History of Baltimore City College - Integration

Integration

Following the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the Baltimore City board of school commissioners was forced to desegregate the school system, which had been racially divided since the 1860s. As a result, 10 African-American students entered City College in September 1954, comprising 0.5% of the student population. A decade later, in the 1964–65 academic year, African-American students represented 30% of the student population.

In 1956 the school system also sent two African-American men to teach at the school: Eugene Parker, who coached for thirty years, and Pierre Davis, who left after one year but returned in 1971 as City College's first African-American principal.

Although African-American enrollment increased, the transition from the segregated system was not seamless. In 1964, enrollment in the selective "A" Course still skewed disproportionately to white students. Only six African Americans were enrolled that year compared with 110 Whites, and they were similarly underrepresented in extracurricular activities.

Such de facto segregation was a systemic problem in Baltimore throughout the 1960s. To address the problem, Superintendent Laurence G. Paquin proposed a reorganization of Baltimore's high schools. He called for the creation of 13 comprehensive high schools that would offer both vocational training and college preparatory classes, and the elimination of multiple academic tracks in high school. However, Paquin's proposal met stiff opposition from City College parents and alumni, who feared that his plan threatened the foundations of City College's academic program. Councilman William Donald Schaefer, an alumnus of City College, convened a City Council hearing on the proposal, which stymied Paquin's effort.

By the late 1970s, the school's population, academic program, and building were all in decline, in part reflecting the economic problems of the city as a whole. In 1977, the city school system allocated money to refurbish the school and bolster the college preparatory program. That same year the school system announced its intent to make City College coeducational; however, the all-male tradition did not end easily. Alumni argued for the uniqueness of a single-sex education system, and a task force studying the issue voted 11–6 in favor of keeping the all-male tradition. In a stunning reversal, the board of school commissioners voted to admit women citing constitutional concerns over equal rights. The following year City College enrolled women for the first time.