Mansfield school desegregation incident facts for kids

The Mansfield school desegregation incident was an important event in 1956. It happened in Mansfield, Texas, near the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. This event was part of the larger Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a time when people fought for equal rights for all Americans, especially for Black Americans.

What Was School Segregation?

Before the 1950s, many schools in the United States were segregated. This meant that Black students and white students went to separate schools. Often, the schools for Black students were old and did not have good supplies. In 1954, a very important court case called Brown v. Board of Education said that segregated schools were unfair. The court ruled that separating students by race was against the law. This decision meant that schools across the country had to start allowing students of all races to learn together. This process is called desegregation.

Mansfield's Challenge to Desegregation

Even after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the Mansfield Independent School District in Texas still had separate schools for Black and white children. The schools for Black children were not as good. In 1955, three Black students and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took the school district to court. The NAACP is a group that works to protect the rights of Black Americans.

A federal court decided that Mansfield schools had to desegregate. This made Mansfield the first school district in Texas ordered by a federal court to end segregation. The school board agreed to let Mansfield High School become desegregated.

Protests and Turmoil

When school was supposed to start on August 30, 1956, things became very difficult. The mayor and police chief of Mansfield did not want the schools to desegregate. They joined over 300 white people who gathered in front of Mansfield High School. Their goal was to stop the three Black students from enrolling.

The town became very chaotic. As part of the protest, three dummy figures, made to look like Black people, were hung. This was a very upsetting and threatening act.

Governor Shivers Steps In

The governor of Texas at the time was Allan Shivers. He believed in segregation and did not want schools to desegregate. Governor Shivers sent Texas Rangers, who are state police officers, to Mansfield. Captain Jay Banks led the Rangers.

Instead of helping the Black students, the Rangers threatened to arrest them. Captain Banks also refused to take down the dummy figures hanging at the school entrance. Governor Shivers then allowed the Mansfield Independent School District to send its Black students to schools in Fort Worth, Texas. This meant the school district ignored the federal court order to desegregate.

The Aftermath

After the Black students were sent to Fort Worth, the protests in Mansfield stopped. Order returned to the town. This event in Mansfield later inspired the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, to try something similar in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. Later that same year, Texas passed more laws that made it even harder for schools to desegregate.

Desegregation Finally Happens

The Mansfield Independent School District eventually desegregated quietly in 1965. This happened because the school district needed money from the federal government, and the government would not give money to segregated schools. Mansfield's refusal to desegregate for almost a decade was one of the longest in the country during that time.

A Ranger Statue Removed

In June 2020, a statue of a Texas Ranger was removed from Dallas Love Field airport. This statue, called "One Riot, One Ranger," was modeled after Captain Jay Banks, who was involved in the Mansfield incident. The statue had been put up in 1961, five years after the Mansfield school desegregation event.