School Desegregation Digitization 1

One of the untold stories of school desegregation in Arkansas is the number of black teachers who lost their jobs in the process. School desegregation in many rural areas meant closing black schools and accepting black students into formerly segregated white schools. Not until ten years after the Brown decision, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, were school districts compelled to consider the fate of black teachers. The first successful suit for unfair dismissal in the state came from black teachers in Morrilton, aided by the American Federation of Teachers union and Little Rock attorney John Walker. You can find out more about school desegregation in Arkansas in a new digital exhibit hosted by the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.