulsa schools. However, the Commissioner approved the plan on August 31, 1965.13
The desegregation plan mandated students to attend the school closest to them, regardless of race. The school also redrew a few school boundaries to make it a little more integrated. Nonetheless, all progress made by the plan was undone when the school board allowed for transfers intra-district, based only on the desire of parents to avoid having their children in an undesirable school. A Tulsa Tribune article in1959 said that Burroughs Elementary school had passed a 50% majority in favor of black students. The Superintendent is quoted as saying “We have had some inquires….that when a school becomes predominately Negro or white the parents of children in whichever group is in the minority may request a transfer to another school.” The article further states that since the beginning of the school year 45 of 64 requests by white students to transfer out of Burroughs were granted based on “medical or special reasons”14
In 1968 the Attorney General of the US filed a suit on TPS charging that the district failed to comply with its constitutional duty to maintain and operate integrated schools. There were four main points to the suit: (1)Assigning students by designing school attendance zones in such a manner as to segregate students on the basis of race, (2)Permitting transfers of students which in some instances had the purpose and effect of segregating students on the basis of race, (3)Assigning faculty and staff members among various schools on a racially segregated basis, and (4)Constructing new schools and additions to schools on the basis of policies and practices which in some instances have the purpose and effect of segregating students on the basis of race.15
On appeal, the District Judge dismissed the charges saying that the plan of 1965 met the standards because Tulsa’s segregation at that point was de facto and not de jure segregation. In other words, TPS was not forcing the separation as it was naturally occurring based on where people lived. Nonetheless, the fact that the Attorney General even filed a suit must have been a wake-up call, as that same year, TPS reversed the former transfer policy. They said that students who were in a majority school could freely transfer to a school where they would be in the minority. This would supposedly open up all schools to all races. The League of Women Voters in Tulsa reported that the change in policy resulted in only four white students transferring to black majority schools; but about 200 blacks relocated to white schools, most of which were to Old Central. Within two years Old Central’s minority population rose from around 10% to 16%, a large difference considering Old Central’s enrollment was about 2100 students at that time.
The change in policy created an immediate backlash from whites in the city. The TPS plan for integration was countered by the migration of whites from TPS schools district to suburban schools in the southeast part of the city. Between 1960 and 1970, 85% of the new housing units were in the southeast part of the US Census Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA). The southeast of Tulsa is almost fully encompassed by other school districts, such as: Union Public Schools, and Bixby, Jenks, and Broken Arrow, which are not part of TPS, even though they may have a Tulsa address. In the years that followed, the student enrollment in the area schools also shifted. In 1968, the district student enrollment peaked at 80,116. By 1974, the district lost 14,136 students. Figure 2, in Appendix A, demonstrates this by showing the growth in the SMSA of the districts outside of TPS. The Indian Nations Council of Governments, a local civic group, stated that the “unprecedented residential growth immediately outside the district … provided a sanctuary for fleeing whites”. 16 The concept of white-flight is definitely not part of my student’s knowledge base, but it should be. There is probably no other factor in the economic, social, and political realms that has more impact on their daily lives.
In 1968, the district’s attempt to further integration by involuntarily reassigning faculty members did not meet with success. Many teachers resigned instead of accepting their new assignment. Also, many in the black community protested that the move took the best black teachers and put them in white schools, while the white teachers reassigned to black schools were said to be the worst ones. In 1970, the school board experienced limited success in attempting to make all schools mirror the district’s student population percentages of 88% white, 12% black.
The sudden increase of approximately 125 new black students in 1968 at Old Central led to the first cases of racial tension and unrest in the school in the more than ten years of integration. The 1969 – 1970 school year had many incidents and fights; several articles in the Tulsa newspapers discussed these events. The first week of November 1969 was a particularly rough one. Tensions erupted into violence with fists, chains and even knives. Both black and white participated in the unrest. Although no one was seriously hurt, school and police officials closed school early on Friday the 7th of November to create a “cooling off period”. The police and school officials found upon combining their experiences that many of the agitators were not students at the school, (even though many said they were) but rather were “outsiders and drop outs,”17 thereby implying that the five black youth who were arrested were the whole trouble. Even Night Train Lane said, “These Black former students and non-students who feel the white majority is above them try to get the well-adjusted, integrated Negro student to conform to their ways... Those agitators who are going to school should be dealt with severely.”18 In the Tribune article, written on November 8th, the school administration said that really all the students, both black and white, just wanted to go to school in peace.19
Both school officials and police said that they were going to tighten access to the school grounds to keep outsiders out. There was a temporary respite of hostilities during the holidays, when things seemed to be over. Tensions flared again as January wore on and as school resumed after the holiday break. The newspapers of the time carried several stories about the unrest. One article spoke of a mother’s concern for her son’s safety, even after speaking with the Principal. Other parents were cited with similar stories. The implication of the article was that the administration of Central was not doing enough to protect the students. A very charged, anonymous opinion piece on Jan 30, 1970 said “Either these elements will be dismissed, isolated and, if necessary jailed, or Central High will turn into a jungle.” The writer goes on to say, “The truth is that there are some people who are incapable of absorbing academically-oriented high school education. …. Like children, there are not contemplative but action-oriented. In short they react to problems and frustrations with tantrums.” The article never directly refers to “Negroes,” the black students, but the verbiage is clearly a heritage of the age of Jim Crow.20
From the lack of further articles after the ones in February, it seems that the tensions were kept to a manageable level. The Tom Tom Yearbook for 1970 certainly mentions challenges, but the students ended the school year with hope. Opening and closing section editors, Edwin Baswell and Connie Gould said “We discussed, challenged, delved into ourselves in order to understand one another. We weren’t always successful, but looking back we realize the mistakes we made…Finally, it’s over. We leave Central with a better understanding of other people. Maybe, years from now, we’ll look back and find life was a little easier with that knowledge.21
Despite tensions, TPS felt that they had to push for integration if they wanted to avoid busing, which to them was the ultimate threat. The 1969 Supreme Court case of Alexander v Holmes County Board of Education said the time for "all deliberate speed" mentioned in the Brown v Board case had run out. The school district decided to create workshops and programs to help not only the students but also the sponsors, coaches, teachers and staff. The goal was to talk though issues about minority student enrollment and their involvement in school activities. Another Tribune article on November 8, 1969 talked about these tensions in particular. The principal was quoted as saying the unrest is an “accumulation of misunderstanding and subtle and over expression of prejudice between black and white students, and teachers and black students.” 22
The landmark case of Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1970) took the last hope for TPS to say that students should go to their local school, even if doing so continued de facto segregation. Many states believed that Brown v Board held that you couldn’t enforce segregation. Swann clarified the previous order saying that the goal needed to be integration and that school busing to achieve integration is constitutional and necessary. TPS officials began a slow process of figuring out what to do. At Central, by 1970, there was almost a 20% black student population; therefore busing was not used at Central. However, many of the middle and elementary schools that fed into Central did have to have busing in order to fully integrate.
On July 23, 1971, US District Judge Frederick A. Daugherty ordered TPS to meet the following standards: First the ratio of black to white teachers had to reflect the population of the city and that all staffing should be as individuals without regards to race. The third and fourth standards had to do with transfers. All transfers from a minority school to a majority school had to have documented cause, but transfers from majority to minority schools should be granted freely. The standard also stated that special assistance, such as reading programs, should be given in black majority schools. However, it was the second standard, which was about school construction and site selection that had the greatest impact on Central.
Old Central reached a crisis point. The growth of downtown was forcing expansion of local highways and traffic dispersal loops. Central’s extension areas were in the way. With more and more students driving, parking and space became a major problem. Also, as iconic and beautiful as Old Central was, it was at the point that either major funds would have to be invested in renovations, or a new school would have to be built. The school board made the decision to look at new construction. In light of the 1971 court mandate, the site selection committee looked for a location that would lead to a more fully integrated school. They chose the current location of the 3100 block of Edison, merely 6 miles from Old Central, but worlds apart culturally.
The new neighborhood, Gilcrease, was filled with a mix of old row houses built for refinery and railroad workers and the once elegant, but now crumbling mansions in the Gilcrease Hills, with a few old craftsman houses in between. In other words, the new area had a mixture of black, white and Indian that truly satisfied the integration objective. It is unlikely that School Board knew that white-flight and suburbanization would take Central from integrated to de facto segregation within two decades. The Board placed Central in an area of the genteel middle class, with one major exception, the museum of Thomas Gilcrease, a graduate of Central. He left his mansion in Gilcrease Hills and a vast art collection to the public. Most Central students have been in the museum multiple times without understanding the history of Thomas Gilcrease and how that intersects with their own lives. Like many public historical places, it has lost its original intention to the new audience that passes by each day. In 2015, this area is missing out on the beginnings of the downtown gentrification process. New Central and indeed all of the Gilcrease neighborhoods are separated by highways and railroad tracks only a few feet from all the reinvestment.23
At the same time that the selection committee was looking for a place for New Central, the school board also searched for a way to desegregate the still all-black high school of Booker T. In 1972, the school board submitted a plan to try a magnet metro learning center within Booker T. The plan failed in the first year. The second year, the 1973 – 1974 school year the plan, was totally revamped. The school board and Superintendent told all the students living within the boundaries of Booker T that they had to reapply to return. The school district then opened enrollment for 600 whites and 600 black students who were the honors students of all the other schools in the district. While the first year they had less than their goal, they did have almost 500 whites and almost 600 blacks. The plan also reassigned all of Booker T’s teachers, picking only the best, both black and white. As part of the plan submitted on the annual report to the federal courts to show compliance to the mandates of 1971, the board and superintendent also set aside more resources for the students, to help the experiment succeed. It did. Within 3 years, Booker T was heading the top of the list in academics, college admissions and even many academic competitions in areas such as speech and debate, or orchestra. The TPS administration was able to do this by forcing students who did not meet or maintain their criteria into other high schools. TPS used involuntary or forced busing to move the neighborhood students who did not get admitted to Booker T to other schools in the district.
Busing continued well into the 1980s, even after the federal mandates had expired. As Booker T became a showcase school for TPS, the school board provided more resources to help it maintain that status. Sometime in the mid-1990s, Booker T opened school to all students who live within the boundaries, as well as those who are there for the International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement magnet. Nonetheless, each year I have students in my classes at Central who actually should be going to Booker T, but do not want the stress or high expectations of the environment there. The best teachers in TPS still seek to work at Booker T and the school district still does what it can to celebrate the school’s successes.
Back at Old Central, the students began a period of mourning for their “Central.” Looking at the yearbooks from 1973 – 1975, we see photos of the artifacts that made Central special. In 1975, the editor, Stefanie Sposato, wrote in the opening pages: “Over the years our exterior hasn’t changed. The red bricks and white towers were built to outlast the inglorious fate the school board has planned.”24 Artistic pictures of the beautiful façade and art work mix with the common ones of students and lockers and desks. At the end of the yearbook a wonderful eulogy of sorts appears. The final words are: “Her [Old Central’s] future rests in our memories.”25
The building of Old Central is a Tulsa landmark. Its downtown location, just off the highway, brings thousands of people past its doors every day. But, the name etched in stone on the front has been changed from Central High School to that of the Public Service Company of Oklahoma. (PSO) It was proudly restored and is currently maintained by PSO. There are public tours of the old building and it is a stop on several historical walking tours of downtown Tulsa. Most that drive by probably have no idea that it once was Central High School.
The Central High School moved to its new 47 acre campus in time for the 1975 – 1976 school year. In order to ease the transition to the new location, the administration moved many of the works of public art acquired by the school during the 1910s through the 1950s. This included a significant statue called “Appeal to the Great Spirit”, a work originally done in 1909 in Boston. The work at Central (see Figure 3 in Appendix A) is one of nine full size plaster works done by the original artist Cyrus Dallin. Later in the 1980s it was used as the cast for a “heroic sized” copy that now stands in Woodard Park in Tulsa. A second artifact based tradition that made the transition from old to new was the “Walk of Fame”. The sidewalk leading from the parking lot to the student entrance of the building is edged with a small inclining wall upon which each decade dedicates the memorial to the 10 years it includes. Each graduating class in that decade adds a year plaque at the time of graduation. My students walk past these memorials to classes past with very little thought to the 100 years already represented. There is room for at least 50 more years of graduating classes. Please see figure 4 in Appendix A for a photograph of this walk.
One further effort to tie the traditions of Old Central with New Central has been the Hall of Fame plaques in the main foyer of the school. This tradition started just after New Central began. There is a display of people who have had significant contributions to our society either in business, sports, entertainment or civic duties. On the plaque is an image of the person, along with a brief history and the year of their graduation from Central. Greats such as Paul Harvey, Henry Zarrow, Tony Randall, and George Kaiser line the walls. Men and women are both represented more or less equally. Perhaps not to anyone’s surprise there are few people of color. Oddly, even though Central has arguably been integrated since the beginning of the 1960s, 55 years ago, and even though we have been in the new building for 40 years, there is only one person from the era of the new school. He is also the only black face on the wall, John Starks, a 1983 graduate who played in the NBA in the 1990s. He is famous for the first one-handed dunk on Michael Jordan. (See Figure 5 in Appendix A)
Coming full circle to public history memorials, monuments, art and the narratives of those who created them, lived with them and currently see them really is the whole point of this unit. Can my students see Old Central and imagine what it was like to be a student walking those halls? Do the public works artifacts we maintain have any significance to the students who walk the halls today? How can we use these things to explore our connection to that history? I have many goals for my students, but ultimately I hope to see a different view of our everyday lives through the eyes of my students.
This leads me to the question: what will my students produce to show me that we are making the connections work? First, they will produce some type of graphic, poster or art work to illustrate the major points of the Civil Rights movement intertwined with the major events in Central’s history. These will be displayed on the wall opposite my doorway, a wall that most students pass to get to core classes. Of course, to seek other voices, I will challenge them to find friends or family members who went to Central in the 1950s – the 1970s when the school desegregated. The plan is some type of oral history that can be documented so those stories can be told in the future.
To leave a lasting legacy on the school, I want my students to work with the alumni association to help introduce a new phase to the Hall of Fame. To do this students will need to research the list of graduates from the last 40 years and look for deserving individuals who should be nominated to the alumni association. Whether we succeed in changing the Hall of Fame or not, over this whole unit, I have been doing my best to tie the past to something my students can identify as their own history. I hope to use the time dedicated to these topics to show not only the national events of the Civil Rights movement and suburbanization, but also the local and perhaps familial histories that are woven into that national story. Moreover, students should be aware that they can play an important role in writing this history.
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