Program for Malcolm X Memorial Service, cover
In the East Harlem community control district, teachers emphasized subjects that connected to their students’ African heritage.
K-12 organizing
Community Control is Not Decentralization
New York State’s 1969 decentralization law drew strong opposition from many Black and Puerto Rican New Yorkers who had been advocating for community control.
Fifteen Demands of Black and Puerto Rican Students
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read.
Community Control March
During the 1968 teacher strike, community control advocates continued to participate in leading local school districts and arguing for self-determination in education.
Parents Speaking on Ocean Hill-Brownsville
This video captures New York City parents speaking of their desires for community control of their children’s schools.
City Hall; Teachers Demonstration
Ocean Hill-Brownsville, a Black and Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn, was one of the three community control demonstration districts in New York City.
Reflections - August, 1967, excerpt
Located near the town of Hunter, New York, in the Catskill Mountains (a few hours from New York City), Camp Jened was unusual at the time for its focus on Disabled campers.
A Proposal for an Independent Board of Education in Harlem
Over 1 million new Black Southern migrants and Puerto Rican immigrants had settled in New York City by the 1950s.
Baseball
The grounds of Camp Jened included a river, a lake with a dock for boating and places to row, swimming facilities, and a stream that was great for fishing.
“600” Schools, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, excerpts
Organizing in the early 1960s by the Citywide Committee on Integration and by Reverend Milton Galamison had increased public attention to the “600” schools.
Operation Shut Down Flier
Civil rights organizers in Lowndes County, Mississippi, chose the image of a black panther as their symbol.
Black Panther Party letter about Operation Shut Down
The Black Panther Party’s Harlem Branch, founded in 1966, defined Black Power as “having the right to self-determination or the power to decide what should go down in our community,” and “being the decision makers, the policy makers.
The 1965 Boycott on Film
The 1965 boycott targeted segregation in New York City’s junior high schools and “600” schools.
90% Boycott Hits Problem School
In the fall of 1964, months after the massive February 1964 boycott, Reverend Milton Galamison and the Citywide Committee on Integration launched another boycott.
Parents and Taxpayers Protest and Counter-Protest on Film
In the summer of 1964, the New York City Board of Education issued a very modest plan for desegregation.
Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, excerpt
Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, sex, and national origin.
Milton Galamison Oral History, excerpt
Reverend Milton Galamison was the pastor of Siloam Presbyterian Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and a key figure in the struggle to desegregate New York City’s schools.
The School Boycott Concept
In this op-ed, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Parents and Taxpayers March to City Hall on Film
On March 12, 1964 - between the first 1964 pro-integration boycott and the second - a group of white parents calling themselves “Parents and Taxpayers” led a march from the Board of Education building in Brooklyn to City Hall in Manhattan.
Change the Status Crow
After the massive turnout for the February 3, 1964 boycott, there was little response from the Board of Education.