Education and Civil Rights Lesson 4

This lesson is part of the following unit:
Education and Civil Rights: School Desegregation in Boston

In this lesson, students will watch an excerpt from the Eyes on the Prize video series that documents reactions to Judge Garrity's ruling ordering the mandatory busing of Boston students from South Boston and Roxbury. This history invites students to question the potential of court mandates to alter behavior, as well as the limits of the court to change long-held values and attitudes. An exploration of the history of school desegregation in Boston raises profound questions about the relationship between law, behavior, rights, and freedom. Through discussing their reactions to particular moments in the Eyes on the Prize documentary or by formulating their opinion about the role courts should play in desegregating schools, this lesson provides multiple opportunities for students to engage with perennial dilemmas that Americans faced in the 1970s and that continue to confront us today.