American Notes CIVIL RIGHTS

Twenty-five years ago, in Selma, Ala., club-wielding police attacked civil rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Now the city of 27,000 is again experiencing racial turmoil. Last week 150 black high school students boycotted classes to protest the school board's failure to renew the contract of black Superintendent Norward Roussell. Governor Guy Hunt ordered National Guardsmen to protect students who went to school despite the boycott.

In three years at the helm of the 70% black school system, Roussell alienated whites by, among other things, revising the "tracking" system that had long channeled black students into lower-level courses. After the board's six white members voted to get rid of Roussell last December, five black board members quit in protest. Last week's boycott ended after five days, when Roussell appealed to the students to return to class. But biracial talks to determine his future broke down with no resolution of the impasse.