Time magazine article from 1975 on all white segregation academies

[bluestateguy]

Since the federal courts began ordering Southern school systems to desegregate 20 years ago, white parents have been setting up their own private—and segregated—academies. In the past few years, court-ordered busing has accelerated this trend. Some 3,500 of these schools now operate in the South with a total enrollment of 750,000, or 10% of the region's white school-age children. TIME Correspondent Jack White has been investigating the "segregation academies" and last week visited one of the best of them in Memphis. His report:

Briarcrest Baptist High School, which opened two years ago after the courts ordered busing in the Memphis schools, has just about everything: a lavish $6.5 million building with earphones dangling from the ceiling in language labs, an electric kiln for would-be potters and an enthusiastic and well-educated corps of teachers (40% have master's degrees). Its football team even produced a winning season this fall, despite moving into a tougher league.

This month Briarcrest will win an even more significant victory: it will be fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, important recognition that most institutions receive only after an arduous application process that usually consumes four or five years. What Briarcrest lacks, however, is blacks. All of its 1,432 students and 69 faculty and staff members are white.

cut

Even if the private academies open their doors to blacks, few black families have the money to afford them or the inclination to send their children to schools where they are not wanted. As one 17-year-old student at Briarcrest put it, "I left the public schools to get away from blacks. If they came here, I don't think they would be welcome at all."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879536-2,00.html#ixzz0oWyQo5B5

[yodoobo]

1. How is that even legal?

I understand its private, but I didn't think that being private was a shield against racial discrimination

[David__77]

2. For the same reason Boy Scouts can bar atheists?

I don't know the details, but Brown vs. Board of Education only applies to public schools.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. As long as they don't receive public money they can do whatever they want

There are a few state regs that apply to private schools. In my state they have to be in school X number of days and they're accredited. That's it.