My Omeka exhibit will be based around the path that the education system in the District of Columbia took to go from a segregated education to integrated education.
I will use 3 different sections for the exhibit. The first one will be based around the various lawsuits that went into the transition from a segregated school system to integrated African American and White children to go to school together.
The second section will be discussing the quality of “colored” schools vs. “white” schools in the 20th century.
The third section will discuss how people viewed how both segregation and integration were either positive or negative for the education system in the District of Columbia.
These three different sections will help my research question by creating a foundation of the comparison between the segregated school systems, prove how effective every lawsuit was made even if it wasn’t in the persons favor, and show why integration of the public school systems in D.C. was made mandatory.
I have also revised my final research question to
How did African Americans that migrated from southern states to the District of Columbia effect the public school systems during the 20th century? What were the causes and effects of different legal debates on integration of African Americans into the public school system of the District of Columbia?
By: jspies3 on April 17, 2014 at 12:18 am
I really like you plans for your exhibit. This seems like an relatively unknown topic that you are bringing to light. When you think of segregation you tend to think of the deep-south, and don’t really even think it would be possible for schools to be segregated in our nation’s capital. I look forward to exploring your Omeka website. Best of luck!
Below is a link to a handy chart on populations in DC broken down by racial divisions.
District of Columbia – Race and Hispanic Origin:
1800 to 1990:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab23.pdf