ACTUAL ENROLLMENT AS OF MARCH 30, 1963 AND ESTIMAMTED ENROLLMENT FOR THE SCHOOL YEARS 1964-1965 AND 1967-68

ACTUAL ENROLLMENT AS OF MARCH 30, 1963 AND ESTIMAMTED ENROLLMENT FOR THE SCHOOL YEARS 1964-1965 AND 1967-68

This 1963 enrollment report from the Stella Neiman papers (a Williamsburg City Council member and Williamsburg-James City County Schools Board member) showed the current and projected enrollment of white and black students from grades 1-12 in Williamsburg. The categorization of White and Negro schools demonstrates that even nine years after the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling, public schools in Williamsburg remained officially segregated. This report includes a discussion about building new schools. The impact of segregation can be seen in that white students had three schools while black students only had two. This report shows that a new high school for black students would be built, whereas before all grade levels were taught in the Bruton Heights School. While definitely representing a form of progress for the black community, this act also represents an attempt to maintain segregation. In response to national desegregation policies, a few black students from the Bruton Heights School were enrolled at the white James Blair high school in 1965. However, rather than fully integrating the high school, the all-black Berkeley High School was built for the remaining students. Furthermore, funds and resources were directed more towards the white schools. For example, the report says that “the most workable arrangement would be to secure funds to make an addition to James Blair.” Rather than allocating funds to expand the black schools, preexisting facilities were reused, and the Berkeley high school even had its capacity reduced from 675 to 600 students.

Additional Information obtained from “A History of Black Education and Bruton Heights School, Williamsburg, Virginia” by Linda H. Rowe

1965

Cathy Xiong and Noella Handley, description
Ari Weinberg, metadata