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Statement of Virgil Blossom regarding Daisy Bates and the integration of Central High School in 1957. - 2 - were Mrs. Bates, J.C. Crenshaw, Harry Ashmore, Mrs. Ashmore, Fred Darragh, Jackie Shropshire and Thad Williams. The Secretary of the Human Relations Group was fired by Hendrix College after he became the Secretary of that Group. He is a white mn and ultra liberal. I would say that the meeting was held in July, 1955, at four o'clock in the afternoon and we staryed until after six o'clock. I explained the Plan, showed them the maps, went over it, and they sat there and questioned Mr. Ashmore as to whether he thought the lines were honestly drawn for creating the attendance areas. They want complete integration immediately. That is the only plan they have. NAACP has not been brought in and I have asked why they changed from the 1963 goal. They had a 1963 goal set up in Atlanta, Georgia. They published it, and Mrs. Bates had been to that meeting where the goal was set. They had athe meeting just prior to the meeting we are talking about. Mrs. Bates was just back from that meeting. I asked her about that and, as I recall, she didn't give me any satisfactory answer; that Little Rock was a situation of its own. That was published nationally as a result of this Atlanta convention. Mr. Ashmore said he could see nothing wrong with the lines. He didn't see how we could...

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Land of (Unequal) Opportunity

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University of Arkansas