The Mansfield school desegregation incident is a 1956 event in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

Mansfield, Texas Mansfield is a suburban city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area. The city is located mostly in Tarrant county, with small parts in Ellis and Johnson counties. Its location is approximately 30 miles f ...

, a suburb of the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...

. In 1955, the

Mansfield Independent School District Mansfield Independent School District is a school district headquartered in Mansfield, Texas, United States. MISD serves Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. I ...

was segregated and still sent its black children to separate, run down facilities, despite the ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

'' court decision in 1954. Three students brought a suit with the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

. In Jackson v. Rawdon, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the students. In 1956, Mansfield ISD became the first school district in the state ordered by a federal court to desegregate. The school board approved the measure and allowed Mansfield High School to desegregate. Although other districts in Texas desegregated quietly that fall, the mayor and police chief of Mansfield did not approve of this measure. When school started on August 30, 1956, they joined over 300 whites in front of Mansfield High School. Their goal was to prevent the enrollment of the three black students. The town turned into complete turmoil as three black effigies were hanged as part of the demonstration. Texas Governor

Allan Shivers Robert Allan Shivers (; October 5, 1907 – January 14, 1985) was an American politician who served as the 37th governor of Texas. Shivers was a leader of the Texas Democratic Party during the turbulent 1940s and 1950s and developed the lieutena ...

was a noted segregationist and used the power of his office to resist implementation of ''Brown v. Board of Education.'' Shivers dispatched Texas Rangers to prevent integration, led by Captain Jay Banks, who, in addition to threatening to arrest black students, refused to take down an effigy of a black man hanging by a noose at the entrance of Mansfield High School. Shivers then authorized the

to send its black students to

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. By doing this the school district had effectively ignored a federal court order for integration. After the transfer of the black students to Fort Worth, the demonstrations soon ended and order was restored. It was this success that in 1957 inspired Arkansas Governor

Orval Faubus Orval Eugene Faubus ( ; January 7, 1910 – December 14, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1957, he refused to comply with a unanimous ...

to attempt a similar ordeal in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

. Later that year, Texas passed more segregation laws that delayed integration even further. Facing the lack of federal funds, the

quietly desegregated in 1965. The decade long defiance of a federal school integration order was one of the longest in the nation during that period. In June 2020, a statue modeled after Texas Ranger Captain Jay Banks, called

One Riot, One Ranger ''One Riot, One Ranger'' is a bronze statue of a Texas Ranger, installed from 1961 to 2020 at Dallas Love Field, named for the famous story of Bill McDonald, a captain of Ranger Company B, in the 1900s who by himself broke up an illegal boxing ...

, was removed from Dallas Love Field. It was first dedicated in 1961, 5 years after the Mansfield School Desegregation Incident.

References

External links

Mansfield School Desegregation Incident
at the ''

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

'' Online
The Crisis at Mansfield
online museum, University of North Texas Community organizing History of civil rights in the United States Civil rights movement 1956 in the United States Mansfield, Texas 1956 in Texas 1956 protests {{civil-rights-movement-stub

References

Further reading

External links