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90% Boycott Hits Problem School

Rev. Milton Galamison in a "600" school classroom with a group of black teenagers

Date: Jan 20, 1965

Caption: The New York Times reported on the start of a school boycott led by Reverend Milton Galamison that began on January 19, 1965. Galamison was boycotting the continued segregation of New York City’s junior high schools, including those designated as “600.”

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Rev. Milton Galamison in a "600" school classroom with a group of black teenagers

In the fall of 1964, months after the massive February 1964 boycott, Reverend Milton Galamison and the Citywide Committee on Integration launched another boycott. Galamison and the Citywide Committee - which included CORE (Congress On Racial Equality), Parents’ Workshop for Equality in New York Schools, Harlem Parents’ Committee, EQUAL, and the Negro Teachers Association - focused on the city’s junior high schools and the “600” schools, which had inadequate facilities, no curriculum, untrained teachers, and improperly screened students. The groups’ demands included promoting many more Black and Puerto Rican teachers to leadership positions like school principal, desegregating junior high schools, and improving the “600” schools. Reverend Galamison was arrested for violating state education laws by “encouraging truancy” when young people stayed out of school to boycott.

Categories: K-12 organizing, special education, student activism, parent activism, community activism

Tags: protest, organizing, newspapers and the media, racist segregation, policing and the criminal legal system, curriculum, disability labels, emotional disabilities, Disabled people, photography, imagery, and visual representation, Black people, Latinx people

This item is part of "The Less-Known 1965 Boycott" in "Boycotting New York’s Segregated Schools"

Item Details

Date: Jan 20, 1965

Creator: Martin Tolchin

Source: The New York Times Archives

Copyright: Under copyright. Used with permission

How to cite: “90% Boycott Hits Problem School,” Martin Tolchin, in New York City Civil Rights History Project, Accessed: [Month Day, Year], https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/boycott-hits-problem-school.

Questions to Consider
  • How are the “600” school students described in the text? How does that description compare to what you see in the photograph?
  • How does this article’s description of the students at the “600” schools compare to other sources in this document set? How does it compare to press coverage of the February, 1964 boycott?
  • How do you think students at the “600” school might have described themselves and why they attended this school?
References
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  3. Boycotting New York’s Segregated Schools
  4. The Less-Known 1965 Boycott
  5.   > ...