When the Swann case reopens in 1968, there is a new federal judge on the bench, Judge James B. McMillan. Declaring that "the rules of the game have changed," he determines that the Charlotte schools must be integrated further. All-white schools and all-black schools are required to be mixed by any means necessary, including busing.

No school system in America has faced such an order. While the school board begins a long series of appeals, higher courts order the board to begin integration in the meantime. Judge McMillan has rejected several integration plans from the school board. In Dec. of 1969, McMillian will appoint Dr. John Finger from Rhode Island to devise a plan.