In this research study, individuals involved in the original implementation of a desegregation plan in the Riverside Unified School District (California) and those who were affected by the plan were interviewed to determine pros and cons of the desegregation issue. In Riverside 30 years earlier there were three segregated schools, one that was primarily Hispanic and two that were labeled "Negro." Under considerable local pressure, school officials designed a desegregation plan and implemented it within seven weeks in the summer of 1965. Desegregation in Riverside was implemented prior to legal requirements, but it was accomplished only after parents threatened to boycott and a segregated school was burned. What appeared to be a solution accepted by the community may have been misrepresented as having been agreed on by all area inhabitants. Adults who were elementary school students during desegregation, parents of former students, administrators, and teachers were interviewed for this study. Although the majority of those interviewed agreed that the experience was painful, they agreed that it was an important decision to insure equal opportunity for all children and for future generations. Most parents remembered that they were invited to provide input into desegregation plans, but it seemed that participation had followed socioeconomic lines. Parents did remember that they were invited to participate at the local school level, but that they often found it difficult to participate in the new schools because of transportation problems or other constraints. Students, parents, and school personnel remembered the experience as painful but definitely necessary. They also thought that the opportunities of desegregation more than compensated for the inconvenience, and that it was worth the sacrifice. Most thought that the plan had been successful, and that it was successful because of the ideals of the leaders, parents, and students. (Contains one reference.) (SLD)