Year of total integration
1965.
Murray completely desegregated its schools in 1965. The county had been supporting only a one-teacher elementary school, called Chatsworth. High school students were bused to Emery Street in Dalton. A formal resolution by the board of education was published in the May 6, 1965 Chatsworth Times.
Twelve students were affected, though only four were at Chatsworth, said the Times on May 6, in another article about the decision. All were from the same family. A fifth elementary student and seven high schoolers attended school at Emery Street.
As with other school systems with small African-American populations, this early complete desegregation was by mandate. In the May 20 Times, Superintendent C.W. Bradley said it was primarily a state decision, not a federal one, that Chatsworth was "economically unfeasible" with its low student numbers. It is uncertain the state had any hand in the decision. Georgia had shut down Stewart County's all-white Omaha Elementary in 1964, which had eight students, but involvement in desegregation seems less likely, even for economic reasons.
Bradley did cite what the federal government had been cracking down on in regards to Black students, busing across county lines, which had been happening in Murray and a few other counties because there were not enough students for a high school. Bradley said the state and federal decisions made complete desegregation the only choice.
Murray did have plans for the former Chatsworth building. It was a newer building, having only been built a decade before. They hoped its rooms could relieve overcrowding elsewhere.
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