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AI: Well, now, in 1954, of course, that was the Brown v. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court. And I'm wondering, what was your thought when that decision was made? Or did that decision have much of an impact on you or some of your colleagues in the field of race relations at that time?

HM: Well, I saw it from a different angle. I had completed my doctoral dissertation in 1954 on race relations in an urban public school system. And the University of Chicago Committee on Race Relations had sponsored a number of research projects, master's degrees, doctoral dissertations, on various aspects of the Chicago public school system. In fact, when Herold Hunt arrived as the new superintendent of the Chicago schools, he developed a relationship with Louis Wirth and opened the schools for Louis Wirth's research projects. And so after Louis Wirth died, my plans for a dissertation had sort of fallen through, and I was persuaded by the Committee on Race Relations to pull together all of these separate dissertations and master's theses, and make a study of the impact of race relations on the social institution of the Chicago public schools. And I was highly complimented that after... see, my thesis was published in spring of 1954, and the Supreme Court requested a copy, and I sent my copy of the dissertation to the Supreme Court. And when it came back, there was a Supreme Court bookmark in the chapter on school redistricting.

AI: Oh, my.

HM: So that was my take on the decision.

AI: So, in fact, your dissertation must have had some influence in some way.

HM: I don't know what it was, but they apparently read it.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.