Berkeley Plan

M. Yvette Turner

The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas , legislation of 1954 mandated the end to de jure segregation in public school districts across the United States that had held separate and unequal educational systems for Black and White students. Because of the ambiguity in the legislation regarding remedies for desegregation, many communities across the country lacked adequate motivation to execute measures designed to realize the law's intent. However, through persistence and bold ideas, which included a massive restructuring of its district's enrollment boundaries, the Berkeley, California, school district finally succeeded in its attempts to desegregate. As a result, on September 10, 1968, Berkeley made history as the first school district in the country with an enrollment of over 100,000 students to totally desegregate its schools by busing majority as well as minority students. Berkeley had grown in the 1900s from a quiet village-like community of mostly conservative, complacent, ...

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