Kenneth Pressley discusses his memories of the scene at Mansfield High School in 1956, including an effigy that was hanging.
Kenneth Pressley discusses his memories of the scene at Mansfield High School in 1956.
Kenneth Pressley discusses his memories of the scene at Mansfield High School in 1956, including the hanging effigy. "It was a different world back then," Pressley said.
UNT Oral History
2015-04
Texas Rangers pose in front of effigy at Mansfield High School
Texas Rangers stand in front of Mansfield High School, where an effigy of an African American hangs above the front door.
On August 31, 1956 segregationists gathered at the Mansfield High School to prevent African American students from registering for the upcoming school year. The same day Governor Allan Shivers dispatched Texas Rangers to Mansfield as a sign to maintain law and order. The memorandum instructed Colonel Garrison to “arrest anyone, white or colored, whose actions are such as to represent a threat to the peace" (see footnote below). The first day of school and final day of registration was Tuesday, September 4. Captain Crowder dispatched a total of nine Texas Rangers on site that Tuesday morning as a precautionary measure for crowd control (see footnote below). No African American students registered or attended Mansfield High School in 1956.
Bibliography: Robyn Duff Ladino, Desegregating Texas Schools: Eisenhower, Shivers, and the Crisis at Mansfield High (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996), 102, 111
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
1956
Mansfield students enter high school under the shadow of an effigy.
An effigy hangs above the entrance to Mansfield High School as students file in the building on August 30, 1956.
An effigy hangs above the entrance to Mansfield High School as students file in the building on August 30, 1956. The effigy was hung as a protest to integration efforts in Mansfield. The effigy remained for several days.
Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas
1956-08-30
KXAS News Script: "Mansfield School Opens"
For a third time a mob of white citizens forms outside Mansfield high school as the first day of classes begin.
A mob formed outside Mansfield high school for a third time on September 4th, the first day of school and the last day of registration. Texas Rangers were on the scene to make sure no violence erupted. Superintendent Huffman followed Shivers order to transfer out any Negro student who tried to register. On this day two notable persons arrived to make right the situation at Mansfield. A man named “Jesus Christ” asks permission to take down the effigy hanging from the flagpole but receives no help and vows to come back with a ladder but never returns. A second man named Reverend D. W. Clark shows up calling for the mod to disperse. Reverend Clark is escorted away by a Texas Ranger. The mob leaves quietly when it is certain that no Negro will register. The school board continues to fight for a delay of court order but Mansfield does not integrate.
KXAS News Script: Mansfield School Opens, UNT special collections, KXAS-TV/NBC-5, Fort Worth TX.
KXAS-TV/NBC-5
1956-09-04
KXAS News Script: "Dummy Hanging at Mansfield Probed"
a news story covering the hanging of a red paint splattered, straw-stuffed dummy in effigy of an African American man in Mansfield, Texas, in response to the federal desegregation order demanding Mansfield admit thirteen African American students to its high school.
After Mansfield High School was ordered to desegregate an effigy was hung in protest of the decision. The Effigy was hung in Mansfield’s main street on wires. Signs were attached to both feet of the dummy and red paint was splattered across the effigy. Police believed that this was not the work of mere pranksters. This effigy became the first of three figures that appeared during the crisis at Mansfield.
KXAS News Script "Dummy Hanging at Mansfield Probed" UNT special collections, KXAS-TV/NBC-5, Fort Worth Tx.
KXAS-TV/NBC-5
1956-08-29
John Howard Griffin with Fort Worth Star-Telegram
John Howard Griffin holds a Fort Worth Star-Telegram that shows an effigy someone hung of him.
Mansfield author John Howard Griffin, who wrote the book "Black Like Me," holds a Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper, which includes a photo of an effigy someone hung of him. Griffin spent most of his life studying racial equality. In "Black Like Me" he changed the pigmentation of his skin and traveled through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to explore the different levels of discrimination African Americans faced living in the deep south.
Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas
1960-03-02
Crowd at Mansfield High School
A crowd gathers at Mansfield High School after integration efforts begin.
The Mansfield community gathered on school grounds on Thursday, August 30, 1956 to prevent three African American students from registering at the high school. The size of the crowd reported in newspapers ranged from 200 to 500 on both Thursday and Friday. In the background an effigy hanging from a flagpole indicated the segregationists’ resistance to integration. Sheriff Wright and his deputies previously removed an effigy hung in a downtown intersection two days earlier. Governor Allan Shivers dispatched the Texas Rangers to maintain order and provide support for the white citizens gathered at the high school.
Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas
1956-08-30
Attempt to remove the effigy on the flagpole
Two men try to remove an effigy hanging from a flagpole at Mansfield High School in 1956.
An effigy prominently displayed from a flagpole on school grounds is hoisted in the early morning hours on Thursday, August 30, 1956. The citizens of the Mansfield community gathered on school grounds to protest court-ordered integration. Later in the morning, two men - J.T. Pressley and Willard Pressley, 20-year-old cousins - attempted to remove the effigy but were unsuccessful. School administrators refused to remove the effigy, and the gathering of segregationists returned the next day to school grounds to prevent the enrollment of African American students.
Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas
1956-08-30
Effigy hangs on flagpole at Mansfield High School
Boys look on as an effigy hangs from a flagpole at Mansfield High School in 1956.
Thursday August 30, 1956 was the first day of registration for all students at Mansfield High School. A federal district court ordered the high school to integrate African American students a few days earlier. The school board and community of Mansfield disagreed with the mandated decree and tension mounted as demonstrated by the effigies hung on school grounds as a sign of protest. No African American students registered during the enrollment period and continued attending I.M. Terrell High School in Fort Worth. The high school did not fully integrate until 1965.
Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas
1956-08-30
Mansfield High School: Texas Ranger, students, and effigy
Students gather around a Texas Ranger in front of Mansfield High School with an effigy hanging in the background, 1956.
In this photograph, Mansfield residents surround one of two Texas Rangers in front of Mansfield High School in late August 1956. The Texas Rangers were in Mansfield by request of Governor Allan Shivers to stop any threat of violence when approximately 200 to 500 white residents of Mansfield and surrounding areas gathered at the high school to keep African American students from registering. As is visible in the background of the picture, a black painted effigy hangs over the entrance of the school.
Courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission
1956-08