Integration of Hoxie schools

The schools in Hoxie weren't the first to integrate but were the first to be met with active resistance. The fight took place mostly in the courtroom and went on for months.

The first day of integration in Hoxie was July 11, 1955, a year after the court decision Brown vs. Board of Education declared segregation unconstitutional but more than two years before the infamous Central High School fiasco that took place in September 1957.

A small group of opposers collected outside the school for the first morning of integration, but the first few days and weeks went relatively smoothly. "Life" magazine was there to document the event. Public reaction to the photos that were published by the magazine on July 25 was swift and quite negative.

Seeing the black and white students together in the photos incited the town's segregationists, who launched an attack against the school board. Numerous white citizen groups were formed to oppose integration, with their underlying fear being that integrated schools would ultimately lead to intermarriage.

In researching and preparing to write a piece on Hoxie's integration for STAND News last fall, I communicated with Ms. Fayth Hill Washington. As one of the students who had been part of the integration back in 1955, her comments shed great light on the situation.

This experience in Hoxie was desegregation, in my opinion, verses an integration. I say that because even after things leveled off, we were not integrated into the school or the State. We remained segregated, unable to participate in any extra-curricular activities outside of the school, including choir trips, and sports. The 25 African American students were pioneers and faced many challenges and experiences. One challenge was trying to become a part of something you know nothing about with a benchmark. There were no African American teachers anywhere and [there was an] obvious lack of preparation for the experience and transition plan for the 25 African American students. The white teachers did not know how to teach us, as they did not know anything about us, our culture or what was offensive to us.

Ms. Washington had many other enlightening comments that I hope to share with you here and on my website Arkansas Profiles.

In the meantime, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas has some insightful information on this event.