Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education |
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| Argued October 12, 1970 Decided April 20, 1971 |
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| Full case name | Swann et al. v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education et al. |
| Citations | 402 U.S. 1 (more)
91 S. Ct. 1267; 28 L. Ed. 2d 554; 1971 U.S. LEXIS 52
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| Subsequent history | 431 F.2d 138 (4th Cir. 1970), affirmed as to those parts in which it affirmed the District Court's judgment. |
| Holding | |
| Busing students to promote integration is constitutional. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Burger, joined by unanimous |
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education was a very important case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1971. This case was about how to make public schools truly integrated. Integration means bringing students of different races together in the same schools.
The Supreme Court decided that using school buses to move students was a fair way to help schools become more integrated. This was allowed even if the schools were mostly one race because students lived close by. The goal was to make sure all students had equal chances to learn, no matter their race.
Before the Swann case, the Supreme Court had already said in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that separate schools for different races were illegal. However, many schools still weren't truly integrated. In 1968, another case called Green v. County School Board showed that just letting students choose their schools wasn't enough. Schools needed to take active steps to mix students from different backgrounds.
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Why the Case Started
Charlotte, North Carolina, was a Southern state that was somewhat open to ending segregation. After the Brown ruling, Charlotte tried to end segregation by assigning students to schools based on where they lived.
However, when the city of Charlotte combined its school district with the surrounding area, many Black students still went to mostly Black schools. These schools were often in central Charlotte. Most white students attended schools further outside the city. This meant that schools were still largely separated by race.
The Legal Fight Begins
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund helped bring the Swann case to court. They represented six-year-old James Swann and nine other families. Julius L. Chambers, a lawyer, presented their case. James Swann's father was a professor, which made it less likely his family would face financial problems for being part of the lawsuit.
In 1965, a judge first ruled against the families in the Swann case. He said the Constitution didn't require schools to actively mix races.
But after the Green ruling in 1968, the Swann case was brought to court again. This time, Judge James B. McMillan heard the case. Even though he had once been against busing, he decided that the facts showed busing was the only way to truly desegregate schools.
Experts were brought in to help create a new plan for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system. Judge McMillan repeatedly asked the school board to improve their plan. The board eventually suggested a plan that would divide Charlotte into pie-shaped areas. This would send Black students from the city center to mostly white high schools outside the city. This plan would require busing and would lead to a mix of 2-36% Black students in all ten high schools.
For elementary schools, the plan was more complicated. It would help integrate some schools but still leave more than half of Black elementary students in mostly Black schools.
Judge McMillan did not approve the school board's plan. Instead, he chose a plan from an outside expert, Dr. John Finger. The Finger Plan required busing even more Black students. It also created "satellite zones" and used other methods to achieve even greater integration. Because of his decision, Judge McMillan became very unpopular in the area. The lawyer, Julius Chambers, even had his home, office, and car bombed when he first took on the case.
The school board appealed Judge McMillan's decision. The case went to a higher court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. This court mostly agreed with Judge McMillan's plan for older students. However, they sent the case back to him to rethink the plan for elementary school students. Judge McMillan decided to stick with his original plan for elementary students.
Swann Goes to the Supreme Court
The Swann case then went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Even though he was young and didn't have much experience at this level, Julius Chambers argued the case for the families. He knew all the details very well.
The U.S. government, represented by Erwin Griswold, asked the Court to go slowly with desegregation. At first, some Supreme Court justices, like Chief Justice Burger, were hesitant about busing. But after much discussion and several drafts of the opinion, the Court came to a unanimous decision.
The final decision was 9-0. All nine justices agreed to support Judge McMillan's order. This meant that busing students to achieve integration was legal and could be used by federal judges across the South.
What Happened After Swann
After the Supreme Court's decision in 1971, busing became widely used to end segregation in schools, especially in the Southern states. For many years, Charlotte was seen as a city that successfully made desegregation work.
However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many new families moved to Charlotte. Some of these new residents were not happy with busing. In 1992, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system tried a new plan to reduce busing. This plan used "magnet schools," which are special schools that attract students with unique programs. These magnet schools had a certain number of spots for Black and white students. But some white families were still unhappy if their children were not accepted into magnet schools because of these quotas.
In 1997, a parent named William Capacchione sued the school system. His daughter was denied entry to a magnet school twice because of her race. A judge ruled that the school system had become "unitary," meaning it was no longer segregated by law. This decision lifted the court order for mandatory busing based on race. This ruling was upheld by a higher court in 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court chose not to hear a final appeal, so the federal order for busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg ended.
Starting in the fall of 2002, Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools adopted a new "School Choice Plan." The city was divided into four large zones. Students could choose to attend their local neighborhood school or pick from other schools in the district. They only received free transportation to their neighborhood school or magnet schools. This new plan gave families more say in where their children went to school.
