Free Republic

On Sunday September 15th Governor Faubus put out the word that he had made proposals to President Eisenhower and that the National Guard would remain at the school for now. The crowds of pro-segregationists began to dwindle the week of Monday September 16th. The whole controversy brought national news media to the scene including the developing network television news operations. NBC sent John Chancellor from Chicago to report live from in front of the school. Meanwhile CBS had Howard K. Smith, who has just come back from London to head up its Washington bureau. Live transmissions were by long-distance phone...

With Federal District Judge Ronald Davies moving for an injunction against Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus the burden of enforcing any injunction would fall on the Eisenhower Administration. President Eisenhower later spoke of his regret in making Earl Warren Chief Justice of the Supreme Court but for now it was his job and the job of his Attorney General Herbert Brownell to enforce desegregation of schools. There was political gain for the Republican Party with a majority of black votes going to Eisenhower in 1956. Democrat Congressman Brooks Hays of Arkansas was acting as an intermediary between the president and the...

President Sends Troops to Little Rock, Federalizes Arkansas National Guard; Tells Nation He Acted to Avoid An Anarchy Eisenhower on Air Says School Defiance Has Gravely Harmed Prestige of U.S. President Warns of Anarchy Peril Washington, Sept. 24--President Eisenhower sent Federal troops to Little Rock, Ark., today to open the way for the admission of nine Negro pupils to Central High School. Earlier, the President federalized the Arkansas National Guard and authorized calling the Guard and regular Federal forces to remove obstructions to justice in Little Rock school integration. His history-making action was based on a formal finding that his...

The case of James Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi wound its way through the federal court system after the NAACP filed suit in May 1961. A federal district judge ruled in favor of the university and a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Meredith. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and there was a temporary stay of the Appeals Court order. In what was not a surprise for an integration case, the Warren Supreme Court ordered that Meredith be admitted to the University of Mississippi. The decision came on Monday September 10th, 1962. The...

The National Guard blocked entrance to black students and even the black employees who cooked and cleaned at Little Rock Central High School. Daily crowds of pro-segregation people gathered outside the school to make sure the black students didn't go in. Governor Orval Faubus sent his evidence to the White House of the need for the guard to prevent violence. A cross was burned on the front lawn of Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Mann, who had disputed the governor's contention that violence was possible if the school was integrated. The school board went to Federal District Judge Ronald Davies to...

Federal District Judge Ronald Davies (imported from North Dakota to rule on integration in Little Rock) ordered integration of Little Rock Central High School to proceeed on Setpember 3rd. The next morning, nine black students attempted to enter the Little Rock Central High School but were turned away by the National Guard troops there. As Governor Faubus had expected, a large pro-segregation crowd stood outside the school and they jeered as the students were rebuffed. Eight of the nine students were in a group led by Arkansas NAACP president Daisy Bates. One student, Elizabeth Eckford, whom Bates could not reach...

When Governor Orval Faubus met with Arthur Caldwell of the Justice Department in late August, Faubus expressed resentment of the fact that states had to enforce integration against popular will. Faubus received a constant barrage of protest from those opposed to integration and he feared that opposition would lead to violence. He said he expected hundreds of segregation supporters to descend upon Little Rock to violently resist integration. As I've noted before, governors are elected every two years in Arkansas and how Orval Faubus handled the integration of Little Rock Central High School would most likely determine his ability to...

Federal District Judge Ronald Davies, transferred to the federal courthouse in Little Rock, dealt quickly with the state court ruling against the integration of Little Rock Central High School. NAACP lawyers filed an appeal of the August 27th injunction from the Cancery Court of Pulaski County. On Friday August 30th, 1957 Judge Davies overruled the state court and ordered the integration to proceed according to the plan of the Little Rock School Board. Davies issued an injunction enjoining "all persons, in any manner, directly or indirectly, from interfering with the plan of integration as approved by the United States District...

Various actions dealing with integration plans for Little Rock Central High School were filed in state courts during the summer of 1957. Some parents sought the right to send their children to segregated schools that would remain in Little Rock and others sought to nullify the Central High School integration plan. The plan was supported by federal district and appeals court rulings, but many state laws had been passed calling for imposition of any federal order. Public meetings were also held in opposition to the integration plan. One lawsuit reached the Cancery Court in Pulaski County on August 27th, 1957....

When one is trying to advance a case in court, you have to have a plantiff with a good image. Lawyers at the NAACP achieved a major victory when the Warren Supreme Court came down with the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. Now there were opportunities to use federal judicial power to overrule state segregation laws through lawsuits. In 1955 a number of people defied bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama. But until seamstress and local member Rosa Parks came along, the NAACP stayed out of court. Earlier cases involved people who had bad reputations or who might break under...

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...

NEW ORLEANS -- Sen. John Edwards plans to warn later this week that the nation’s schools have become segregated by race and income, and he will propose measures to diversify both inner-city and middle-class schools. The plan calls for beefing up inner-city magnet schools to attract suburban kids, and providing extra money for schools in middle-class areas as a reward for enrolling more low-income students. Edward lingered in the Big Easy this morning – admiring a 5-year-old Head Start pupil’s sneakers and hobnobbing in a wood-floored café -- before racing into Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee as part of a three-day...

An intriguing ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could re-open discussion about the brainwashing that occurs in all-too-many public school classrooms these days. The High Court this week issued a thumbs-down to so-called "diversity" plans in two large school districts that use race as a factor in assigning students. According to an Associated Press report, the ruling could affect not only schools in Seattle and Louisville, but could impact like-minded plans in hundreds of school systems around the country. Chief Justice John Roberts said the school districts involved "failed to show that they considered methods other than explicit racial classifications...

JUNE 28, 2007, will be remembered as a shameful day in the long, elusive battle to instill equal opportunity in American schools. The U.S. Supreme Court's twisted logic in limiting a school district's ability to take race into account as a way to end racial segregation echoes the court's Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling of 1896. That ruling put the imprimatur on "separate but equal" policies that allowed racial discrimination and oppression to flourish for more than half-a-century more. The 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision, fortunately, drove a dagger into Plessy's heart -- until Thursday, when a court invigorated...

The Supreme Court ruled 53 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated education is inherently unequal, and it ordered the nation’s schools to integrate. Today, the court switched sides and told two cities that they cannot take modest steps to bring public school students of different races together. It was a sad day for the court and for the ideal of racial equality.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the Seattle school district's racial tiebreaker, along with a school-integration plan in Kentucky, but left the door open for the limited use of race to achieve diversity in schools. The decision in cases affecting how students are assigned to schools in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle could imperil similar plans in hundreds of districts nationwide, and it further restricted how public school systems may attain racial diversity. The court split, 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts announcing the court's judgment. The court's four liberal justices dissented. "The way to stop discrimination on the...

The Inter- District Downtown School in Minneapolis and the FAIR School in Crystal opened their doors with much fanfare in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Their sponsor is the West Metro Education Program, a consortium of the Minneapolis school district and 10 suburban districts. WMEP created the schools at a cost of more than $26 million to be showcases of racial balance, achieved voluntarily. Last week, we learned that they are no such thing. Today, InterDistrict students are 70 percent minority' and the FAIR School is nearly 70 percent white. Their racial composition is little different from that of the districts...

France set to toughen immigration laws Reuters - Tuesday, June 12 06:47 pmPARIS (Reuters) - France's centre-right government on Tuesday took the first steps towards legislation toughening conditions for immigrants seeking to join their families in France, a key election pledge of President Nicolas Sarkozy. The measure, strongly opposed by the left, would require potential immigrants to follow a course of up to two months in their home country to learn French and "the values of the republic." Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux presented the measure to the Conseil d'Etat, a senior body that hands down an opinion on proposed legislation...

WASHINGTON – A powerful think tank chaired by former Sen. Sam Nunn and guided by trustees including Richard Armitage, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Harold Brown, William Cohen and Henry Kissinger, is in the final stages of preparing a report to the White House and U.S. Congress on the benefits of integrating the U.S., Mexico and Canada into one political, economic and security bloc. The final report, published in English, Spanish and French, is scheduled for submission to all three governments by Sept. 30, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies. CSIS boasts of playing a large role in the passage...

Damascus, 19 April (AKI) - Besides saying it loudly and proudly, Muslims who treasure their religious heritage can also show it, and they will soon be able to do so by buying and wearing products bearing the "Made by a Muslim" label. A group of Islamic businessmen meeting in Damascus, Syria have launched a initiative they say involves 7,500 companies around the world and which aims to encourage Muslims to boycott products made in countries hostile to Islam and to opt instead for those manufactured in Islamic nations. "In light of the growing hostility faced by Islam and by Muslims...