In 1960, Los Angeles was still a decidedly white city. By 1980, it no longer was. What happened in Los Angeles was not uncommon elsewhere, as white residents fled city centers in the latter half of the twentieth century to pursue visions of the suburban good life. Whites abandoned central cities, and as a consequence, the school systems of those urban areas began to reflect their populations—struggling, under-resourced, and non-white. But in Los Angeles, this phenomenon seems to have happened in reverse. Whites with school-age children fled the public school system at even greater rates than those at which they left the city, and at much greater rates than other white residents. Driving families out of Los Angeles public schools was the specter of school desegregation, which threatened to bring populations associated with violence and low academic performance into neighborhood schools. The threat desegregation posed to public schools caused parents to choose private schools, if they could, and reevaluate the quality of life in Los Angeles, if needed. Their subsequent out-migration brought about the schools they feared and forever changed the face of the city they left.
Austin, Lee.1966. Principal's Firm Hand Averts Race Violence. Los Angeles Times, June 8: SG8.
2.
Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles v. Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, 448 US 1343, No. A-214 (1980).
3.
Camarillo, Albert M."Cities of Color: The Making of California's Minority-Majority Cities,"Pacific Historical Review76, no. 1 (February 2007).
4.
Caughey, John W.The Shame of Los Angeles: Segregated Schools, 1970-1971 ( Los Angeles: Quail Books, 1971).
5.
Caughey, John W., and LaRee Caughey .To Kill a Child's Spirit: The Tragedy of School Segregation in Los Angeles (Itasca: F. E. Peacock Publishers, 1973).
6.
Claypool, Leslie.1968. "Small-Scale School Busing Wins 5 to 1 Board Approval."Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet, May 21.
7.
Coleman, James."Recent Trends in School Integration,"Educational Researcher4, no. 7 ( 1975).
Fradkin, Philip. 1966"Police Quell Fighting that Closed Duarte High School," Los Angeles Times, April 29: 1.
15.
Freifeld, Alice.1969. "Voluntary Busing to Bring Students from City Schools " Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet: 1A.
16.
Gottlieb, David."Teaching and Students: The Views of Black and White Teachers,"Sociology of Education37 ( 1964 ): 345-53.
17.
Grebler, Leo.The Schooling Gap: Signs of Progress. Advance Report 7, Mexican-American Study Project. Los Angeles: University of California, 1967.
18.
Hamerman, S.Report of the Los Angeles City Schools Planning Team. Los Angeles: LA Unified School District, 1967.
19.
Hamilton, C. Ann.1972. "Why Many Don't Want to Teach in the Ghetto."Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, February 26.
20.
Haynes, Roy.1967. "Schools Warned to Prepare for Racial Strife," Los Angeles Times, March 22: 1.
21.
Jay R. Jackson Jr. v.Pasadena City School District , et al., 59 CA Reports876-82 (1963).
22.
Paula B. Johnson, David O. Sears, and John B. McConahay."Black Invisibility, the Press and the Los Angeles Riot,"American Journal of Sociology76: 698-721, 714.
23.
Jones, Jack.1967. "Educators Tackle Problem of Rising Student Unrest ," Los Angeles Times, March 21: 3.
24.
Kelley, Albert.1971. "Ex-Chamber Chief Leads Valley Protest of Busing,"Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, May 21.
25.
Klein, Norman, and Martin Schiesl, eds. 20th Century Los Angeles: Power, Promotion, and Social Conflict (Claremont: Regina Books, 1990).
26.
Lindsey, Robert.1977. "Los Angeles Schools Plan Busing Amid White Flight ," New York Times, October 11: 20.
27.
Los Angeles City Forum. http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-angeles/72913-help-mom-southfairfax-west-pico.html (accessed May 8, 2007).
28.
Los Angeles Times, "The State" (May 5, 1963): F5.
29.
Los Angeles Times, "L.A. Declared Target for Total Integration" (May 30, 1963): 1.
30.
Los Angeles Times, "Integration Rally Draws 1,500 at Beverly Hills" (July 10, 1963): 5.
31.
Los Angeles Times, "Oakland School Settles Down After Race Rows" (Sept. 24, 1963): 7. Los Angeles Times , "Racial Strife Hits School at Delano" (Nov. 10, 1963): H9.
32.
Lubell, Samuel.1965. "Battle for Your Mind."Los Angeles Times, Aug.22: 22.
33.
Lyons, Bebe.1970. "Judge's Mail Runs Against Decision in Integration Case."Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, February 19.
34.
Marascuilo, Leonard A., and Kathleen Penfield ."A Northern Urban Community's Attitudes toward Racial Imbalances in Schools and Classrooms."The School Review74, no. 4 ( 1966).
35.
McClellan, Chad.1967. "A Different View of Watts '67."Los Angeles Times, July 2: A9.
36.
McGirr, Lisa.Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right ( Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001).
37.
Meyers, Dowell."Major Changes in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area between 1960 and 2000."School of Planning, Policy and Development, University of Southern California. http://www.rcf.usc.edu/~dowell/new/LA%20trends.htm (accessed January 14, 2007).
38.
Miranda, Gloria E."The Mexican Immigrant Family: Economic and Cultural Survival in Los Angeles, 1900-1945." In 20th CenturyLos Angeles: Power, Promotion, and Social Conflict, eds. Norman Klein and Martin Schiesl (Claremont: Regina Books, 1990).
39.
Navarro, Carlos and R. Acuna, "In Search of Community: A Comparative Essay on Mexicans in Los Angeles and San Antonio." In 20th CenturyLos Angeles: Power, Promotion, and Social Conflict eds. Norman Klein and Martin Schiesl (Claremont: Regina Books, 1990).
40.
Nicolaides, Becky.My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002).
41.
Parker, Heather R.1996. The Elusive Coalition: African American and Chicano Political Organization and Interaction in Los Angeles, 1960-1973. PhD diss., University of CaliforniaLos Angeles.
42.
Pico Post."Supt. Calls School Busing of Thousands False Rumor" (February 1, 1968).
43.
Rosen, Gerald P.Political Ideology and the Chicano Movement: A Study of the Political Ideology of Activists in the Chicano Movement. (San Francisco : R&E Research Associates, 1975).
44.
Savage, David G.1981. "Private Schools Do Well Despite L.A. Busing End."Los Angeles Times, Aug.27: 1.
45.
Sears, David O. and Donald R. Kinder .1971. Racial Tension and Voting in Los Angeles. Los Angeles: University of California, Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
46.
Seidenbaum, Art.1977. "Could and Should in Inglewood."Los Angeles Times, April 10: C5.
47.
Sides, Josh.L.A. CityLimits (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).
48.
Sonenshein, Raphael J.Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).
49.
Sugrue, Thomas J.Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
50.
Turpin, Dick.1965. "Slow School Integration Hit by NAACP Leader."Los Angeles Times, Dec. 2: A8.
51.
U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 1960 : California. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1961.
52.
U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 1970 : California. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1971.
53.
U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 1980 : California. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1981.
54.
U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 2000 : California. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2001.
55.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.Racial Isolation in Public Schools, I and II. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1967.
56.
Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet ."900 Students Asking Transfer by Busing." (June 11, 1968): 17A.
57.
Waldinger, Roger, and Mehdi Bozorgmehr, eds. Ethnic Los Angeles ( New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1996).
58.
Wollenberg, Charles.All Deliberate Speed: Segregation and Exclusion in California Schools, 1855-1975 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976).
59.
For a more in-depth look at white flight in California, see Albert M. Camarillo, "Cities of Color: The Making of California's Minority-Majority Cities,"Pacific Historical Review, 76(1) (February 2007); Becky Nicolaides, My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002); and Josh Sides, L.A.City Limits (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).
60.
Thomas J.Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
61.
Court cases Shelley v. Kraemer in 1948 and Barrows v. Jackson in 1953. For more on this shift in Los Angeles, see Sides, L.A. City Limits.
62.
Sides, L.A.City Limits, 96.
63.
See Nicolaides's My Blue Heaven, as well as Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2001 ).
64.
According to data from the U.S. Census, the average racial composition of majority white neighborhoods in 1960 was 91.6 percent white. By 1970, that would fall only slightly to 87.3 percent.
65.
In 1960, the city had 2,018,508 white residents (78 percent of the total population) versus 334,916 black residents and 230,916 Latino residents. While the number of whites living in the city in 1970 would increase marginally to 2,185,147, the growth of blacks and Latinos would far outpace that of whites. By 1980, the number of whites in the city would decrease to 1,838,112, just over 50 percent of the population. For more, see Roger Waldinger and Mehdi Bozorgmehr, eds., Ethnic Los Angeles (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1996), chaps. 2, 3.
66.
In 1960, 486,224 white children five to nineteen years of age resided in the city-75 percent of the total school age population. By 1970, the number of white children ages five to nineteen in the city fell to 395,534 (55 percent of the total) and by 1980, fell again to 339,627 (48 percent).
67.
The Los Angeles School District, formed in 1853, became a charter city school district with the incorporation of the City of Los Angeles in 1870. Over the years, the district annexed a number of other districts, which expanded it past the borders of the city. Los Angeles Unified School District was formed in 1961, and includes most of the city as well as portions of twenty-five other municipalities. Consequently, readers should keep in mind that the school-age population of Los Angeles will be smaller and not identical to the school-age population of LAUSD.
68.
More whites may have been enrolled in 1960, but data is not available prior to 1966.
69.
For more on school desegregation as a driving force in white flight, see James Coleman, "Recent Trends in School Integration,"Educational Researcher4(7) ( 1975) and Reynolds Farley, "Is Coleman Right?"Social Policy6(4) (1976).
70.
Charles Wollenberg .All Deliberate Speed: Segregation and Exclusion in California Schools, 1855-1975 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), 143.
Jay R. Jackson Jr. v.Pasadena City School District et al., 59 CA Reports876-82 (1963).
75.
Nicolaides, My Blue Heaven , 287.
76.
Nicolaides, 291.
77.
John Caughey and LaRee Caughey, To Kill a Child's Spirit: The Tragedy of School Segregation in Los Angeles (Itasca: F. E. Peacock Publishers, 1973), 137.
78.
The term majority minority is used to denote the majority presence of a minority population.
79.
After Gitelson was voted out of office, the California Court of Appeal reversed Gitelson's ruling. However, in 1976, the California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal and upheld Gitelson. In 1977, Judge Paul Egly took over responsibility for overseeing the School Board's proposed integration plan, which was finalized in 1978. The plan was frozen by the Court of Appeals, but shortly thereafter ordered into effect by the California Supreme Court. Two years later, Proposition 1 outlawing "mandatory busing" for de facto segregation passed with 70 percent of the vote in California. It would later be upheld in the California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982.
80.
Caughey and Caughey, To Kill a Child's Spirit, 137.
81.
David Gottlieb , "Teaching and Students: The Views of Black and White Teachers,"Sociology of Education37 (1964): 345-53.
82.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.Racial Isolation in Public Schools, I and II. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1967, 162.
83.
Norman Klein and Martin Schiesl, eds., 20th CenturyLos Angeles: Power, Promotion, and Social Conflict (Claremont: Regina Books, 1990).
84.
"Integration Rally Draws 1,500 at Beverly Hills,"Los Angeles Times, July 10, 1963, 5.
85.
Ibid.
86.
Nicolaides, My Blue Heaven, 295. See also stories from South Gate Press , September 1963.
87.
Mike Davis, City of Quartz (New York: Vintage Books, 1992), 183.
88.
Paula B. Johnson, David O. Sears, and John B. McConahay."Black Invisibility, the Press and the Los Angeles Riot,"American Journal of Sociology76: 698-721, 714.
89.
Johnson, Sears , and McConahay, "Black Invisibility,"719.
90.
Nicolaides, My Blue Heaven , 325.
91.
Chad McClellan, Chad, "A Different View of Watts '67,"Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1967: A9.
92.
Ibid.
93.
Dick Turpin , "Slow School Integration Hit by NAACP Leader ," Los Angeles Times, December 2, 1965: A8.
94.
Ibid.
95.
Roy Haynes , "Schools Warned to Prepare for Racial Strife,"Los Angeles Times, March 22, 1967, 1.
96.
Gerald P.Rosen, Political Ideology and the Chicano Movement: A Study of the Political Ideology of Activists in the Chicano Movement ( San Francisco : R&E Research Associates, 1975 ): 71.
97.
Ibid.
98.
Rosen, Political Ideology and the Chicano Movement, 77.
99.
Klein and Schiesl, 20th CenturyLos Angeles: Power, Promotion, and Social Conflict .
100.
Leonard A. Marascuilo and Kathleen Penfield, "A Northern Urban Community's Attitudes toward Racial Imbalances in Schools and Classrooms,"The School Review74(4) (1966): 359-79, 372.
101.
Ann C. Hamilton, "Why Many Don't Want to Teach in the Ghetto,"Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, February 26, 1972.
102.
Marilyn Elias , "Academic Factors Supercede [sic] Race,"Santa Monica Evening Outlook, January 14, 1972.
103.
"Supt. Calls School Busing of Thousands False Rumor,"Pico Post, February 1, 1968.
104.
Leslie Claypool , "Small-Scale School Busing Wins 5 to 1 Board Approval,"Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, May 21, 1968.
105.
Alice Freifeld , "Voluntary Busing to Bring Students from City Schools,"Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet (1969): 1A.
106.
"900 Students Asking Transfer by Busing,"Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, June 11, 1968: 17A.
107.
Bebe Lyons, "Judge's Mail Runs Against Decision in Integration Case,"Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, February 19, 1970.
108.
Albert Kelley , "Ex-Chamber Chief Leads Valley Protest of Busing,"Van Nuys News and ValleyGreen Sheet, May 21, 1971.
109.
John Caughey , The Shame of Los Angeles: Segregated Schools, 1970-1971 (Los Angeles: Quail Books , 1971), 22.
110.
Art Seidenbaum , "Could and Should in Inglewood," Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1977: C5. Additionally, an untitled and undated newspaper clipping from the papers of Judge Paul Egly, the Los Angeles Superior Court judge charged with overseeing the Board of Education's desegregation plan, states: "When families move to certain areas, they take schools into consideration. Consequently, if forced busing becomes a reality in Orange County, the `white flight,' which occurred in Los Angeles, is inevitable in Orange County as well." Egly scrawled "Enough Said" in large print on the clipping, authored by Iman Anabtawi.
111.
For more, see McGirr, Suburban Warriors.
112.
Robert Lindsey , "Los Angeles Schools Plan Busing Amid White Flight,"New York Times, October 11, 1977: 20.
113.
David G. Savage, "Private Schools Do Well Despite L.A. Busing End,"Los Angeles Times, August 27, 1981: 1.
114.
Davis, City of Quartz, 185.
115.
Ibid.
116.
Los Angeles City Forum. http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-angeles/72913-help-mom-southfairfax-west-pico.html (accessed May 8, 2007).
