Jefferson County Public Schools School

Mr. Burch was principal of Southern High School when Jefferson County Public Schools initiated busing for integration in 1975. He was a long-time resident of Okolona, and a graduate of Southern High School. While stating that within the school, he was isolated from the community, he indicates that the pulse of the community had been quickened by media reports. He indicates that they never had any direct problems with protestors prior to the riots of September 6, 1975, and that rioters never tried to inerefere with the running of the school. He characterizes the internal workings of the school as remaining normal during this period, and indicates that the teachers kept their opinions to themselves. Similarly, he describes the students as having coped well under duress, with few discipline problems. He states that though the student body was obviously uncomfortable in the position it was in, the students did not fight amongst themslves. Burch recalls the night of a football game with Moore High School, another south end school which before the segregation order had been primarily black. He describes the issue as slowly dying down over the course of the school year - protestors eventually stopped coming around the schools, attendance gradually improved, and life returned to normal by the end of the school year.

The Louisville Times editor on the process of school desegregation in Louisville.

Biographical information of Judge Gordon and an account of the history of preliminary cases of desegregation in Louisville and in Jefferson County.

U.S. Marshall of the Western district of Kentucky describes his responsibilities and the process of carrying out school desegregation order in Louisville.

The former city editor of the Courier-Journal discusses the newspaper's coverage of Louisville's school integration process in the 1970s.

Hawkins, a former principal of Warner Junior High School describes inner city public schools in Louisville during the 1970s. As a school counselor during the 1970s she discusses the duties of teaching staff and the school board in building good school environments.

As reporter for the Louisville Times Hill describes the anti-busing sentiment in Louisville while he was assigned the police beat during desegregation in the 1970s.

Former county judge describes political and legal issues of school desegregation in Jefferson County.

City school board member during busing litigation describes the process of school integration in Louisville.

Staff member of the Jefferson County School System of 1975 remembers her position as president of the state PTA board and member of the Community and Human Relations department during school integration.