I believe the most major problem towards the coming of desegregation was the attitude whites had towards blacks, it may of not been entirely there fault as it was a long term problem and there attitude would have been inherited from their elders, there attitude was something that certainly couldn’t be changed instantaneously even if it had been deemed illegal.
South America had all been about slavery until 1868 when it was abolished, but still after nothing had changed and the whites and blacks still remained very separate, more so than in the north.
The thoughts and feelings from the slave trade didn’t go away and whites still treated them inferior and believed they were a different race not to be mixed with and didn’t deserve the same facilities as their children. These single minded attitudes led to whites forming terror groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The KKK was a huge problem and was a huge factor as to why desegregation was such a problem in schools, they were very powerful and had links in the police forces which meant they got away with murder as their cases were dropped.
Hundreds of whites even stopped Negroes from entering schools. Attitudes towards blacks was the most important reason why desegregation in schools wasn’t socially accepted, if only people hadn’t been so narrow minded and accepted the integration of schools the problem wouldn’t have escalated to madness.
On one occasion in the town of Little Rock of Arkansas conflicting interests between State and Federal resulted in troops being brought in. In that area they had decided to integrate schools gradually, but 9 Negroes were denied the access to their Central High School because group of whites had gathered to bar the way. Then Arkansas took action with there Governor of Arkansas, Faubus demanding state troops to go in and make sure the Negroes couldn’t get in to the school as they claimed it would be impossible to keep law and order if Negroes were allowed into the school. Despite Faubus being Governor of Arkansas he still had a narrow minded attitude which contributed to desegregation becoming such a problem in the 1950’s. However the Little Rock Negroes were ordered home, as a result Little Rock Negroes took Faubus to court, this then ended up with Faubus being ordered to remove the troops. However this small problem was blown out of proportion and President Eisenhower took drastic action by sending in 1000 paratroopers to Little Rock to protect the Negro children on the way to school.
It just shows the lengths people were willing to go to, to stop desegregation happening. This contributed to desegregation becoming such a problem. It took so much effort and man power to get 9 people in a school, 1000 paratroopers seems ridiculous. If this was just in one town, and only involved 9 Negro children then there must have been a lot more problems going on with schools all integrating at once. This now explains why desegregation was so slow and such a problem. President Eisenhower came up against so many problems where he had to go to such extreme lengths to make sure people were safe. This was a short term problem, as eventually the Central High School in Little Rock had to accept Eisenhower meant business and they had to let Negro children to their school.
A short term problem facing desegregation was the speed at which they introduced integration into schools. Desegregation was very rushed which led to it being difficult to accept, the law was made in on foul swoop, which meant people couldn’t get used to it, but maybe if it had been introduced gradually then it may have not been such a problem in schools. This links back to the attitudes whites had towards blacks. Since around 1868 the Jim Crow laws had been introduced, this made blacks and whites “separate but equal”, this was more suited however when desegregation was introduced whites found it difficult to cope with. It was thrown at them with no pre warning. Now with there white children going to school as a result of integration the only way whites could put it off was for them to fight against it. This ended up being another contribution to desegregation in schools becoming a major problem.
In conclusion all these problems combined amounted to such a major problem in American society; unfortunately this sparked the other two problems. Without the long term feelings of whites desegregation could have been accepted, people wouldn’t have tried to stop Negroes from entering school, and it wouldn’t have been a problem how quickly or slowly integration in schools was introduced. If whites hadn’t have been so narrow minded and stuck in their ways they could have accepted the law passed by the Supreme Court with no arguments. Without the long-term attitudes whites had towards black’s desegregation in schools I think would not have become such a major problem in the 1950’s.
