Opinion "Separate Versus Mixed Schools in the South"

Opinion "Separate Versus Mixed Schools in the South"

An article written by alumnus Henry E. Garrett (RC '15), president of the American Psychological Association and chair of Psychology and Columbia, argues for maintaining segregation. Segregation, according to Garrett, was not a question of ethics, but of public policy and society. Separate schools did not "of necessity" carry the stigma of inferiority, and provided maximum benefits to both black and white children. If schools were to integrate, Garrett felt that large numbers of minority students would lead to the social problems found in Chicago and Harlem, that the social tension would prevent students and parents from making intimate social connections. Garret wrote that integration would force the South to abandon an already weak system and educational quality would deteriorate. Garrett also believed that studies on black students failed to account for schools that were as well equipped as white schools, and that forced integration sacrificed the democratic principles of free choice, which could lead to places like Hitler's Germany.

Garrett, Henry. “Separate Versus Mixed Schools in the South,” University of Richmond Alumni Bulletin, (Winter, 1954), p. 3,7.

Alumni Bulletin, University of Richmond

Winter 1954

RG 6

Virginia Baptist Historical Society