How Brown v. Board impacted West Charlotte High School in North Carolina

Published May 27, 2024 at 7:20 AM CDT

Students from West Charlotte High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 15, 1972. (Harold L. Valentine/AP)

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North Carolina’s West Charlotte High School was widely seen as a national model for how schools could integrate in the 1970s, years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling.

But in the 1990s, a federal judge ruled that bussing was no longer needed, and many white students left the school.

Here & Now’s Scott Tong looks at the legacy of desegregation at the school. Tong speaks with Ella Dennis, who attended West Charlotte High School from 1963 to 1966 before it was integrated. She’s now the historian for the school’s Alumni Association. Tong also speaks with Reverend Joe B. Martin, senior pastor at the Sardis Presbyterian Church in Charlotte. Martin attended West Charlotte High School when it was integrated. Tong also speaks with Malachi Thompson, a senior at West Charlotte High and student government president.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.