Berkeley Plan

The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, legislation of 1954 mandated the end to de jure segregation in public school districts across the United States that had held separate and unequal educational systems for Black and White students. Because of the ambiguity in the legislation regarding remedies for desegregation, many communities across the country lacked adequate motivation to execute measures designed to realize the law's intent. However, through persistence and bold ideas, which included a massive restructuring of its district's enrollment boundaries, the Berkeley, California, school district finally succeeded in its attempts to desegregate. As a result, on September 10, 1968, Berkeley made history as the first school district in the country with an enrollment of over 100,000 students to totally desegregate its schools by busing majority as well as minority students.

Berkeley had grown in the 1900s from a quiet village-like community of mostly conservative, complacent, culturally nurtured, and economic self-sufficient citizens to become a racial mix of community members that now included a growing number of economically disadvantaged African Americans who, in large part and due primarily to housing patterns, were being educated separately. However, during the years between 1954 and 1964 no direct action was taken to desegregate the Berkeley public schools.

Realizing the persistent educational problems of segregation, on January 7, 1958, the Berkeley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People addressed the Berkeley Board of Education, seeking solutions for what they saw as an increasingly interracial but still segregated community. In response, the Board formed the Citizens' Advisory Committee. This racially diverse committee, with the assistance of newly appointed superintendent of schools C. H. Wennerberg and eight of his school principals, sought solutions to the district's problems. On October 19, 1959, the Citizen Advisory Committee released its report, “Interracial Problems and Their Effect on Education in the Public Schools of Berkeley, California,” which addressed the numerous issues facing the district and offered specific [Page 94]remedies for each. The Board, a bit apprehensively, adopted the recommendations of the committee, which included (a) new employment and placement policies for the district, which would culminate in an interracial staff; (b) enhanced educational opportunities for all children; (c) improved counseling services, especially for minority children; (d) a curriculum reflecting the facts of American interracial life; (e) massive improvement in interracial relations and intercultural education through in-service and community training programs; and (f) the building of two-way communications between school staff and all parents.

By 1961, however, school enrollment in Berkeley schools still reflected the racial pattern of housing in the community. “Flatland” elementary schools, particularly in South Berkeley, had predominantly African American student bodies, while “hill” schools were virtually all White. Most Berkeley students went to largely segregated schools until they reached Berkeley High School, where all students went regardless of race. Even there, however, “ability tracking” often kept racial groups in separate classrooms. On May 1, 1962, the Congress of Racial Equality made a presentation to the Berkeley Board of Education. Although it congratulated the Board on its “giant accomplishments” in implementing the recommendations of 1958, it pointed to a study of Berkeley's public school day enrollments that indicated the clear existence of identifiable de facto segregated schools. According to the documents, eight schools had a White student enrollment of 94% or more and two schools enrolled 94% or more minority students. The Congress of Racial Equality proposed a cooperative school–community study to ascertain the facts and make recommendations.

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