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
Austin American, “Justice Minton Permits Mansfield Delay Petition”
Justice Minton granted Mansfield School Board permission to delay the enforcement of the court order to desegregate.
The Austin American Newspaper also includes a detailed account of the court proceeds evolving Mansfield. On September 2nd the newspaper published an article that includes the fight for Mansfield to legally remain segregated. Attorney for the Mansfield school district, J. A. Gooch receives permission from the U.S. Supreme Court justice Sherman Minton to request a delay of integration. Gooch sent a copy of the story of the controversy at Mansfield along with a petition to Judge Hugo Black in order to receive a delay of court order. This petition was one of the last means left in order for the school board to lawfully no allow Negro on campus.
“Justice Minton Permits Mansfield Delay Petition.” Austin American. September 1, 1956, pg 2
Austin American
1956-09-01
Brenda Norwood discusses more about the first day of integration.
Brenda Norwood discusses more about the first day of integration, including the crowd that gathered that day.
Brenda Norwood discusses more about the first day of integration, including the crowd that gathered that day. Some members of the crowd taunted the African American students and called out derogatory names, Norwood said in an oral history interview.
UNT Oral History Department
2015-04-11
Brenda Norwood discusses the first day of school when Mansfield integrated.
Brenda Norwood, member of the Mansfield High School senior class of 1965-66, discusses the first day of integration at Mansfield High School.
Brenda Norwood, member of the Mansfield High School senior class of 1965-66, discusses the first day of integration at Mansfield High School.
UNT Oral History Department
2015-04-11
Brenda Norwood discusses what a newly integrated Mansfield High School was like.
Brenda Norwood, an African American senior when Mansfield High School integrated, discusses what life was like at the school.
Brenda Norwood, an African American senior when Mansfield High School integrated, discusses what life was like at the school during an oral history interview.
UNT Oral History
2015-04-11
Car painted with racial slurs
A car painted with racial slurs is parked near Mansfield High School.
A car painted with racial slurs is parked near Mansfield High School on August 30, 1956. Several hundred white citizens protested the registration of black students at the school. The protest was in response to the decision in the lawsuit of Nathaniel Jackson, a minor, et al. v O.C. Rawdon, et al. of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturning a lower court’s decision. The Fifth Circuit’s decision mandated that the Mansfield Independent School District allow African American students to register at the previous white-only Mansfield High School. No African American students registered that day.
Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas
1956-08-30
Congestion of cars at Mansfield High School
A crowd gathers at Mansfield High School after integration efforts begin.
A crowd assembled at the Mansfield High School grounds on August 31, 1956 to protest the registration of three African American students. The crowd included angry residents instructed to comply with a federal district court order. Heated exchanges occurred during the day between the radical segregationists and news reporters on scene to cover the events. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Grady Hight exchanged words with the crowd and had to be escorted to safety by officers. The pro-segregationist gubernatorial candidate W. Lee O’Daniel also made a campaign appearance that day on the school grounds.
Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas
1956-08-31
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
Crowd with alligator
The crowd at Mansfield High School protesting integration gathers around a man holding a baby alligator.
During the protest against desegregation at Mansfield High School, John Pyles held a baby alligator as a warning to any African American who appeared on the school grounds that they would be "gator bait."
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