In the 1970s and 1980s, issues such as affirmative action and schoolbusing still riled up many, but de jure racial segregation was no longer considered acceptable by most.
Schoolbusing for integration became widespread in the 1970s after years of unsuccessful challenges to the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 decision, Brown v Board of Education, which ruled that separate and unequal school systems were unconstitutional.
Forty years ago, progressives were sure that court-ordered busing of school children to achieve racial integration represented a great victory over bigotry and oppression.