Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell (1963)

In 1961, Robert L. Dowell and other Black students and parents sued the Oklahoma City Board of Education to end its segregated school system. In 1963, the Western District of Oklahoma Judge Luther Bohanon found that the Board had failed to make a good-faith effort to eliminate segregation within the school districts. In 1972, the Court ordered the Board to follow the Finger Plan that would bus black children to all white schools and bus white children to all black schools.

After the Finger Plan had been in place for several years, the Court concluded that the Oklahoma City school system was no longer legally segregated and ended its active supervision in 1977. However, by the mid-1980s, the School Board changed the plan, resulting in several schools becoming largely racially divided again, prompting families to return to court.

In 1991, the Supreme Court explained that federal oversight of a formerly segregated school system and sent the case back to the lower court. The District Court found that the Oklahoma City Public Schools had made a lasting, good-faith effort to end segregation.

Additional Resources

“Dowell V. BD. Of EDUC. Of Oklahoma CITY PUB. SCH., 606 F. Supp. 1548 (W.D. Okla. 1985).” Justia, 2026.