Approximately 95% of white Americans now support the principle of integrated education as compared to 42% in 1942. Public opinion polls reveal similar increases in white support for the integration of public accommodations and mass transportation. Nevertheless, while only 17% of whites object to sending their children to a school that is half black, 42% of whites are opposed to sending their children to a school that is majority black. In Norfolk, Virginia, a return to neighborhood schools has led to the creation of disproportionately white and black schools. In 1985, before the end of busing, 11% of Norfolk’s black students were in schools that were 75% black or more. In 1993, 41% of all black students are in predominantly black schools. In a majority of the segregated schools, more than 90% of the students are poor. In Montgomery County, Maryland, there is a dramatic increase in the percentage of students in high-poverty schools for every group but white students. From 1988 to 1993, the rate of black students in high poverty schools jumps from 11% to 25%; the rate for Latinos rises from 14% to 40%; and the rate for whites moves from just 7% to 8%. According to a United Nations report, on the Human Development Index, which is based on per capita income, educational attainment, and longevity, the United States rank sixth in the world; white Americans by themselves rank first, and African Americans by themselves rank thirty-first.
January
On the 24th, Thurgood Marshall dies at the age of 84. Millions of people watch the memorial service on television, and over 4000 people attend the service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
June
In Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993), the Supreme Court permits a challenge to a North Carolina redistricting plan designed to increase minority representation in Congress. In a series of cases following Shaw the Court eventually holds that redistricting primarily based on racial demographics is presumptively unconstitutional.