 DeKalb County School Desegregation Case Files
Collection DescriptionHistorical NoteLitigation in DeKalb County, Georgia over school desegregation began in 1968 with the filing of a class action lawsuit against the DeKalb County Board of Education to end the practice of racial segregation (Pitts v. Cherry). The DeKalb schools were represented by the law firm Weekes & Candler. In 1969, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia imposed a desegregation plan upon the DeKalb schools and retained authority to oversee the implementation of the plan. The plaintiffs unsuccessfully challenged a portion of the plan in the 5th Circuit Court in 1979 for not requiring the school district to provide transportation for students attending schools outside of their neighborhood. With that ruling, litigation under Pitts v. Cherry was complete, but litigation over other aspects of desegregation continued under the names Freeman v. Pitts and Freeman v. Mills. In 1984, the plaintiffs filed an appeal with the District Court over plans to build a new high school, claiming this was to avoid the reassignment of white students to predominantly black schools. The District Court ruled that the expansion was permitted because the school board's actions were not motivated by discriminatory intent, but their decision was overturned on appeal to the 11th Circuit Court, which had been formed from a portion of the 5th Circuit in 1981. The 11th Circuit Court ruled in 1985 that any of the school's expansion plans had to be implemented in a way that "furthers desegregation and helps eliminate the effects of the previous dual school system" and sent the case back to the District Court to evaluate the "segregative" effects of the school board's expansion plan. The District Court re-evaluated the case in 1988 and found that DeKalb County had not yet been completely integrated but declined to impose additional duties on the school board around student assignment. This ruling was appealed to the 11th Circuit in 1989, which reversed the decision and required additional student assignments, as well as requiring the school board to remain under court supervision until integration was achieved. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992, which reversed the 11th Circuit Court's holding that judicial supervision could not be withdrawn incrementally. Instead, the court could withdraw judicial supervision in areas of compliance while retaining supervision in areas of noncompliance. The case was then sent back to the 11th Circuit, and from them to the District Court, for review based on this ruling. In 1996 the case was heard again in the District Court, which ordered the final dismissal of the case in 1997. DeKalb County Schools were declared integrated and therefore the school board no longer required judicial supervision. Scope and ContentThe DeKalb County School Desegregation Case Files document the progression of the case from the perspective of the defendants, the demographic makeup of students and to a lesser extent all of DeKalb County during this period, and the evolution of school desegregation case law. The majority of the files are pleadings, exhibits, and data about the school system, as well as other kinds of legal documents, research, and correspondence. Common subjects include attendance boundaries, the DeKalb County Schools policies and procedures, enrollment numbers of students including race, the quality of education, and statistics about teachers and staff. Organization and ArrangementThe DeKalb County School Desegregation Case Files are divided into four series: I. Alphabetical Files, II. Official Records, III. Working Files, and IV. Bates Index. These files were in active use for nearly 30 years, with files being reorganized as needed to fit the needs of the lawyers as the case progressed. During this time, the law office moved at least twice and the files were sent to a storage facility. Due to all this activity, the collection no longer had a useful organization when it was received by the Russell Library, with the exception of Series I. Russell staff created the organization for the remainder of the collection to facilitate researcher access to the files. Administrative InformationConditions Governing AccessThis collection is open for research with the following exceptions. Boxes with restricted materials are identified with an R before the box number. An access restriction note follows each restricted folder title with an explanation of the restriction and when the folder will be open. Attorney-client priviledged materials are restricted for 50 years from the date of the folder. (Series I and Series III) Materials containing large numbers of social security numbers are currently restricted. (Series I, Series II, and Series III) Student records protected by FERPA are currently restricted. (Series III) Additionally, some folders must be reviewed for account numbers or social security numbers prior to research use. Please request these boxes 3 business days prior to your research visit to allow time for this review. (Series I and Series III) Reference copies of the audiovisual recordings are available upon request. Research requests will be filled as soon as possible and will be dependent upon the condition of the recordings. (Series I) Preferred CitationDeKalb County School Desegregation Case Files, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641. Conditions Governing UseLibrary acts as "fair use" reproduction agent. Copyright InformationBefore material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permissions. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original. Finding Aid PublicationFinding Aid prepared by Adriane Hanson, September 2016. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this Repository
American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia Records Related Collections in Other RepositoriesSchool Desegregation Cases at Emory University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||