EYES ON THE PRIZE II: AMERICA AT THE RACIAL CROSSROADS {EPISODE 7}: THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM 1974-1980 (TV)
Summary
One in this series of documentaries that examines the African-American civil rights movement. This program explores two events that exemplify the treatment of black Americans by the state and national governments during this period. The first event is the integration of Boston schools: though 1954's Brown v. the Board of Education formally outlawed school segregation, Boston teachers and parents observed that predominantly black schools were far more crowded and less well-supplied than largely white schools were, though Boston School Committee chairwoman Louise Day Hicks firmly denied any disparity. When short-term protests failed to bring about change, some began moving some black children into white schools or into parent-run independent schools. Eventually, a lawsuit filed in 1974 led Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. to agree that the schools were guilty of intentional segregation, and he ordered mandatory city-wide busing of students between the predominantly white South Boston and predominantly black Roxbury neighborhood.
Mayor Kevin White sat down with parents and tried to ensure a "peaceful transition" as the new school year approached, but many continued protesting the rule and even turned against Senator Edward Kennedy, once considered a beloved son of Boston, for his support of the integration. The buses were attacked and the students met with angry mobs, with many white students boycotting their newly mixed schools. Fights broke out among students, and the tension worsened when President Gerard Ford declared himself to be against the mandatory busing. On December 11th, Michael Faith, a white student, was (non-fatally) stabbed in an altercation at South Boston High School, and as an angry crowd gathered, many black students were ushered out through the back door to avoid further violence. However, Judge Garrity remained committed to the integration plan, and though a third of white students eventually left the system as a result, gradual changes brought some degree of harmony; in 1977, Hicks was replaced by John O'Bryant, the first black Boston School Committee member.
The second topic explored is the October 1973 election of Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor of a large Southern city, and Jackson describes why his victory was "part Hell" because of the pressure of the "exaggerated expectations and anxiety" of the black and white communities respectively. Determined to prove his commitment to solving the city's serious economic problems, Jackson moved in with a family in the housing projects for a weekend, and he hired many female and minority staffers, even going so far as to "fight" famed boxer Muhammad Ali in a publicity event. With the help of his no-nonsense commissioner of administrative services, Emma Darnell, Jackson demanded a minimum 20% minority participation on a very large project, the expansion of the Atlanta airport, though Jackson admits that he "miscalculated" the strength of the business community's opposition to inclusivity. The first contract was finally approved, and Jackson's firing of over 1,000 city employees as the result of a sanitation workers' strike did not prevent his reelection, nor the on-time, under-budget opening of the airport in 1980.
At the same time, debate continued to swirl around affirmative action, particularly when would-be medical student Allan Bakke sued the University of California, Davis, claiming that he was being denied admission because of unfair advantages given to black applicants. Alumna Toni Johnson-Chavis, however, notes that she was accepted to UC Davis because of her high scores and was not aware until after the fact that affirmative action had played any role in her application consideration. Bakke's case reached the United States Supreme Court and sparked nationwide conversation about the policy, though many felt that the concept of affirmative action was being oversimplified and misrepresented by the controversy. Eventually, Bakke was admitted to the school and SCOTUS decided, somewhat vaguely, that affirmative action was "permissible, but not mandatory." Later, Johnson-Chavis went on to set up a medical clinic in an impoverished minority area of California, noting that few white doctors did the same. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: February 26, 1990 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:17573
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - News/Talk/Docs; Public affairs/Documentaries; School integration; Affirmative action; Boston
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1990
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Henry Hampton … Executive Producer
- Michael Ambrosino … Consulting Executive Producer
- Alison Bassett … Coordinating Producer
- Jacqueline Shearer … Producer, Director, Writer
- Paul Stekler … Producer, Director, Writer
- Barbara Howard … Associate Producer
- Judy Richardson … Series Associate Producer
- Judith Vecchione … Consulting Producer
- Jon Else … Consulting Series Producer
- Steve Fayer … Writer
- Bernice Johnson Reagon … Theme Music by
- Julian Bond … Narrator
- Kevin White … Interviewee
- Maynard Jackson … Interviewee
- Emma Darnell … Interviewee
- Dillard Munford … Interviewee
- Toni Johnson-Chavis … Interviewee
- Muhammad Ali (see also: Cassius Clay)
- Allan Bakke
- Michael Faith
- Gerald Ford
- W. Arthur Garrity Jr.
- Louise Day Hicks
- Edward Kennedy
- John O'Bryant