Posted on 08/12/2007 6:01:58 AM PDT by Nextrush
Racial integration in the early part of the last century was very much a personal moral decision that involved no rules or laws to force it.
If one chose to be in the company of other races it was a personal decision because legally speaking segregation was the "law of the land" at least in the mind of those who accept "stare indecisis" as their principle.
When one chose to integrate it was very much a personal moral decision with laws not coming into play.
Ronald Reagan related a story in his writings of his mother bringing a black basketball player into the family home since the local hotel wouldn't allow him to stay overnight. Reagan's mother was a devout Christian.
When Jackie Robinson was brought into Major League Baseball in 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey made a moral decision. (Among other things Rickey was involved in founding the Fellowship of Christian Athletes).
Segregation was enshrined in the law as a precedent with one example being the U.S. Supreme Court's Plessy vs. Ferguson decision that said public accomodations like buses and railroads could be segregated. It established a "separate but equal" doctrine that was applied in other areas, like education.
In the early 1950's lawyers for the NAACP sued in several different places over the segregation of public schools. The end result was the Brown vs. Board of Education case that reulted in the historic May 17, 1954 decision.
(A decision that turned "stare indecisis" on its head and a very good counterpoint for those who think it should apply to Roe vs, Wade)
Now the "law of the land" was suddenly integration of public schools.
The decision created change. Change that came quickly in many areas and less quickly in others.
For example, in York, Pennsylvania the all black elementary schools were closed in 1955.
But in other places particularly the Southern states where segregation was enshrined as a way of life, the change came more slowly.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, school officials decided on a gradual integration plan that would begin with one high school in 1957 and end with the elementary schools in 1963.
The plan was challenged by the NAACP for being too slow after 23 black students tried to enroll in Little Rock schools in January 1956.
Federal District Judge John E. Miller dismissed the NAACP lawsuit in August 1956 saying that Little Rock school officials were acting in good faith to integrate.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal.
Meanwhile in May of 1955 the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled again that school integration must proceed "with all deliberate speed" but set no deadlines. (Brown II decision).
Resistance to school integration picked up in the South with states enacting their own laws to oppose it.
In the spring of 1957 Arkansas enacted laws to authorize school funds to be used to fight court cases opposing integration, allow parents to refuse to send their children to integrated schools, and force the NAACP to disclose its membership and financial records.
As the date for Little Rock integration drew near in the summer of 1957, a newspaper ad appeared calling for Governor Orval Faubus to order school segregation. The ad said "since a soverign state is immune to federal court orders and since the governor as the head of the soverign state is also immune to federal court orders.".......
That is SO true!
LOL!
I was wondering what an “Old Miss” is. ;o)
The time and the cause would have to be carefully chosen, but our nation was founded when people rebelled against unjust law.
The cause one chooses to rebel about may likely be the cause they will die for. If not death, it could mean the death of loved ones or other suffering.
Where were you in the delta.
but no Lusco's or Doe's and fewer ducks
;>)
Doe’s, man oh man. I grew up with the boys of that family and they use to invite me all the time to come eat with them.
My last year of HS (68) was the first year of
integration for our school. Freedom of choice was
what they called it. We had one in our class
and maybe 6 in the whole school. They were accepted
by most of the kids. The parents through a fit.
That wasn’t good enough for the Feds.
So the next year the busing and private schools
were on the move.The plan was to bring them up
but it backfired(Like most all govt plans)
us and pulled down.
Dang, WKB. You’re OLD!
jk
MM (in TX)
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