Desegregating Ramsay School

After the 1954 Brown decision, many African Americans continued pressing for equal education in Birmingham. Despite angry threats of violence and intense economic pressure, some of the first African American families enrolled their children in better-funded, better-equipped, all-White public schools, opening the way for other Black parents seeking the best education possible for their children. Yet most parents who tried to enroll their children in White schools between 1963 and 1966 were still denied. In Birmingham, integrated public schools did not become the norm until more lawsuits and federal court orders, extending as late as the 1970s. On September 11, 1963, Alabama state troopers sent by Gov. George Wallace guarded the door to stop Richard Walker and his family in their first attempt to integrate Ramsay High School. He later returned with his parents and a court order and was admitted. During his two years at Ramsay, Walker lived in relative isolation from his White classmates, sitting in the same seat in each class and eating alone at the same cafeteria table, while White students who tried talking with him at lunch were later suspended by officials. Like other Black families with children in formerly all-White schools, the Walker family also faced threats from anti-integration bombers, and community protectors from local civil rights organizations guarded their home.

Birmingham, Alabama · United States