A Study of Integration on the Upper Eastern Shore

The History of School Integration in Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne’s Counties in Maryland

School Integration:  The Long & Difficult Road to Compromise

Conflict —   Years after the Supreme Court rendered its Brown vs. Board of Education decision some school districts, including those on the Upper Eastern Shore, still hadn’t fully integrated.  While there was resistance, it was mild in comparison to the deep south.  Largely it consisted of vocal complaints from opposition groups and administrative stalling on the part of governing bodies.

Compromise — Eventually, Compromise was reached.  After receiving pressure from the Federal Government, the NAACP, and others counties integrated schools.  Some did it slowly while others “fudged” their progress.  

Compromise on the Upper Shore involved the following:

1. Cecil quickly agreed to integrate one school for Navy personnel as a result of a law suit.

2. Districts used an intermediate plan called freedom of choice, where African American students could apply to go to a white school.

3. Some built a single consolidated high school where all students in the county were sent.

4. Eventually all districts, often with external pressures and threats of more suits, fully integrated.

 

Political cartoon from the Afro-American, Baltimore, MD.  May 18, 1954

News article about the court decision from the Afro-American, May 18, 1954