Segregated schools still exist? Yes, No

By Jordan Smith
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

The 1954 Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling desegregated schools in Baltimore and cities across the nation, yet a panel meeting at Towson University recently questioned whether the races of local school children have ever been integrated.

“The problem wasn’t integration, but how it was mismanaged,” said Evelyn Chatmon, the first African American female to serve as assistant school superintendent for Baltimore County Public Schools. “I regret integration in the way it occurred.”

Chatmon said the idea of merging black students into white schools ignored the fact many of the whites may have been raised to think they were better than blacks. The attitudes, mindsets, stereotypes and belief systems would interfere in efforts to positively change race relations initially, she said.

Despite strong protests, she said black student pioneers pressed to enroll in the schools to make an impact for the community.

The event at Towson’s Albert S. Cook Library last week included a screening of “Voices of Baltimore: Life Under Segregation” and a panel discussion. Chatmon and several other community leaders talked about first-hand experiences of segregation and efforts at desegregation.

In 2016-2017 school year data, 70% of the student body at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute were black, surpassing the state level of 34%. The school was the first in Baltimore to integrate back in 1952 before the Brown desegregation ruling. Demographics show a gradual change from being a whites-only school to predominately black.

Nakiera Hopkins, a BCPS teacher, said segregation is still prevalent in county schools today. In her school, Cockeysville Middle School, Hopkins said a large percentage of white students are placed in honors program while black students who she believes to be of the same academic caliber are denied access to such classes, as well as the Gifted & Talented program.

“Most black kids don’t pass the AP tests, but it’s because they leave the classes [when] no one looks like them in there,” said Hopkins. “And when they get in [the classes] the expectation is that they’re not going to achieve, so they leave. I think segregation is hidden; it’s definitely hidden.”

In the 1960s, Baltimore’s school system was accused of segregating students intentionally through redistricting. If someone was not a resident in the district of a certain school, then they could not attend that school. At that time, many blacks and whites lived in separate neighborhoods in Baltimore, so the children went to different schools, the panelists explained.

“I went to a private school in Baltimore City and then transferred to [a] public school in Baltimore County, and the experiences were so different,” said Sydney Conway, a black Towson University student. “I felt like everyone in nearby private schools stayed in our own little community away from the public school students.”

Conway agreed that segregation is still prevalent, but said finance now plays a larger part in the division. He said no one is legally able to deny a student due to race. However, he added that if a family cannot pay to put their children through private education then the students are forced to go to a public school.

Patricia Welch said she attended segregated schools until 1954, but was a part of the first Eastern High School desegregated class. Welch, who earned a doctorate degree, taught in BCPS schools for 22 years and served on the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners from 1997 until 2005.

Welch who described herself as a “cute little colored girl” who excelled in her classes during segregation said she had to continue pushing herself academically. She said she was pushed to attend a desegregated school, where she felt like she had the weight of her race on her shoulders to do well. Now, Welch said she still feels the weight, but that doesn’t burden her because she remains positive.

“We’re not going back to the cotton fields,” said Welch. “These are tumultuous times, but we’ll get past that.”