Stephen C. Harward papers, 1949-1975 and undated, bulk 1963-1975

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Summary

Creator:
Harward, S. C. (Stephen Cannada), 1922-1993.
Abstract:
Stephen Cannada Harward served on the Durham City School Board for 12 years in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, the Durham city and county school districts were desegregated following a series of court mandates beginning in 1963. The collection contains memos, bulletins, reports, evaluations, minutes, agendas, educational and administrative guides and handbooks, court documents, financial statements and budgets, correspondence, clippings, printed materials, and maps pertaining to the activity of the Durham City School Board. The papers span the years 1949-1975 and document the daily workings of the Durham City School Board chiefly between the years 1963 and 1975, with a special focus on the process of desegregation during that time. It contains no personal papers of Stephen C. Harward.
Extent:
10.5 Linear Feet
Circa 4000 Items
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.00518

Background

Scope and content:

The Stephen C. Harward Papers span the years 1949-1975, with the bulk of the material dating from 1963-1975. The collection contains approximately 300 files stemming from the activities of the Durham City School Board (North Carolina), including audit reports, budgets, financial records, agendas, external and internal evaluations, teachers' manuals, and education policy materials, as well as court and other documents related to the redistricting and desegregation of the Durham city schools. Beyond the daily workings of the Durham City School Board and the Durham city school system are also materials documenting the use of funds stemming from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), which was later renamed and revised as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and materials related to concerns about student discipline and unrest during the late 1960s. The collection is divided into six series: Desegregation and Redistricting, Financial Papers, Handbooks, Legal Papers, Reports, and Subject Files.

The Desegregation and Redistricting Series collects materials related to the different attempts to desegregate the Durham city schools in response to court mandates. It documents the legal struggle deriving from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund suits of 1959 and 1960, the latter of which continued through the 1970s in response to the outcomes of other suits, particularly Green v. School Board of New Kent County (1968) and Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969), both of which demanded the abandonment of "freedom-of-choice" integration plans in favor of geographical zoning plans, and Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971). Following the latter, the Durham City School Board was given a mandate by the court in 1975 to eliminate racially identifiable schools in the district, using any means necessary to ensure that the balance of black to white students at any school varied no less than 10% from the overall racial balance of the school group. Along with the legal papers, the series documents the move to desegregate the Durham city schools with memos and internal school board documents, clippings, correspondence from parents, maps, proposals (in both draft and completed form), and a printed booklet about desegregation. It also deals with the related attempts to merge the city and county school districts into a single unit, finally accomplished in 1992. The Financial Papers Series houses budgets, financial statements, accounting materials, and other papers documenting the financial workings of the Durham city schools and school board. Those interested in these finances should also consult the extensive audit reports in the Reports Series. The Handbooks Series documents educational and administrative practices and concerns of the time with teachers' manuals and handbooks, student and administrative handbooks, policy statements, school directories, and bound print materials on educational topics. The small Legal Papers Series contains the legal files not related to the desegregation suits, including court papers, bills passed, and easements on school properties. The Reports Series collects audit reports, external and internal evaluations of schools and school programs, and results of studies and surveys. These documents contain detailed information related to the ESEA funds and their usage (in the audit reports and several narrative evaluations). Finally, the Subject Files Series contains topical files documenting different projects, programs, initiatives, and issues addressed by the Durham City School Board. It also documents the regular functioning of the school board in the extensive files of meeting minutes, agendas, and information bulletins.

Biographical / historical:
Chronology List
Date Event
1922
Stephen Cannada Harward born
1960
Actions Wheeler v. Durham City Board of Education and Spaulding v. Durham City Board of Education filed for disestablishment of separate segregated school systems in the Durham city school system
1963
Action Thompson v. Durham County Board of Education filed for desegregation of Durham County Administrative School Unit
Wheeler, Spaulding, and Thompson suits consolidated
Federal court ordered Durham city schools to adopt freedom-of-choice desegregation plan
1963-1975
Harward served on Durham City School Board
1965
Durham County schools began desegregation under freedom-of-choice plan
Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed as part of President Johnson's "War on Poverty"
1966
Court approved Durham City School Board freedom-of-choice plan
1969
Following Green v. School Board of New Kent County and Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education decisions, the Federal Court of Appeals directed the abandonment of freedom-of-choice plan and the implementation of a geographic zoning plan for desegregation of Durham County schools
1970
The corresponding mandate was made for Durham city schools
1971
Proposed merger of Durham city and county school systems rejected by two-thirds majority
1972-1974
Harward served as Duke University Treasurer
1992
Durham city and county school districts merged into Durham Public School district
1993
Death of Harward
Acquisition information:
The Stephen C. Harward Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2003.
Processing information:

Processed by Alexander Ruch, May 2007

Encoded by Alexander Ruch

Completed May 2007

Accession 2003-0129 is described in this finding aid.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. There may be a 48-hour delay in obtaining these materials.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Stephen C. Harward Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University