4th Annual WML Academic Symposium

This paper tells the story of the Pitt County, North Carolina school district’s path from complete segregation at the time of Brown v. Board of Education to “unitary status” designation on September 25, 2013. The paper also argues that Judge Malcolm T. Howard’s order declaring that Pitt County schools have achieved unitary status is correct. Part One of the paper discusses the background of unitary status case law within the broader context of national school desegregation litigation. Part Two provides the facts and procedural history of the Pitt County case, Everett v. Pitt County Board of Education. Part Three examines the order granting Pitt County schools unitary status and discusses why the judge properly granted that status.