The Segregation Academy and the Law

Abstract

There are reports that tide of white resistance [to segregation] seems to be ebbing.' However, it is apparent that segregated private schools have become the new vehicle for evading the principle of integrated education. The Southern Regional Council has estimated that as many as 500,000 children may be attending segregated private schools in the South.2 However, Commissioner Randolph Thrower of the Internal Revenue Service has stated that it is not actually known how many of the 17,000 private schools in the nation have racially discriminatory policies and thus exact figures on the number of students attending these schools are unavailable.3 While the number of these schools has been increasing at an incredible rate, the government has little information on them. Regarding the paucity of data on academies, Kitty Teijon states: Sources of information about the number of newer schools are fragmentary and in many cases uncertain.... State departments of education do not keep up with the phenomenal growth and do not usually separate the various categories of private schools. HEW estimates have proved inaccurately low. Despite SRC recommendations last year for better public records on the private school movement, up-to-date and accurate information is still not available.