The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Board of Education
case decided in 1971 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court held that the constitutional mandate (see Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.) to desegregate public schools did not require all schools in a district to reflect the district’s racial composition, but that the existence of all-white or all-black schools must be shown not to result from segregation policies. The Court added that because bus transportation had traditionally been employed by school systems, busing could be used in efforts to correct racial imbalances.
