A Piece of ChalkA Piece of Chalk

Boston's 1970s busing crisis is a critical moment in America's civil rights movement. Championed as a solution to segregation in northern city schools, forced busing became one of the most divisive and regrettable episodes in Boston's long and distinguished history. What ensued was a firestorm of riots, heavy-handed police response, political ping-pong, disenfranchised students, and lawsuits.Beginning in 1821, Boston English High School, the oldest public high school in America, had a prestigious history as the first public secondary school in America. By the 1970s it was the epicenter of desegregation, and crumbling under the pressure. Author Joe Dotoli was in the thick of it as a young science teacher.Today this story isn't so much one of clear triumph as perseverance in a racial and economic struggle still making American headlines today.