Photos: When integration came to Atlanta schools

Education

Fifty-five years ago Atlanta's public schools admitted their first black students, with less public turmoil than had occurred in other cities. View these photos from a turbulent era that changed American society, and read more about that momentous event on our Get Schooled blog, on myajc.com

The Atlanta Daily World covered some of the most important moments in civil rights history, including the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which outlawed segregation in public schools. View these photos from a turbulent era that changed American society, and read more about that momentous event on our Get Schooled blog, on myajc.com

Before desegregation came to Atlanta schools in the 1960s, students such as these listening to music on an old-fashioned phonograph record player attended all-black schools. Photo from Atlanta Public Schools archives

In this 1954 photo, third-grade children study arithmetic in Atlanta's C.W. Hill School, which was typical of the city's black schools before the Supreme Court ruling banning school segregation in the South. Atlanta officials initially said the ruling would bring little change in the Atlanta school system, since residential areas were so divided along racial lines. They expected that neighborhood segregation would mean children would still be attending a school where all students were of the same race.

Demonstrators in 1959 display their signs and slogans outside the Governor's Mansion in Atlanta protesting desegregation. Gov. Ernest Vandiver and key state officials were inside the mansion to discuss segregation in Georgia.

Black students Willie Jean Black (from left), Arthur Simmons and Donita Gaines leave Northside High School after their first day there in 1961.

Mary McMullen and Lawrence Jefferson leave Grady High School on Aug. 30, 1961, the first day of class. They were two of nine black students to integrate four Atlanta schools that day.

Addressing a joint session of the Georgia legislature Jan. 15, 1959, in Atlanta, Georgia Gov. Ernest Vandiver says he "has no intention of turning Georgia schools and colleges over to the federal government for any purpose, anywhere at any time during the next four years." At left is Lt. Gov. Garland Byrd. Vandiver, who won office vowing that "no, not one" black child would sit in a Georgia classroom with whites yet went on to preside over the peaceful desegregation of public schools. He died in 2005, at age 86.

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The Atlanta Daily World covered some of the most important moments in civil rights history, including the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which outlawed segregation in public schools. View these photos from a turbulent era that changed American society, and read more about that momentous event on our Get Schooled blog, on myajc.com

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