Integration, Social Policy, and Curriculum Debates: Educating for Diverse Democracies in Arlington, Virginia, 1954–1960

• In Event: Desegregation Policies and Programs Post-Brown

Abstract

Integration took many forms in Virginia following the famous Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka decision. Arlington, VA was a unique school division that was torn between the federal mandate of Brown and Virginia’s series of massive resistance laws. Debates on social policies such as the Gray report and curriculum dominated the discourse in the community. Although, Arlington was one of the first to integrate in 1959, it appears that discussions about racial equality stopped short of the classrooms. The discourse of social justice and a new democratic order engulfed the city, but these discussions failed to penetrate the schools. During these years the school curriculum functioned as a buffer to change, conserving rather than disrupting existing social arrangements.

Authors

• Tiffany Mitchell, George Mason University

• Diana D'Amico, George Mason University