Desegregation Showdown: Rev. Bill Lawson v. HISD

On June 21, 1965, two days after Juneteenth, Reverend Bill Lawson led roughly 500 protestors on a three-mile march from Emancipation Park to City Hall. The locally-renowned Houston minister organized the event in protest of the Houston I.S.D. school board’s recently announced desegregation plan, which wouldn’t take full effect until 1967.

The photo above was taken at Emancipation Park prior to the march to City Hall.

Reverend Bill Lawson

William “Bill” Lawson was born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in Kansas City, Kansas.

The grandson of enslaved Black Americans, he moved to Houston in 1955 with his wife, Audrey, and three degrees: Bachelor of Sociology (Tennessee State University), Bachelor of Divinity, and Master of Theology (Central Seminary).

Coming from the North, Houston’s rigid, legal segregation was a culture shock for the Lawson’s. In Kansas, segregation was more de facto than de jure.

“We had racial separation in Kansas but signs that said black and white section of the bus…that was new to me.

We simply were not going to buy clothes at Foley’s and we were not going to drink out of the colored water fountains. I simply was not going to allow my children to grow up in that kind of atmosphere.”

— Bill Lawson (Source: George Slaughter @ TSHA)

His reason for the move was a Professor of Bible/Religious Studies position at Texas Southern University, which is where his Civil Rights involvement began. When his students were arrested for organizing sit-ins at Weingarten’s, he and Audrey raised money to bail them out.

In 1962, the Lawson’s founded Wheeler Avenue Baptist church in their living room with only 12 members. Audrey Lawson convinced her soft-spoken husband to use their growing church to support the civil rights movement. Soon, they were involved with the local civil rights leaders and even Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr even attempted to recruit Bill Lawson to work with him in Atlanta but he refused due to his quickly-growing church and community. However, he still participated from Houston, even creating a local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

He soon began playing a larger part in Houston’s Civil Rights fight, with his first major role being a perpetual thorn in the side of Houston I.S.D..

PUSH and Persist

Reverend Bill Lawson was the spokesperson for People for the Upgrading of Schools in Houston (PUSH), a civil rights committee led by himself, Barbara Jordan, E. M. Knight, Thomas Griffin, and Francis L. Williams.

Their ultimate goal was to be an organized front to deal with the Houston I.S.D. school board and urge them to comply with the federal desegregation order. To accomplish this, they held regular meetings and strategized with Justice Department officials and local business owners.

As Houston I.S.D. began discussing plans, PUSH became increasingly skeptical of their urgency and made sure to apply pressure where necessary.

In one example of such pressure, PUSH and the NAACP organized a student-boycott of the five Houston area Black high schools: Yates, Wheatley, Kashmere Gardens, Worthington, and Washington. During the boycott, Texas Southern University and University of Houston planned to protest at the 5 schools.

The circulated flyers for the boycott, signed by Reverend Lawson himself, stated the following:

“Are we ‘Uncle Toms?’ Is the white man right when he says we are satisfied with inferior education. Negroes are about to move…reasoning does not work…Every bargain has left us holding the short end…Today we call on every high school student to join the movement.”

Their demands were as follows:

• total integration of the school system
• acceptance of federal aid
• end to the dual-boundary system that separates White residential areas from Black ones

Two days before the planned boycott, Lawson made an announcement that Bob Eckels, President of the Houston I.S.D. board, has agreed to consider “concessions.” When asked for comments on the concessions, Eckels remained silent. Lawson, however, commented that unless they received concrete concessions by Monday, the boycott would continue as planned. And it did.

Playing Hooky for a Cause

On May 10th, 1965 over 2,000 protestors marched 5 miles to the School Administration building in support of desegregation. Black high school students stayed home for the day and NAACP members picketed outside of each campus.

Eckels cancelled a scheduled board meeting to avoid a potentially violent confrontation and provided the following statement to the The Houston Post:

Eckels, calling the day’s demonstrations “a black eye for the city of Houston,” said the school district’s desegregation plan would not accelerate “at this time.”

He said he was very willing, however, to negotiate with civil rights leaders.

— The Houston Post / May 11, 1965

Bill Lawson, on the other hand, told the crowd of 2,000 that they could make this a weekly exercise.

Still, Lawson extended an olive branch to Eckels requesting a formal meeting with the Houston school board. When Eckels agreed, PUSH began preparations immediately, holding nightly meetings with NAACP leaders and professors from U of H and TSU.

PUSH and the Houston school board held at least two meetings during the period of May 13th, 1965 and May 27th 1965. Lawson even invited 24 prominent Houstonians, including Eckels, to tour two under-funded Black schools to demonstrate the urgency.

By the end of May, constructive conversation with the board had stalled and the school board’s community relations committee stated that a new desegregation plan would be revealed on June 21st. Houston’s civil rights leaders began to lose all hope of an HISD-wide desegregation occurring in the fall. They feared that the school board’s majority would vote to delay it as long as legally possible and they assumed correctly.

As a result, PUSH began increasing the frequency of marches, rallies, and meetings with local and federal government officials in anticipation of a disappointing June 21st announcement from the Houston I.S.D. school board.

Reluctant Compliance

The 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education, had already ruled segregated schools as unconstitutional. Segregationists fought tooth and nail to delay the enforcement of that ruling and Houston was not exempt from this struggle.

In 1956, Thurgood Marshall represented 9-year old Delores Ross, a Black elementary student, in an attempt to force Houston I.S.D. to acknowledge the 1954 ruling. A 1959 development in this case resulted in Houston I.S.D. being forced to make a plan before the end of the year.

Finally, Houston I.S.D. began desegregating one grade per year in 1960, beginning with the first grade. By 1965, all Houston I.S.D. elementary schools were desegregated on paper. In reality, the elementary schools, outside of a handful of exceptions, were still just as segregated due to existing residential boundary lines for White and Black students.

Houston I.S.D. was the largest segregated school district in the nation at the time and thus became a particular focus of Washington D.C. officials. While some progress was underway, they, along with other southern districts, appeared to be dragging their feet in regards to total desegregation.

In response, the United States office of Justice began pressuring school districts in the southern states to fully desegregate by September 1, 1967, or lose funding.

HISD’s 3-Year Desegregation Plan

On Monday June 21st, 1965, the Houston I.S.D. school board announced their highly-anticipated accelerated desegregation plan:

• Grades 6, 7, & 10 to be desegregated by Fall 1965
• Grades 8 and 11 to follow suit in Fall 1966
• Grades 9 and 12 to follow suit in 1967
• erasure of the dual-boundary lines separating White and Black residential districts, for elementary schools by Fall of 1965
• erasure of the dual-boundary lines separating White and Black residential districts for junior and senior high schools in Fall 1967

However, the following initiative was nixed and slated for further review:

• wide-spread faculty integration plans

Granted, this timeline exceeded the federally ordered, “one grade per year” minimum but integration advocates still considered it a step in the wrong direction.

Local Leaders Failing to See the “Acceleration”

Civil rights leaders and Black residents viewed the measure as a compromise intended to appease pro-segregationists. In response, they vowed to return to the federal courts in order to pressure HISD to fully desegregate sooner. Reverend Lawson also mentioned that a full boycott of local businessmen was not off the table, noting that things tend to get resolved quickly when money’s involved.

This is a fine place to add that the HISD board at the time was comprised of 7 members, 4 of them being conservative (according to the Houston Post):

• Joe Kelly Butler (Chairman)
• Bob Eckels (President)
• J. W. McCullough, Jr. (Vice President)
• Mrs. H. W. Cullen

Board President, Bob Eckels, made a statement to the Houston Post regarding the matter:

Bob Eckels, board president, said he does not think the new court action will be successful.

Board conservatives have said their new desegregation plan complies with the Civil Rights Act and has the approval of the Justice Department.

“THE BOARD has acted in good faith,” Eckels said. “As far as I’m concerned, they (the civil rights leaders) can go jump in a lake.”

—- The Houston Post, June 23, 1965

The 3 liberal (according to the Houston Post) members of the board:

• Asberry B. Butler, Jr
• Mrs. Howard Barnstone (Gertrude Barnstone, née Levy)
• Mrs. Charles E. White (Hattie Mae White, née Whiting)

These three members also made public statements to the Houston Post, decrying the recently announced plan:

Asberry B. Butler, Jr, a board liberal, said he probably will not vote for the proposal because he believes the “community is ready for total integration now.”

Mrs Howard Barnstone, another liberal trustee, said, “We’ve had token integration for so long, it’s time we stopped dragging our feet.” She said she did not know whether she would vote for the new desegregation plan.

MRS CHARLES E. WHITE, dean of the board’s liberals said she hopes by Monday night the conservative faction “will see the wisdom” of desegregating the entire school system immediately.

She said the board majority has not made “a single voluntary concession” toward desegregation since the U. S. Supreme Court decision in 1954.

—- The Houston Post, June 17, 1965

Houston I.S.D.: 1967 and Beyond

While school segregation technically ended in 1967, the reality painted a different picture. Schools remained relatively segregated due to existing racial boundaries, “White Flight,” and fiery opposition from pro-segregationists. Lawsuits and appeals would continue, filed by students and teachers of both races, over the next decade. Houston I.S.D. wasn’t officially integrated until the end of 1984, with the culmination of a long-standing lawsuit filed by Black teachers who were refused employment due to a “need” to maintain a White majority in certain schools.

Today, Houston I.S.D. is still segregated, albeit by class rather than race, though the end result appears the same.

Lawson’s Legacy

Bill Lawson passed away after 95 years of selfless service in 2024 with his wife, Audrey, preceding him in 2015.

In addition to spearheading Houston’s fight for integration, he did much more for under-represented Houstonians such as:

• 1969 – Created the University of Houston’s first African-American studies program
• 1996 – Founded the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity (WALIPP)
  • The Lawson Academy – Two A+ middle schools for Houston’s under-served communities
  • WALIPP Senior Residence – 55+ living community for active seniors in the Third Ward
  • WALIPP Public Defender Program – Legal counsel for those without means to acquire it
• 2011 – Co-creator of the Houston Public Defender’s Office with Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza and Rabbi Sam Karff

Bill Lawson is the embodiment of “leaving a place better than you found it” as he undoubtedly left Houston a better place. He and his wife had four children, Eric, Melanie, Cheryl, and Roxanne, who are now carrying the torch.

Sources

This article was made possible courtesy of the following organizations:

• ABC13 News (Where Bill and Audrey’s daughter, Melanie, is an award-winning anchor)
• Black Past
• The WALIPP organization
• The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
• The Houston Defender
• The Houston Chronicle
• The Houston Post newspaper archives