INTEGRATION
The bringing together of separate elements to cre-
ate a whole unit. The bringing together of people
from the different demographic and racial groups
that make up U.S. society.
In most cases, the term integration is used to
describe the process of bringing together people
of different races, especially blacks and whites, in
schools and other settings. But it is also used to
describe the process of bringing together people
of different backgrounds. A primary purpose of
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
(ADA) (42 U.S.C.A. § 12101 et seq.), for exam-
ple, was to more fully integrate disabled individ-
uals into U.S. society. The House Judiciary
Committee’s report on the ADA described it as
“a comprehensive piece of CIVIL RIGHTS legisla-
tion which promises a new future: a future of
inclusion and integration, and the end of exclu-
sion and segregation” (H.R. Rep. No. 485, 101st
Cong., 2d Sess., pt. 3, at 26 [1990], reprinted in
1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 445, 449.7).
The term integration is most commonly
used in association with the efforts of African-
Americans in the United States to eliminate
racial SEGREGATION and achieve equal opportu-
nity and inclusion in U.S. society. Often, it has
been used synonymously with desegregation to
mean the elimination of discriminatory prac-
tices based on race. However, although similar,
the terms have been used in significantly differ-
ent ways by the courts, by legal theorists, and in
the context of the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.In
general, desegregation refers to the elimination
of policies and practices that segregate people of
different races into separate institutions and
facilities. Integration refers not only to the elim-
ination of such policies but also to the active
incorporation of different races into institutions
for the purpose of achieving racial balance,
which many believe will lead to equal rights,
protections, and opportunities.
Throughout the civil rights movement in the
United States, black leaders have held different
opinions about the meaning and value of inte-
gration, with some advocating integration as the
ultimate goal for black citizens, and others
resisting integration out of concern that it
would lead to the assimilation of black citizens
into white culture and society. In 1934, a dis-
agreement over the value of integration versus
segregation led W. E. B. Du Bois—a cofounder
of the National Association for the Advance-
ment of Colored People (NAACP) and a leading
scholar, writer, and civil rights activist—to
resign from the NAACP. Du Bois rejected the
NAACP’s heavy emphasis on integration, calling
instead for black citizens to maintain their own
churches, schools, and social organizations, and
especially to develop their own economic base
separate from the mainstream white economy.
After Du Bois’s resignation, the NAACP
adopted a full-fledged campaign to eliminate
segregation and to promote integration. In
1940, NAACP leaders sent to President
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, the secretary of the
Navy, and the assistant secretary of war a mem-
orandum outlining provisions for the “integra-
tion of the Negro into military aspects of the
national defense program.” This was the first
instance in which the NAACP had specifically
used the term integration in a civil rights policy
pronouncement. After WORLD WAR II, the term
racial integration became commonly used to
describe civil rights issues pertaining to race.
On the legal front, the NAACP focused its
efforts on eliminating segregation in the public
schools. This campaign was led by THURGOOD
