Despite the legal mandate to integrate, school districts were slow to accommodate African American children, as Bill Mauldin metaphorically shows here with three young students working hard to open the door of "School Segregation" a mere crack. At its annual meeting in 1960, the National Education Association rejected proposals to support the Supreme Court decision, instead opting for a watered-down resolution describing integration as "an evolving process." Because of school boards' reluctance to follow either the letter or the spirit of the law, segregation remained in effect well into the 1960s.
Bill Mauldin (1921-2003).
Inch by inch, 1960.
Crayon, ink, blue pencil and white out over pencil on layered paper.
Published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 1, 1960.
Prints and Photographs Division (145)
© Copyright 1960 by Bill Mauldin. Reproduced online courtesy of the Mauldin Estate.