I was a pawn in the Louisville desegregation busing of the 1970s. Here are some of the things I remember. I was nine…so this has been filtered through 34 years of memory, and a lot of learning about (and even teaching) civil rights History. As a grown up, I’m convinced that most of the issues had more to do with class than race. This is later than what you are talking about in the OP, but I think the mindset stayed the same.
“They are dirty”…this is a huge part of the ‘water fountain’ problem - and honestly, many of the kids who were bused into the Louisville burbs had different standards of hygiene than we did. Even educated people can worry about the spread of disease from people who they perceive as washing less than regularly. But I’m given to understand that you simply care for black hair differently than you care for hair like mine, and skin too tends to get moisturized a lot more often - something that I doubt many white people in Kentucky in the mid-1970s understood.
“They will drag down the academic standards of the school” - again - honestly - they did. Not really their fault since desegregation busing was designed to address inequalities in school. And I was in fourth grade, so these kids had already gone through four years of inferior schooling.
“They are violent and disrespectful” - again - honestly - these kids had been raised to different standards of addressing authority than the kids from the 'burbs. But again, this was as much a class thing as a race thing - some of the kids that were bussed in were white - and some of the kids who were the biggest troublemakers that had been bussed in were white. However, given that it was white parents standing outside the buses shouting words no nine year old should hear and threatening to blow up the buses…they probably shouldn’t throw stones (although, again, honestly, they did…).
I suspect, although I was too young to pick up on it, that there were concerns about intermarriage. And here I will say something I’ve said before here “I hope my kids aren’t gay because while I am not homophobic, its a much harder life.” Similarly, in 1974 in the mid-South, I would have hoped the person my child fell in love with is another white Christian, because any other choice is going to be hard. What this logic fails to realize is that times have changed - hopefully, if my kids are gay, by the time they are adults it will be much less of a big deal (it already is). And interracial relationships are much less of a big deal now than they were then. But even a reasonable person wants an easy life for their kids.
I also remember vividly that the black kids were different. When we played on the playground and held hands their hands felt different. They smelled different. They talked different. This never bothered me, I found it interesting. But a lot of people are threatened by different.
I will also note that prior to busing the schools in Louisville were desegregated. My neighbor across the street was a middle class black girl who went to school with me. And very little of the racism that applied to the kids being bussed in applied to this girl with college educated parents living in a nice house in the suburbs.