Mansfield crisis of 1956

Throughout the early twentieth century, schools in the American South were often segregated by race under the legal doctrine of "separate, but equal." This system led to impoverished black schools, which received a much smaller share of public funds and led to severely worse educational outcomes for black students. Texas's educational system also discriminated against Tejanos, who were often also subject to segregated schools until Hernandez v. Texas (1954). The following year, the court confirmed their decision in Brown II, ruling that schools should desegregate "with all deliberate speed." The University of Texas's law school was ordered in Sweatt v. Painter (1950) that it could not route black applicants to a segregated graduate school, leading many Texan colleges and universities to partially desegregate. == Early efforts to desegregate ==

On August 17, 1954, after the Brown ruling, T.M. Moody and other black subtrustees formally requested at a school board meeting that the MISD integrate immediately. The board rejected the request. Like many black Mansfield residents, Moody had joined the NAACP and, by 1955, served as the president of the Mansfield branch. Throughout 1954 and early 1955, the subtrustees repeatedly petitioned the board for the legally mandated integration of the schools. They also requested for improvements to MCS and for public busing to the high schools in Fort Worth. The board continued to deny the requests. Moody and other Mansfield denizens participated in broader NAACP conferences, seeking advice on their work from the NAACP's regional specialist Ulysses Simpson Tate, Thurgood Marshall, and others. When they expressed interest in suing the school board for its recalcitrance, Tate supplied L. Clifford Davis as the main civil rights lawyer in the region. With Davis, the subtrustees continued to unsuccessfully petition for improvements to MCS—including for smaller improvements, like a flagpole and a fence that would cordon the school off from a busy nearby street—and tried to work with individual board members on their agenda. In the wake of Brown II, Davis described the petitioners' changing philosophy:At first we were trying to get these small things. And then,when we could not get those things, [we decided] if we're going to have to fight, we're going to just fight the whole battle.In August 1955, Davis met with the school superintendent and formally tried to enroll Floyd Moody, Charles Moody, and Nathaniel Jackson at Mansfield High School that fall. The three students lived in Mansfield and had attended MCS, but were commuting to Fort Worth to attend I.M. Terrell High School. The superintendent denied the request, saying that the board had not yet decided in favor of desegregation. The school board further discussed segregation at the following meeting, but made no move to accept the enrollment of Jackson and the Moodys. They requested assistance from Tate and Marshall of the NAACP for legal support in a lawsuit against the school district. == Federal lawsuit ==

L. Clifford Davis filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Floyd Moody, Charles Moody, and Nathaniel Jackson in federal court on October 7, 1955. The MISD, the superintendent, and members of the school board were named as defendants, with Joseph Estes the presiding judge. Davis and the plaintiffs sought participation from other black students who commuted to Fort Worth for high school, but parents feared that it would lead to reprisals from the white community. Davis argued for the plaintiffs that the rulings in Brown and Brown II (and McKinney v. Blankenship (1955) before the Texas Supreme Court) were definitive, making the exclusion of the black students illegal. Tiny Gooch argued for the defense that public opinion was too set against desegregation and that they would need time for white residents to support the move. Estes found in favor of the MISD. He accepted their argument that desegregation wasn't practicable and also felt that the plaintiffs had not constructed a class because most of the applicable black students had declined to participate. Davis, as well as Tate and Marshall of the NAACP, had expected the loss and primarily fashioned their argument for the appeals process. On June 28, 1956, Joseph Chappell Hutcheson of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Estes's judgement. He concluded that while the implementation could proceed in one of multiple ways, the school had to offer a reasonable timeline for desegregation. The case was remanded to Estes to provide further instructions to the parties on August 17. On August 25, Estes decreed that the plaintiffs and all other members of their school-year had the right to attend Mansfield High School and that the defendants were "forever restrained from refusing admission to[...]any of the plaintiffs shown to be qualified in all respects for admission." After the judgement from the Fifth Circuit, Gooch filed a petition for a stay of proceedings in late August. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black denied the stay request on September 4. The black community faced retaliation from the white community. After the appeals process found in favor of integration, Floyd Moody's father J.E. was evicted for his involvement. The MISD also separately cancelled a standing agreement T.M. Moody had to use the well water on the MCS property. In Mansfield's black neighborhood, burning crosses were used to intimate residents on August 22 and 23. An armed posse of the black community protected T.M. Moody after the police declined to, fearing that he would be assassinated. At a meeting of black parents, they initially decided that all but one of the 12 students then commuting to Fort Worth would attempt to enroll at Mansfield High School. == Texas rejection of court order ==

Although other districts in Texas desegregated quietly that fall and the court order mandated integration in Mansfield, the white community resisted. When school started on August 30, 1956, they joined over 300 whites in front of Mansfield High School. Their goal was to prevent the enrollment of the three black students. The town turned into complete turmoil as three Black effigies were hanged as part of the demonstration. Texas Governor Allan Shivers was a noted segregationist and used the power of his office to resist implementation of Brown v. Board of Education. Shivers dispatched Texas Rangers to prevent integration, led by Captain Jay Banks, who, in addition to threatening to arrest black students, refused to take down an effigy of a black man hanging by a noose at the entrance of Mansfield High School. Shivers then authorized the Mansfield Independent School District to send its black students to Fort Worth, Texas. By doing this the school district had effectively ignored a federal court order for integration. == Aftermath and legacy ==

Texas Ranger statue In June 2020, a statue modeled after Texas Ranger Captain Jay Banks, called One Riot, One Ranger, was removed from Dallas Love Field. It was first dedicated in 1961, 5 years after the Mansfield School Desegregation Incident. ==References==