Editing Oak Ridge, Tennessee (section)

=== Segregation and desegregation ===
Oak Ridge was developed by the federal government as a [[racial segregation|segregated]] community, required by the [[Solid South|Southern bloc]] of Democrats in Congress to authorize funding for the project. Due to generally holding lower-ranked jobs, their assigned dwellings were predominantly government-built "hutments" (one-room shacks) located very close to the Y-12 plant, in the one residential area designated as colored. Nichols, the MED District Engineer, was told by the main construction contractor for the K-25 plant that the black construction labor force had a large turnover rate, so Nichols gave permission to set up a separate black women's camp. When Groves visited the plant with [[K. T. Keller]] of Chrysler, Keller saw twelve Black women sweeping the 30-foot wide alley between the production units, and said "Nichols, don't you know there is a machine made to sweep a concrete floor like this?" Nichols replied "Sure I do, but these gals can do more than one of those machines". The men now had an opportunity to "fracas" on Saturday night, and labor turnover had reduced.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nichols |first= Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Nichols|title= The Road to Trinity: A Personal Account of How America's Nuclear Policies Were Made |year= 1987 |publisher= William Morrow |location= New York |isbn= 068806910X |pages= 287–8 |url=https://archive.org/details/roadtotrinity0000nich }}</ref> 

During the war, plans were made for a colored neighborhood of houses equal in quality to those provided for whites, but it was not implemented because of limited resources. After the war, all hutments were dismantled, and a colored neighborhood of permanent houses was developed in the Gamble Valley area of Oak Ridge, which during wartime had been occupied by a white trailer community.

Oak Ridge elementary education prior to 1954 was segregated; it was legally part of the Anderson County system though built and operated primarily with federal funds.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|p=121}} Black children could attend only the Scarboro Elementary School. [[Oak Ridge High School (Tennessee)|Oak Ridge High School]] was closed to black students, who had to be bused to Knoxville for an education. Starting in 1950, Scarboro High School was established at Scarboro Elementary School to offer classes for African-American students.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} In 1955, 85 young Black students from the Scarboro community were the first to enter all-white classes in [[Oak Ridge High School (Tennessee)|Oak Ridge High School]] and Robertsville Junior High School (now Robertsville Middle School).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wbir.com/article/news/history/the-secret-in-scarboro-the-oak-ridge-85/51-2a202693-2ac8-4318-b162-10ef5e43972c | title=The Secret in Scarboro: The Oak Ridge 85 | date=November 19, 2020 }}</ref> In 2023, on the 68th anniversary, a Scarboro 85 Monument was erected in Oak Ridge.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.oakridger.com/story/news/local/2023/03/02/scarboro-85-monument-in-oak-ridge-honors-students-for-integration/69937331007/ | title=Scarboro 85 Monument in Oak Ridge to honor students for their place in history }}</ref>

Robertsville Junior High School, serving the west half of Oak Ridge, was desegregated at the same time as the high school. Elementary schools in other parts of the city and Jefferson Junior High School, serving the east half of the city, were desegregated slowly as African-American families moved into housing outside of Gamble Valley. In 1967 Scarboro Elementary School was closed, and African-American students from Gamble Valley were bused to other schools around the city.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The nearby high school in Clinton was desegregated in the fall of 1956. On October 5, 1958, the school was severely damaged after a series of [[dynamite]] explosions. An estimated 75 to 100 sticks of dynamite had been placed in three locations in the building. No one was injured, however the school was closed while being rebuilt. Oak Ridge provided space at a recently vacated elementary school building (the original Linden Elementary School) for the education of high school students from Clinton for two years while [[Clinton High School (Clinton, Tennessee)|Clinton High School]] was being rebuilt.

Following the [[Brown v. Board of Education|''Brown'' decision]], public accommodations in Oak Ridge were gradually integrated, which took several years. In 1955, the spring-fed Oak Ridge Municipal Outdoor Swimming Pool, which had been completed in June 1945, became integrated.<ref>Pounds, Benjamin.  [https://www.oakridger.com/story/news/2022/06/03/historical-marker-unveiled-oak-ridge-outdoor-pool/9951329002/ “Historical marker unveiled for Oak Ridge outdoor pool”], [[The Oak Ridger]](June 2, 2022).</ref> In the early 1960s, Oak Ridge briefly experienced protest picketing against racial segregation in public accommodations, notably outside a local cafeteria and a laundromat.<ref>Much of this history is documented in ''[[The Oak Ridger]]'', particularly in the ''Historically Speaking'' columns by D. Ray Smith.</ref>