THEN CAME THE HARD PART

Seventy years ago this May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the doctrine of separate but equal schools for white and Black children — which had been the law of the land since 1896 — might be separate but they were nowhere near equal. The court ordered school systems to be desegregated.

But getting educators and lawmakers across the South to comply with that ruling proved to be extremely difficult.

RESISTANCE TO THE 1954 BROWN V. BOARD RULING

It was difficult enough for NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall and his legal team to push Brown v. Board of Education through the Supreme Court in the first place. The Court heard oral arguments in December 1952 and then, unable to reach a consensus, called for another round of arguments a year later.

On May 17, 1954, the court was ready to issue its landmark decision declaring separate “but equal” schools for Black and white public school students to be “inherently unequal,” overturning the Plessy v. Ferguson decision from 58 years before. However, the court asked for yet another round of arguments before determining how to implement the ruling.

In August 1954, the governor of Virginia created a commission that would declare that school attendance should not be compulsory and that parents opposed to integration should be given tuition grants so they could send their kids to private schools.

On May 31, 1955, the Supreme Court ordered lower courts to require schools to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.” But by that time, foot-dragging by Southern lawmakers was well underway.

By February 1956, Sen. Harry Byrd of Virginia had convinced nearly 100 Southern politicians to sign what he called his “Southern Manifesto,” which called for “massive resistance” to Brown v. Board — for example, getting states to pass laws that would eliminate funding to any public school that integrated.

In October 1957, the governor of Arkansas called out the National Guard to prevent nine Black students from enrolling at a high school in the state’s capital city. President Dwight Eisenhower sent in troops to protect the students as they began school.

In 1958, three Virginia school districts ordered to integrate closed down entirely. They’d remain closed for two years. In May 1959, Prince Edward County would close its school. That one wouldn’t open again for five years.

In October 1969, the Supreme Court admitted its “all deliberate speed” directive wasn’t working. It ordered the immediate desegregation of schools in Mississippi.

Two years later, the court ruled that busing children into and out of various school districts was an accepted way of desegregating schools located in racially segregated neighborhoods.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS The victorious legal team celebrates its victory in Brown v. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall, center, would later become the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court. May 17, 1954:

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS October 1957: Nine African American students are escorted into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, by the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. President Dwight Eisenhower called in troops at the request of the mayor of Little Rock. Eleven months later, the governor of Arkansas would close all high schools in Little Rock.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE November 1960: U.S. Deputy Marshals escort 6-year-old Ruby Bridges from William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. White parents boycotted the school, leaving Bridges in a class by herself.