Sturgis Ky, one year before Little Rock. Forgotten history of equal rights.

[alfredo]

this is an important and forgotten part of our history. This is a PDF so clicking the link will/might start a download. Also note AB "Happy Chandler." He was baseball commissioner when pro ball got desegregated. His grandson is Rep Ben Chandler (D Ky)

http://www.kynghistory.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/4AF62952-3762-472D-A52A-D18F8122C5C5/0/sturgisandclayky1956.pdf

In the 1954 decision Brown v. Board of
Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
segregation unconstitutional, thus desegregating
public schools nationwide. This decision reversed
the Supreme Court’s 1896 ruling supporting the
traditional concept of “separate but equal”
facilities. However, there was much resistance to
the desegregation of public schools and the full
implementation of desegregation in Kentucky’s
schools took many years.

Though the desegregation of Kentucky’s
public schools proceeded with a minimum of
difficulty, there were some trouble spots. In the
first days of school in 1956 at Sturgis, in Union
County, Kentucky, nine African American
students attempted to attend the all-white high
school. Turned back by a jeering mob, they
appealed to Governor A. B. “Happy” Chandler,
who activated the Kentucky National Guard and
the Kentucky State Police, their mission, to
maintain law and order, and ensure that all
students had the opportunity to attend public
school.

The following morning Guard and State Police personnel held back the crowd as
nine black students entered the school at Sturgis. At the same time, a similar
confrontation was taking place at Clay in Webster County, Kentucky. There almost
all the white students boycotted the grade school when two black students enrolled.
The National Guard and State Police kept order outside an almost empty school.