A teacher, an administrator, and students describe the learning environment four years after desegregation was mandated in the Boston public school system in this 1978 archival news footage from WGBH. The long-term effects of desegregation were still largely unknown, but the hatred and fear that characterized the previous few years were beginning to dissipate. Black and white children were going to school together and getting along. In the predominantly white South Boston neighborhood (known as “Southie”), protestors no longer met the school buses that arrived each day with black children brought in from outside neighborhoods.  While the need for a police presence at schools was greatly reduced, the big problem at South Boston High School was now low and sporadic attendance.

This video is primary source footage and is presented as originally recorded. It includes graffiti of language that is considered offensive. However, it provides authentic documentation of the bigotry of the era.