How Human Rights Discourse has Impacted the New York City Government since the 1940s — NYC Department of Records & Information Services

Events around the country during this period, ranging from the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, integration of the Little Rock Central High School, the March on Washington and passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, all contributed to a greater awareness of discrimination. While New York had made attempts to address school segregation prior to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, progress was slow and uneven. By 1964, frustration over these delays led to a series of massive school boycotts co-organized by the NAACP, the Harlem Parents Committee, CORE, PACE, and the Pan Hellenic Council. About 45% of all NYC students boycotted school on February 3, 1964. An estimated 464,361 students and teachers participated overall, the boycott being so large that it exceeded the number of people who took part in the March on Washington.

Established in 1957, the Commission on Intergroup Relations had a broad mandate, but it created fewer records than the earlier Committee on Unity, and its successor organization, the City Commission on Human Rights. It could be argued that the committee was struggling to keep pace with a rapidly shifting social landscape, resulting in record-keeping practices and organizational structures that were less robust than usual.

In 1962, the Commission on Human Rights took over this role and the administrative records reveal a complex engagement with civil rights issues, activist groups, and civil rights leaders of that time. The first executive director of the Commission on Human Rights, Madison Jones, was the point person for all civil rights issues relayed from the Mayor’s office, as evidenced in the records of their frequent correspondence. A large part of the administrative records also deals with the desegregation of NYC schools. Materials found in the series include reports, action plans, data, press releases, and boycott responses. The CCHR was definitely aware of, and in conversation with, civil rights activist groups and civil rights leaders—there are references and mentions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X in the records.