Date of Award

11-25-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

John Kirk

Abstract

Between 1957 and 1959, under the backdrop of the Central High School Crisis, the Arkansas General Assembly worked to evade compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed segregation in public schools. The three legislative sessions passed laws that mostly sought to maintain segregated schools and limit the NAACP's ability to function in the state. However, religious leaders, parents, and the NAACP sough to have many of these laws overturned and tested their legality in court. The lawsuits were successful and by 1963, all the laws related to school desegregation and the NAAP that had been tested were declared unconstitutional or stripped of its powers.

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