Tonya Bettineschi

His 330

April 27, 2016

“Struggle for Education Equality”

J. Todd Moye’s ​Let The People Decide​ focuses on the struggle for racial equality

throughout the South. Moye chooses Sunflower County, Mississippi to demonstrate the political

and social changes that occurred due to the Civil Rights Movement. Between the 1950s and

1980s, Mississippi experienced many changes in education systems that reflected the changing

way of life in the south.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Sunflower County experienced a wide range of

discriminatory acts. In 1986, white southerners were satisfied with the Supreme Court’s ruling of

“Separate but Equal” in ​Plessy v. Ferguson​. In ​Plessy v. Ferguson​, Supreme Court ruled that

facilities may be segregated if they remained equal. Public accommodations and facilities such as

trains, busses, and restaurants were legally allowed to discriminate based off race, if they

provided equal services. Workplaces and Schools were also allowed to discriminate under this

ruling. The rulings stood until the mid 1960s and had a major impact on the way of life in

Mississippi. The Separate but Equal clause allowed for whites and blacks to be considered

differently under the “unequal eyes of the law”(Moye, 25). In Sunflower County, Mississippi, as

well as various locations in the South, African Americans and white southerners coexisted in an

unbalanced society where segregation was the norm.

An important characteristic of Sunflower County during the 1950s up until the 1960s was

the segregated school system. African Americans received the same rights as American citizens,

but were often times deprived of those rights due to Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws were
established after the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling and enforced racial segregation on local and state

levels. Under these laws, African Americans were prohibited from attending schools with white

people. These schools were “catastrophically inadequate” schools with little educational

resources, low-paid teachers, and terrible school buildings (Moye, 45). The Sunflower County

school district only provided 2 busses to transport the African American students to school,

making it extremely difficult for them to attend.

In May of 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in the ​Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

case that segregated schools were unconstitutional because they did not provide equal

opportunities. As a result, Governor Hugh White of Mississippi established a plan to prove it

otherwise. White’s equalization plan would increase African American school funding and also

would increase the salary for African American teachers. This was his way of adjusting the

segregated school systems to look more equal in instruction and opportunity. Although the plan

looked like a way to improve the education of black people, it was not the true motive. Instead,

the true reason for this was because it was “in their own interest” to provide seemingly equal

school districts for whites and blacks (Moye, 41). By doing so, whites would be able to keep

their segregated institutions.

The decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was significant to the changes in

Sunflower County that would come in future years. Immediately after the decision, the African

American population of Mississippi stood together to fight for racial democracy. The Supreme

Court decision gave black people the momentum “needed to step out and challenge segregation”

(Moye, 75). When Governor White proposed his equalization plan, the ninety African Americans

specifically chosen to vote for the plan actually voted against it. They realized that the white
people would be the ones to truly benefit from the segregated school systems. Instead of

allowing whites to continue segregation, they exposed “ one of the central myths of Mississippi”

that black people accepted their inferiority and were happy with their socioeconomic status in

society (Moye, 76).

African Americans in Sunflower County continued to fight for racial equality up until the

1980’s. During the Summer of 1964, African American civil rights activists devoted their time to

expand voting rights to blacks. The Freedom Summer consisted of many different movements

and protests to achieve equality for African Americans. One of the most significant legacies of

the Freedom Summer was the creation of Freedom Schools. These schools were established to

teach “a new system of values” that was completely different from the “white supremacist

system” that only taught how to survive and live in Mississippi (Moye, 122). Freedom Schools

allowed for African Americans to receive a proper education that would allow them to question

the lifestyle of Mississippi. African Americans were now beginning to see just how unfair

segregation systems were and how the schools were originally designed to keep black students

“separate, ignorant, and afraid” (Moye, 124).

African Americans were finally receiving proper education, however they were still

segregated in schools. The Supreme Court declared segregated school systems unconstitutional

in 1955. This ruling to end segregation had no effect on Sunflower County. Black people still

struggled for racial democracy in schools until 1970, when it was ruled that Sunflower County

“could no longer operate a dual school system” (Moye, 177). As a result, Sunflower County

schools were open for integration, but white students dropped out and attended a private school

that was established to preserve “racial solidarity” in school districts. African Americans were
now allowed to attend the public schools and officially integrate, but the white population of

Sunflower County now sent their children to private schools from prevent them from interacting

with the African American students.

The biggest struggle for equality for African Americans came to light when the

superintendent of the school's, D.B. Floyd, retired. The public schools in 1980, consisted of

mainly black students. The white students all attended private schools at this point in time.The

election process of a new superintendent of Sunflower County schools was the “culmination of

the struggle for black equality” (Moye, 196). This was a turning point in the fight for racial

democracy in Mississippi. African Americans protested the efforts of the school board to

“restrict the candidacy” of Robert Merritt (Moye, 179). They held a boycott that destroyed local

businesses. They demanded equal and fair treatment in schools and through means of peaceful

protests they achieved equality in the school.

African Americans struggled for freedom in all aspects of life from 1950s throughout the

1980s. Education systems served as a battlefield for equality. Integration of schools was

achieved through the efforts of African Americans during this time period.