Research Paper On African American School Segregation

we still have today and which someone knowledgeable on the situation would call “ghettoization” (Jackson). Massey and Denton’s book, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, hits strong on this topic of “residential segregation”. Massey and Denton, both went hand and hand with what Jackson was saying. This is a well organized, well-written and greatly researched book.

Eyes on the Prize The Civil Rights Movement is a very important part in history. “Eyes on the Prize” is a video that explains what the prize was and how it was attained. I believe the prize was equality was for all and the eyes are the people fighting to attain it. Was the prize attained?

Board of Education signified the first time that the Supreme Court was on the African American side. This court case was a direct challenge to Plessy v. Ferguson, which stated that separate but equal facilities were equal. The book Warriors Don’t Cry is set directly during this period. In 1957, Governor Orval Faubus blocked the integration of nine students from Little Rocks Central High. President Eisenhower eventually became involved for a few reasons; one was because Governor Faubus was making an obvious resistance to federal authority.

When the nine black students tried to attend an all-white school on September 4, 1957, although they had the right, they were denied. Not only were they denied the right from the students but from adults and people of political influence in Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine were part of a major part of the Civil Rights movement and consisted of three boys and six girls. Central High School was the first high school in the south to set to be desegregated since the United States Supreme Court had ruled in Brown vs Board of Education, that separate education was unconstitutional. Inspired, Elizabeth wanted to become a lawyer, and she thought Central would help her realize that dream.

The other eight promised they would stay at the school and they did. Only one out of eight got their diploma, Ernest Green was the first African American to ever graduate from Little Rock Central High School. At the graduation there sat a Martin Luther King Jr., who was so proud and astonished of Green. Carlotta Walls was the second and graduated from Central High School the next year and the year after she graduated Jefferson Thomas graduated Central High as well.

Hostility between whites and African Americans in Arkansas was persistent even with the efforts to ensure equal rights for every citizen throughout the state in early 20th century. One source of this hostility was segregation. This existed especially in the school system. However, state laws stated that separate public schools were unconstitutional as a result of Brown v. Board of Education. Little Rock Central High was the first Arkansas school to integrate.

Media, exposed the entire incident to the country, including President Eisenhower. Angered from the reactions of the people and the governor, Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Divison of the United States Army to escort and protect the students to, from, and around the campus. Eisenhower believed strongly in the desegregation of schools and knew he'd have to enforce it upon those who were unwilling to change. Time progressed and people started to accept that the Nine were going to stay. Therefore, began the

When nine young African American students volunteered to enroll they were met by the Arkansas national guard soldiers who blocked their way. Along with the national guard these nine students were surrounded by an angry white mob who were screaming harsh comments about this situation. On this day not one of nine African American students gained entrance to the school that day. Along with came a later situation where a Air Force veteran named James Meredith sought to enroll in the all-white University of Mississippi known as “Ole Miss” where he was promptly sent away. However in the September of 1962 with the help of the NAACP Meredith won a federal court case that ordered the university to desegregate.

American children once needed alarmed soldiers to escort them safely to the school house .Getting escorted to school by armed soldiers had to be a problem that the whites didn’t want them at their school. On September twenty-third in the late 1850’s African Americans entered Little Rock Central High School for the first time. Ignoring verbal abuse, threats from students and a crowd of whites that was standing outside of the school. The nine African Americans students started to tell their parents, even though there parents knew that them going to an all-white school was going to be a problem.

In 1957, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas’s decision, segregation in public education violated the Fourteen Amendment, but Central High School refused to desegregate their school. Even though various school districts agreed to the court ruling, Little Rock disregarded the board and did not agree to desegregate their schools, but the board came up with a plan called the “Blossom plan” to form integration of Little Rock High despite disputation from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Desegregating Central high encountered a new era of achievement of black folks into the possibility of integrating public schools, and harsh resistance of racial integration. Although nine black students were admitted into Little Rock harsh violence and

The segregation of schools based on a students skin color was in place until 1954. On May 17th of that year, during the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, it was declared that separate public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. However, before this, the segregation of schools was a common practice throughout the country. In the 1950s there were many differences in the way that black public schools and white public schools were treated with very few similarities. The differences between the black and white schools encouraged racism which made the amount of discrimination against blacks even greater.

The Arkansas National Guards were able to provide some of this well-needed protection by escorting the nine students to and from the high school, on top of that The Arkansas National Guards also protected the students while inside the school. Although they had their protection they still suffered through an entire year of extreme verbal and physical abuse. For example, being called horrible and insensitive names by white students, and being spat on. One of the nine students, Melba Pattillo had acid thrown into her eyes by another white student and almost went blind. Melba was also a victim of a certain incident where several of the white female students locked her in one of the bathroom stalls and tried to burn her alive by throwing pieces of flaming paper at

It wasn’t until around 1960 that the schools were finally integrated, but by then Melba was already attending college. Thirty years later, Melba and the rest of the nine met with Arkansas Governor and future President

Even though the media displayed false information about the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School it changed peoples views on segregation. In A Mighty Long Way Little Rock, Arkansas nine African American students wanted to go to a well educated high school but they do not understand why so many people are angered that they are just getting a better education. During the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957, the media illuminated certain events and painted an inaccurate or incomplete picture of other events. The media illuminates many important events that show how racist white people are treating black people and showing people in the North who are against segregation and support integration.

Brittney Foster SOCY 423 UMUC 03/01/2018 Racial integration of schools Racial integration is a situation whereby people of all races come together to achieve a common goal and hence making a unified system. Racial integration of schools is well elaborated in the two articles by Pettigrew and Kirp. These two articles say that combination in the American schools since 1954 has unceremoniously ushered out the Brown versus Board of Education which was a decision made by the Supreme Court. The topic of discussion of these two articles hence is relevant to our course since it gives us the light of how racial desegregation and racial integration shaped America’s history.