The Persistence of School Segregation in the Urban North: An Historical Perspective

In 1967 the report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights entitled Racial Isolation in the Public Schools concluded that “seventy-five percent of the Negro elementary students in the Nation’s cities are in schools with enrollments that are nearly all-Negro (90 percent or more Negro), while 83 percent of the White students are in nearly all-White schools. Nearly nine out of every 10 Negro elementary students in the cities attend majority-Negro schools.” ¹ The report stated that the “high level of racial separation in city schools exists whether the city is large or small, whether the proportion of Negro enrollment is large or small and whether the city is located North or South.” ²