THE WHEELS ON THE BUS FELL OFF: THE RISE AND FALL OF COURT-ORDERED BUSING IN PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MARYLAND

Abstract

This study examines the desegregation of Prince George’s County Public Schools and the use of court-ordered busing from 1972 to 1998. As Prince George’s was the only county in Maryland under a federal mandate to integrate, this study explores how residents responded to desegregation and the shifting perceptions of busing over the 25 year period of implementation. After a federal lawsuit in 1972, the county was forced to bus students away from their neighborhood school to ensure every school had a racial balance of black and white students. Perceptions shifted with the shifting demographics driven by black suburbanization and a burgeoning black middle class. Between 1970 and 1990, the county transformed from a sleepy, white, rural county into the wealthiest black-majority county in the United States. After the transformation, the perceptions of court-ordered busing flipped, as many black students were being bused to majority black schools. The new black majority gained political power in the 1990s and took charge of local government to end court-ordered busing themselves. Overall, this study pushes back on previous scholarship that deemed court-ordered busing to be a failed tool of desegregation. It argues that while not perfect in achieving integrated schools, it was a necessary federal intervention for Prince George’s County to dismantle its system of segregation and pursue an equitable education for all students.