FOR THE BENEFIT OF THESE CHILDREN: AFFIRMING RACIAL IDENTITY IN THE ERA OF SCHOOL DESEGREGATION, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND, 1954-1974

Abstract

This history examines attitudes toward and responses to school desegregation within an established, closely knit network of African-American communities in Prince George's County, Maryland, from 1954, immediately after Brown v. Board of Education, through the first year of the destabilizing busing era. Optimistic about the opportunities and social equality desegregated schooling might afford their children, black residents of this county nonetheless recognized the value of segregated schooling in securing a general sense of well being within both their children and their communities. Thus, for two decades they approached school desegregation with expectation and ambivalence, asserting collective agency to influence the school board's decision making, prevent the closing of black schools, and affirm their racial and cultural identity.