Description

Statement of Virgil Blossom regarding Daisy Bates and the integration of Central High School in 1957. Then the next question that was discussed there that day was the question of the possible legality of our Plan in line with the Constitution. They turned to Shropshire and Williams and asked what their opinion was and their answer was almost verbatim that "We don't like the Plan, but they can get more than the time they are asking." Mrs. Bates has personal hostility because I will not integrate immediately. I have been very frank with our teachers When we opened school the next hear I explained this Plan on the first day of our pre-school con- ference, the second or third of September, 1954. I took our lines - our Plan - and went over it with every member of the Little Rock public shool staff. The morning of that opening conference I explained it to the white teachers. That afternoon I went to the Gibbs School and explained it to the colored teachers and that is wher I think I incurred the wrath of Mrs. Bates. Mrs. Bates sat in the back of the room on an uninvited status, so Mrs. Bates from the State Press and Mr. Jones, the Editor of the Southern Mediator Journal, were both back there. When we got to the question of integration, I said, "I am going to tell you the facts of life, waht you need to know, not what you want to hear...

From Collection

Land of (Unequal) Opportunity

Record Contributed By

University of Arkansas