Various forms of violence and intimidation became common. Bombings,
beatings, and murders increased sharply all across the
South. Outspoken proponents of desegregation were harassed in
other ways as well. They lost their jobs, their banks called in
their mortgages, and creditors of all kinds came to collect their
debts.
In 1955 the Supreme Court declared that its desegregation
decision should be carried out "with all deliberate speed."
Southern school districts, however, became experts in tactics of
avoiding or delaying compliance. It began to appear that each
school board would have to be compelled to admit each individual
Negro student. Even then, some officials said that they would never
comply. They persisted in arguing that the Court had overstepped
its constitutional functions. Again, the constitutional question
of federal vs. state authority had come to a head just as it had
a century earlier.
In 1957, the governor of Arkansas openly opposed a court
decision ordering the integration of the Central High
School in Little Rock. When federal marshals were sent to
carry out the order, Little Rock citizens were in no mood to
stand idly by and watch.
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