Final Thoughts

Briefly considers the challenges and possibilities faced by west side neighborhoods and West Charlotte High at a time of rapid gentrification, low social mobility, a shortage of affordable housing and expanding educational "choice."

Resegregation

Shows how the end of busing and the advent of school choice sparked widespread resegregation, particularly in inner-city neighborhoods and outer-ring suburbs. Describes the effects of resegregation on West Charlotte, which was left with a high-poverty population of often-transient students as well as high levels of teacher turnover. Explores the fraying social fabric and the rise of the drug trade in the neighborhoods around the school, and the efforts of teachers, families and students to overcome the resulting challenges. Describes the way West Charlotte students contended with the increasingly harsh judgments directed at inner-city schools, in part because of a new emphasis on school rankings based on standardized tests, and in part because a resurgence of negative racial stereotypes focused on inner-city African Americans. Covers the Leandro lawsuit, in which a federal judge termed the education at Charlotte's high-poverty high schools "academic genocide."

An African American School

Tells the story of growth on Charlotte's west side from the 1920s through the 1950s, a time when the city's African American population was not only growing but also shifting from the center city to the new neighborhoods being built on the west side of time. Describes the multi-class community fashioned by west side residents in the 1920s and 1930s. Explores the school culture that developed by the highly qualified staff at West Charlotte High School, which opened in 1938, and which became a key focus of community activities and aspirations. Covers early civil rights activities, reactions to the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board decision and examines the dilemma faced by African American education advocates: whether to focus on integration, or on securing more resources for all-black schools.

Busing

Covers the political and social turmoil created as Mecklenburg County struggled with implementing the Swann desegregation order, which required extensive cross-town busing and which was unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court in 1971. Charts the devastating impact of the closing of African American schools, particularly Second Ward High School, in the wake of desegregation mandates. Details the challenges faced by African American teachers and students who were reassigned to historically white schools. Lays out the devastating effects of "urban renewal," which demolished the city's downtown black communities. Tells the story of the interracial, community-based coalition that solved the busing conflict by crafting a plan that ensured that students from all of the county's communities would fully participate, and assigned the children of politically powerful families to West Charlotte.

Pulling Apart

Covers the rise of Ronald Reagan and a more conservative, individualistic approach to government and society that would have far-reaching effects on Charlotte schools.Explores persisting obstacles to racial advancement, including shifts in job markets, housing patterns and political priorities that perpetuated income and homeownership gaps into the 1980s and 1990s, and sharpened distinctions between struggling central-city neighborhoods and increasingly prosperous suburban communities. Traces the national shift in education priorities from promoting integration to a concern with test scores and an interest in "choice," which led Charlotte's business leaders to promote a desegregation plan focused around magnet schools instead of race-based busing. Examines growing concerns about the performance of African American students in desegregated schools, and about the challenges faced by young black men in urban neighborhoods. Follows the Capacchione lawsuit, which challenged the use of race in student assignment and brought an end to Charlotte's busing plan.

Building an Integrated School

Traces the work done by West Charlotte's veteran African American teachers and staff members to mentor younger white teachers and administrators, and to ensure that the school's African American history remained an important part of its identity. Examines the ways that the diversity of West Charlotte's population fostered a situation in which young people felt able to explore and appreciate differences. Highlights the pride that West Charlotte students felt in the diversity of their school. Considers the active efforts of teachers and administrators to build racial balance in academic and extracurricular activities. Explores ongoing cultural divisions in the school, the intellectual and emotional challenges of dealing with a diverse range of people, and the ways that students and teachers sought to address these challenges.Links the success of school desegregation to other developments that included growing diversity in city government and rapid economic growth.

Civil Rights

Examines the ways that growing up in a supportive, ambitious community spurred Charlotte's young African Americans to question and then challenge inequality.Highlights key moments in Charlotte's civil rights history, including the furor sparked by Dorothy Counts' efforts to become the first black student at Harding High School in 1957, the sit-ins of 1960, the successful efforts to desegregate restaurants in 1963, and the bombs that exploded at the homes of four civil rights activist families in 1965. Follows Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the landmark desegregation case filed by civil rights attorney Julius Chambers. In 1969, Chambers convinced federal judge James McMillan to issue a sweeping order that required Charlotte-Mecklenburg to fully desegregate every school in the countywide system, setting the stage for the nation's most comprehensive school busing plan.

Separate and Unequal

Traces the rise of the "corporate reform" approach to school improvement, which involved increased testing and analysis of test data, an intensive focus on separating "good" from "bad" teachers, and efforts to bring "business efficiency" to schools.Details the work done by principals, teachers and volunteers to create a West Charlotte culture that met the needs of students from often-unstable situations, a local philanthropic effort to improve West Charlotte and its feeder schools, and the dramatic inequalities between West Charlotte and the district's wealthiest schools. Outlines the challenges of building a stable teaching and administrative staff. Notes the effects of racial and economic isolation on social mobility, which according to a national study was lower in Charlotte than in any other major American city. Follows the controversy sparked by a 2010 decision to close several predominantly African American schools and to create K-8 schools in west side neighborhoods. Considers West Charlotte's enduring cultural strengths, and its continuing links to African American culture, history, and neighborhoods.

Introduction

When you feel as if you belong, as if you have a reason for being there, you feel protected. You feel encouraged. Thriving, existing, living vibrantly—you feel encouraged to do that. And that’s what I think West Charlotte provided for so many people…. You have evidence of people belonging to something, and being a part of something, and not having to make excuses for it. And you can see how the human spirit thrives....