The integration of schools in Murfreesboro, Tennessee: A community study.

Abstract

Fourteen years after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, the citizens of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, integrated their city school system. This thesis argues that integration in Murfreesboro resulted from the simple passage of time, the administrative ability of the school superintendent, Baxter Hobgood, and the community networks of women reformers. Because integration was implemented peacefully in Murfreesboro, this study contributes to a greater appreciation of the complexity of changing race relations in a small southern community and provides a model for studying nonviolent integration. This work is based on minutes and reports of the Murfreesboro City Council, the Murfreesboro City School Board, and several community women's groups as they struggled to implement an integration plan. Numerous interviews with school and community leaders provide personal reflections that elaborate on the actions of persons involved.