History

The Cleveland 50: Cleveland Schools Begin Busing

This monumental court decision desegregated Cleveland schools and spurred white flight to the suburbs.

by Sheehan Hannan | Mar. 29, 2022 | 12:00 PM

Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library Collections

Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library Collections

After a lengthy trial, federal Judge Frank Battisti found that the Cleveland Metropolitan School District had presided over unconstitutionally segregated schools. A subsequent program of desegregation, which included busing children across town and lasted until 1998, spurred white flight from the district and hastened Cleveland’s suburbanization, inadvertently creating the very conditions it had sought to remedy.

Revisit more of Cleveland’s 50 most impactful moments over the past 50 years.

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