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Until that time, Houston schools were a division of the city government.
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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
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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.
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Supreme Court tells Southern states to desegregate “with all deliberate speed” even though NAACP was pushing for a timetable.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Only 3% of 39,000 black students attend integrated schools in 1964, ten years after the Brown decision was handed down
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
