Refused admittance to Arlington school: 1957
Dr. Harold Johnson and his two daughters, Rita (l) and Harelyn (r), leave Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia September 5, 1957 after being refused admittance to the school.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was illegal in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education and three other cases, but school systems in the South and in some areas of the North resisted the decision
Johnson was a prominent Arlington physician and rights activist. The suit he subsequently filed became the legal basis for desegregating Arlington’s schools.
On February 2, 1959 four other African American children entered Stratford Junior High School beginning a process of legal integration of Arlington schools that would take two decades to complete.
In the late 1950s, the state of Virginia started its policy of “massive resistance” that involved closing any public school that integrated and providing state aid to all white private schools.
Arlington was stripped of its elected school board by the state when it adopted a modest policy of integration.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskWK3q68
The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press wirephoto obtained via Internet auction.
Refused admittance to Arlington school: 1957
Dr. Harold Johnson and his two daughters, Rita (l) and Harelyn (r), leave Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia September 5, 1957 after being refused admittance to the school.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was illegal in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education and three other cases, but school systems in the South and in some areas of the North resisted the decision
Johnson was a prominent Arlington physician and rights activist. The suit he subsequently filed became the legal basis for desegregating Arlington’s schools.
On February 2, 1959 four other African American children entered Stratford Junior High School beginning a process of legal integration of Arlington schools that would take two decades to complete.
In the late 1950s, the state of Virginia started its policy of “massive resistance” that involved closing any public school that integrated and providing state aid to all white private schools.
Arlington was stripped of its elected school board by the state when it adopted a modest policy of integration.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskWK3q68
The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press wirephoto obtained via Internet auction.