The Children Who Desegregated America’s Schools
A special project from The Atlantic
The Firsts
The children who desegregated America
Information
This work was commissioned, produced, and edited by The Atlantic's editorial staff. Support for this work was provided in part by the organizations listed here.
This project is supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The New York Town That Tried to Stop Desegregation
Frederick K. Brewington’s education came at the end of a bitter civil-rights battle that engulfed New York State, more than a decade after Brown v. Board of Education.
The Persistence of Segregation in South Carolina
Millicent Brown changed Charleston, then watched it stay the same.
The Quiet Desegregation of Alabama’s Public Schools
Sonnie Hereford IV desegregated Alabama’s public schools in 1963. He was only 6 years old.
The Undoing of a Tennessee Town
Jo Ann Allen Boyce and 11 other students desegregated their high school in Clinton, Tennessee. Then the riots came.
The Limits of Desegregation in Washington, D.C.
Hugh Price and his family fought for him to be one of the first Black students at his all-white high school in Washington, D.C. But once he was there, he “couldn’t wait for it to be over.”