Restore Our Alienated Rights facts for kids
Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR) was a group started in Boston, Massachusetts in 1974. It was founded by Louise Day Hicks. ROAR was against the idea of desegregation busing, which meant moving students by bus to different schools to mix students of all races. The group protested this plan, which was ordered by the government to make Boston's public schools more equal. ROAR was active from 1974 to 1976.
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Why Schools Needed to Change
For many years, schools in Boston were not equal. Most schools had either all white students or all Black students. This was often not planned by law, but it happened because people of different races lived in different neighborhoods. This kind of separation is called de facto segregation.
Because of this, schools with mostly white students often got more money and better learning tools. Schools with mostly Black students usually got less money and were not as good. Black families in Boston had been trying to make schools equal for a long time.
The Fight for Equal Schools
Louise Day Hicks was a member of the Boston School Committee. She spoke out against mixing students in schools. The NAACP is a group that works for equal rights. They did not want segregation to continue. So, they sued the Boston School Committee. This lawsuit was called Tallulah Morgan v. James Hennigan.
In 1974, Judge Garrity decided that the Boston School Committee had to create a plan to desegregate their schools. When the committee did not make a plan, the federal court stepped in. The court then ordered that students be bused to different schools. This was done to make sure all students got a fair and equal education.
Many people, especially white mothers in Boston, were against this forced busing. They protested and eventually formed ROAR. While some people had real worries, the group generally wanted schools to stay separated. Not everyone in ROAR was racist, but some members did speak out against Black people. ROAR started as a small group of women but quickly became popular because many locals agreed with them. They felt that forced busing threatened their family values and neighborhood traditions.
How ROAR Was Started
Louise Day Hicks first created a group called "Save Boston Committee" in February 1974. Her goal was to "restore the custodial rights of parents over their children." She believed it was wrong for the government to force schools to desegregate. She thought it was not a good way to improve education or society.
Later in 1974, the group changed its name to ROAR to fight against the Racial Imbalance Act. They saw the busing plan as a "total disaster." Hicks used her role as a mother to gather support. She argued that the government needed a different approach for a stable country. Many white mothers felt they were right to want to keep schools running as they always had.
What ROAR Wanted to Do
ROAR's main goal was to fight against U.S. Federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity's court order. This order required Boston to use desegregation busing. The busing was meant to end de facto racial segregation in public schools.
For its supporters, ROAR aimed to protect the "vanishing rights" of white citizens. But for many others, ROAR was a symbol of racism organized into a group. Most of ROAR's members were women. Their leaders often said that "the issue of forced busing is a women's issue."
On April 3, 1974, ROAR organized a large march. About 20,000 people marched from Boston City Hall Plaza to the State House. On March 19, 1975, 1,200 ROAR members marched in Washington D.C. They hoped to get national support for their cause.
Important Members of ROAR
Louise Day Hicks was the founder of ROAR. She had been against mixing schools in Boston for ten years before ROAR started. Her office was ROAR's main base. She led most of the protests and answered all letters sent to ROAR. Over time, some members started to trust Hicks less after a disagreement between her and another member, Pixie Palladino.
Pixie Palladino was seen as more extreme than Hicks. In January 1975, Palladino and eighty ROAR women went into a governor's meeting. They wore "Stop Forced Busing" T-shirts. On March 10, 1976, Palladino started her own group called "United ROAR." This group had slightly less extreme views than Hicks's group.
Fran Johnnene was another important member of ROAR. She often held meetings at her house in Hyde Park, bringing together neighbors. Johnnene was also involved with another anti-busing group called the Massachusetts Citizens Against Forced Busing. By late 1975, Johnnene left ROAR because the group became too extreme for her.
Most of ROAR's members were white housewives from Boston. They were sometimes called "militant mothers."
ROAR's Actions and Protests
ROAR members protested in both peaceful and sometimes violent ways. During one protest, a wooden bus was burned. This was to show how much they disliked the forced busing policy. There were also times when students and parents threw things at buses coming from mostly Black areas. Protest signs often had mean words about race.
On December 11, 1974, at South Boston High, a white student was hurt by a Black student. Louise Day Hicks was there and tried to calm the crowd. She made sure the Black students were safe on their way home.
However, ROAR members also held peaceful protests. For example, right after desegregation began, many white children did not go to school. This happened in both the formerly Black schools and the historically white schools. They also acted out the Boston Massacre. This was to show they felt like the people who were treated unfairly in colonial America.
On April 3, 1974, over 20,000 ROAR protesters marched to the State House. They wanted to show their strong dislike for desegregation busing. On March 19, 1975, 1,200 ROAR members marched in Washington D.C. They hoped to get national attention for their cause. They even wanted an amendment added to the U.S. Constitution to make desegregation busing illegal.
