This week marks the 55th anniversary of the desegregation of Atlanta schools.

Nine black students were selected via a process to be the first to go to four all-white Atlanta schools. Through no riots and boycotts took place and the students attended without incident, their lives were not easy, as Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogger Maureen Downey reminds us.

The AJC also has gathered some memorable photos from that period and you can see them here.

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Students put their cellphone in a box before heading to class at Sylvan Hills Middle School in Atlanta.  The Georgia Department of Education wants lawmakers to expand a cellphone ban. (AJC file)

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., arrives to a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP