Civil rights history in Charlotte

[Scoop]

One of the nation's leading civil-rights lawyers has challenged the student assignment plan for Charlotte-area schools, saying it denies them a "sound basic education."

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/charlotte+mecklenburg+schools/SIG=12vkv60d1/*http%3A//www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050211/APN/502110692&cachetime=5

[Christine]

Busing's altered route By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Back in the late 1970s, Holly Burton spent three hours a day on a big yellow school bus, taking a "very, very long" trip to West Charlotte High School.
http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif....... "It's about results, and that's our primary focus," says James Pughsley, superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. "We're pushing hard on diversity but even harder on student achievement."

Long a model for integrated school systems, Charlotte's 32-year-old busing program ended in 2001 after a federal court ruled that school assignments couldn't be based on race. Almost overnight, enrollment in several city schools turned overwhelmingly black when whites no longer were bused in.
Read More ... (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2004-05-16-school-integration-usat_x.htm)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2004-05-16-school-integration-usat_x.htm

[Staff]

http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/alexanderhed.gif
http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/white.gif http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/side.gif http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/promoicon.jpg
http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/side.gif Margaret Alexander was the May Queen at Second Ward High School (http://features.aroundcarolina.com/secondward/default.asp), Charlotte's first high school for black children. http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/side.gif Rare 1941 film footage (http://features.aroundcarolina.com/secondward/film.asp) shows life inside a black school and a neighborhood that are no more.


http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/i.gifn 1941, the year Margaret Alexander was the May Queen at Second Ward High School, a young reporter came to get her picture for a local paper. Although he was from a well-known Charlotte family, Margaret had never met Kelly Alexander (http://libweb.uncc.edu/archives/alex-km.htm) until that day. Five years later, they were married, and were soon raising two sons.

http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/art/margareths.jpg Margaret Alexander in high school

The couple became leaders in Charlotte's civil rights movement.
http://features.aroundcarolina.com/alexander/default.asp