Brown II- Hoxie

Sixty years ago, in May 1955, the United States Supreme Court handed down its school desegregation implementation order, widely known as Brown II. This followed the Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision a year earlier. Brown II gave guidelines for how school desegregation should proceed. In 1954 and 1955, four school districts successfully desegregated in Arkansas. In the summer of 1955, the Hoxie school board voted for financial reasons, out of a legal obligation, and because it was “morally right in the sight of God” to desegregate. Things went smoothly until outside agitator Jim Johnson and the White Citizens Council turned up. Under pressure, the Hoxie school board nevertheless held firm and refused to cave in. Backed by the courts, Hoxie schools remained desegregated, demonstrating that a determination to obey the law could prevail. I’m John Kirk, of the UALR History Department, and this has been an Arkansas Moment.