1969 - Judge McMillan Orders School Board to Eliminate Segregated Schools

April 23, 1969 - Judge McMillan orders the Charlotte school board to eliminate segregated schools.

• When the Swann case reopens in 1968, there is a new federal judge on the bench, Judge James B. McMillan. 
• Declaring that "the rules of the game have changed," he determines that the Charlotte schools must be integrated further. 
• All-white schools and all-black schools are required to be mixed by any means necessary, including busing. 
• No school system in America has faced such an order. While the school board begins a long series of appeals, higher courts order the board to begin integration in the meantime. Judge McMillan has rejected several integration plans from the school board. 
• In Dec. of 1969, McMillan will appoint Dr. John Finger from Rhode Island (standing to the left of Judge McMillan in photo) to devise a plan.

Listen: McMillan's announcement