desegregation

[ dee-seg-ri-gey-shuhn, dee-seg- ]

noun

1. the elimination of laws, customs, or practices under which people from different religions, ancestries, ethnic groups, etc., are restricted to specific or separate public facilities, neighborhoods, schools, organizations, or the like.

Other Words From

• deseg·re·gation·ist noun
• anti·de·segre·gation adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of desegregation¹

First recorded in 1950–55; de- + segregation

Example Sentences

Harris’ ambitions bloomed at Thousand Oaks Elementary, where she was among the first bused to a new school as part of Berkeley’s voluntary desegregation program while other parts of the country resisted merging districts.

From Los Angeles Times

She joined La Mutua last year after discovering while working on the Alamosa school desegregation case that family members had once belonged.

From Los Angeles Times

She and others are working on a research project about a 1914 school desegregation case backed by La Mutua that was among the earliest of its kind in the country.

From Los Angeles Times

The ask from civil rights protesters was not that government leave them alone, as Richard Mack would say, leave them alone, but rather that the federal government would enforce federal laws which require desegregation, which require due process and equal rights.

From Salon

The district itself was founded in 1970 amid federal desegregation orders, when residents broke away from the Jefferson County Schools and agreed to pay an extra tax.

From Salon

Related Words

• assimilation