Federal Report Surveys School Desegregation Efforts and Court Orders Across the South Following Brown v. Board of Education (1957)

Date: c. October 28, 1957

Created By: DDE's Records as President, Official File, Box 615, OF 142-A-5 (4); NAID #17368591

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, Civil Rights

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Records as President, Official File, Box 615, OF 142-A-5 (4); NAID #17368591

This 1957 report provides a broad survey of school desegregation efforts throughout the South following the Supreme Court’s decisions in Brown v. Board of Education. Organized by state and community, the document identifies school districts operating under federal court orders, districts scheduled to begin desegregation in 1958, communities that had adopted voluntary desegregation plans, and pending legal cases involving public schools and universities. It covers communities across Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Delaware, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and other states.

The report places the Little Rock Crisis within this much larger national struggle. Its section on Arkansas notes that Little Rock Central High School was operating under a federal court-approved desegregation plan and that federal troops remained on duty. Elsewhere, experiences varied considerably. Some communities reported integration proceeding with little or no difficulty, while others encountered protests, intimidation, violence, or continued legal resistance. The report also documents cases in which school boards attempted to delay integration or were compelled by federal courts to develop desegregation plans.

Later sections extend beyond elementary and secondary schools to examine court orders involving the admission of Black students to public colleges and universities, as well as unresolved desegregation lawsuits.

The document provides a valuable snapshot of the uneven implementation of school desegregation across the United States in 1957, demonstrating that Little Rock was one highly visible part of a much broader legal and political struggle over enforcing Brown v. Board of Education.