On September 25, 1949 the Arkansas Gazette<\/em> reported that voters had approved millions dollars\nin millage increases and bond issues to fund Black schools, “brought on\namong other things by a flurry of Federal court actions demanding equal school\nfacilities.\u201d It seems white Arkansans would rather have surrendered funding for\nmore equally appointed segregated schools than contemplate integration. Perhaps\nthey hoped that the concession would appease those pushing for equality. But of\ncourse disparities persisted and the the long march toward freedom only gained\nmomentum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the facilities funded during this\nperiod was a new offsite school building at 22nd and Madison for Black students\nfrom the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Prior to 1949, Black deaf students lived\nand attended school in a separate building on the grounds of the main Arkansas\nSchool for the Deaf campus on West Markham Street. Black deaf students remained\nisolated at the Madison School until ASD was integrated in 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The landmark Brown v. Board<\/em> case in 1954 should have stopped the construction of\nsegregated facilities, but school leaders in Little Rock forged ahead with\nplans for two new high schools on opposite sides of town. Trailing white flight\nto the rapidly expanding western suburbs, they built Hall High on the western\nedge of town and Horace Mann on the far southeastern edge in 1956. An all-white\nstaff was assigned to Hall and an all-black staff to Horace Mann. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The rapid construction of neighborhood schools\nin the western suburbs became the biggest obstacle to integration, leading\nLittle Rock and many cities across the country to institute strategies such as\nzoning and busing in the 1970s, in which students from different neighborhoods\nwere assigned to schools across town to even out the demographics. White\nparents protested this integration strategy and birthed the private school\nmovement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Often called \u201csegregation academies,\u201d the\nnumber of all white private schools doubled in the decade between 1969 and\n1979. A combination of white flight to nearby towns and private school growth\nled the percentage of white students enrolled in the Little Rock School\nDistrict to plummet by 50% while Black enrollment in integrated schools\nincreased from 36% to 61%. The divisions have only increased since then. In\n2014, nearly 20% of all school aged children were enrolled in one of 41 private\nschools in Pulaski County. The Little Rock School District is primarily made up\nof students of color and private school students are predominantly white.\nResidential segregation has continued unabated, as the University of Virginia racial dot map<\/a>\nof Little Rock shows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ualrexhibits.org\/mappingblog\/files\/2019\/04\/Madison-1-1024x667.jpg\")
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Racial dot map<\/a> of Little Rock, credit: University of Virginia\u2019s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, Dustin Cable. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n