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Voters create the Houston Independent School District
Until that time, Houston schools were a division of the city government. -
Sweatt v. Painter
Herman Sweatt files suit to attend UT Law School. Gov. Price Daniel fights this by establishing Texas State University for Negroes, which becomes TSU. Thurgood Marshall, attorney for the NAACP, argues the case and wins, which sets the precedent for further action by NAACP in school desegregation -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Supreme Court declares state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. HISD’s first response is to try to refurbish buildings and mobilize to provide “equal” facilities. Black Houstonians begin to fight for desegregation. -
Brown II
Supreme Court tells Southern states to desegregate “with all deliberate speed” even though NAACP was pushing for a timetable. -
Ross v. HISD
In the Fall of 1956, 18 black children attempt to enroll in all-white schools and are denied. That December, three of the families sue HISD with the support of the NAACP. The district will go on to fight this case in court for more than 20 years. -
Hattie Mae White elected to HISD school board
Hattie Mae White becomes the first African American elected to the HISD board. Shortly after her election, a cross was set ablaze in her yard and someone shot out her car windshield with an air rifle. -
First black student enrolls in white HISD school
Following a judge’s order to undertake “stairstep integration,” 22 black first graders try to enroll in white schools. The district adopts such stringent guidelines that only 12 are accepted. Tyronne Raymond Day is the first student to enroll at all-white Kashmere Gardens Elementary. The district delayed announcing his enrollment so there was no violent resistance. Few African Americans express joy or pride in this token achievement. -
Segregation remains persistent
Only 3% of 39,000 black students attend integrated schools in 1964, ten years after the Brown decision was handed down -
White parents try to create Westheimer ISD
When it became apparent that segregation was inevitable, many white families began moving to the suburbs. Many white families who had moved out west along I-10 try to form their own school distrct, Westheimer ISD. HISD, NAACP and the federal government join together to fight the creation of a new school district which would have been 88% white. For seven years the creation of this district is litigated but is eventually struck down by both a Federal court and the US Supreme Court. -
HISD implements magnet program
As a last ditch effort to integrate schools, HISD decides to award additional funds to create magnet schools with a specialized curriculum. The district hoped magnets would attract students of different races and create a truly diverse learning institution. -
Voluntary Interdistrict Education Plan
HISD implements its Voluntary Interdistrict Education Plan (VIEP), designed to stem white flight and lure white students from neighboring districts to magnet schools. While VIEP may have stemmed the tide of white flight it did not reverse the trend. Instead, spots previously filled by HISD students of any ethnicity were being given to white suburban students. -
HISD declared a "unitary" school district
Court declares HISD a “unitary” school district, meaning all vestiges of a dual, segregated school system had been eliminated. Says busing kids across Houston is impractical.
