Blowout: A Community’s Engagement with Fracking

Items

• Dallas Express 1956-09-08
  This article, also found as a small piece in a larger discussion of integration, discussed the events in Mansfield in conjunction with integration statewide. It focused on Governor Shivers’ actions, as well as the mob. It followed up with accusations that liberal whites were condoning this behavior by not speaking out against the actions taken by the Governor and the mob.
• Dallas Express 1956-09-08
  This article brought Mansfield into the national conversation on integration. It mentioned integration issues at Clinton, TN, Mansfield, Dallas, and Houston, TX, and Birmingham, AL.
• The Dallas Express 1956-09-08
  This small portion was mixed into a larger piece on the struggle for integration in the country. It focused on Governor Shivers’ actions in regards to Mansfield. It also stated that he broke the law in defying the order from a federal judge.
• The Dallas Express 1956-09-15
  This article was written nearly two weeks after the Mansfield Crisis. It approached the events in a moralistic tone, describing the actions by whites as contradictory to the Christian beliefs in which they held. Using quotes from the Bible, it displayed the conflict between the actions of the white Texans (from the mob to Governor Shivers) and the ideas behind Christianity. It finished the article with a condemnation of the Dallas News Editorial Department and their attempts to describe the events at Mansfield as not against the law.
• The Dallas Express 1956-09-15
  This article ran on the same day in the Dallas Express and the Houston Informer. Both were front page news articles. It described an interview given by Floyd Moody denying quotes that were attributed to him in some white newspapers. It also stressed why he and his family wanted to go to school in Mansfield.
• The Dallas Express 1956-09-08
  This article, surrounding the Mansfield Crisis, was began on the bottom of the front page. It gave a general description of the mob and their actions, but went into greater detail surrounding L. Clifford Davis’ actions. It also gave a reason why he appealed to Governor Shivers instead of utilizing the courts and Judge Estes. It finished with a focus on the black citizens of Mansfield; why the parents wanted their children to go to school in Mansfield as well as a small portion about Floyd Moody.
• The Dallas Express 1956-09-08
  This article was a headline the weekend following the Mansfield Crisis. While Mansfield was mentioned on the same page, the violence surrounding the Lloyd G. Austin in Fort Worth, as well as his refusal to submit to a violent mob, was attention grabbing.
• The Dallas Express 1956-09-01
  This editorial did not directly mention Mansfield and the events that unfolded there, but it gave insight into how some blacks viewed the integration battle, as a battle between the state and the nation. Referencing slavery and the secession of the southern states, this article correlated the struggle for integration with the Civil War. It showed that the black community understood that a show of power from the federal government was what it would take for white segregationist to finally integrate.
• The Dallas Express 1956-09-01
  This cartoon gave the representation of the frustration of blacks in regards to integration. It pointed out white segregationists’ hypocrisy in not following the Supreme Court’s order in Brown v. Board of Education.
• Dallas Express 1956-09-01
  This article, placed on the front page of the paper during the weekend of the Mansfield Crisis, gave an idea of the atmosphere in the area in regards to racial tension. While these actions took place in Fort Worth, they took place right before the events surrounding Lloyd G. Austin’s family moving into the all-white neighborhood. The last sentence of the small article is interesting given what was unfolding in the area with integration.
• Dallas Express 1956-08-25
  This article was the written before the events at Mansfield even began to unfold. It showed the belief by some NAACP officials that Texans would follow the rule of democracy in desegregation, and that it would lead the South by example.
• The Mansfield News "Segregation Meet Tonight"
  An organization known as the Webb Community Club was established by the Mansfield Citizens Council. This organization was established to keep segreation, and organize the people in the community that wanted segregation as well. Thomas B. West was placed as the temporary Chairmen of the organization. He urged everyone that wanted segregation to attend the meeting. Approximately 125 people both men and women of Mansfield attended. Albert North the club president spoke about the possible integration in light of the recent Supreme Court decision. Both African Americans and white citizens knew the integration of the schools would not resolve the racial issues.
• The Mansfield News-Mirror "Negro Students Enroll for Fall Term Here"
  Threatened with the loss of federal funding the Mansfield school board announced the district would integrate in the Fall of 1965. Approxmently 40 African American students enrolled for Fall classes as juniors and seniors. Mansfield School District also integrated still was for the most part segregated. The district claimed full enrollment of K-12 would overwhelm the district especially the elementary school. Therefore, the district offered two solutions: 1) build a new school but cannot afford it until 1966 so that would postpone full integration for another year. Or 2) reduce zoning districts and allow white students in the area of the colored elementary school to attend therefore integrating the colored school. Both were rejected by the federal government leaving the district to fully integrate.
• The Mansfield News Editorial "Truth Has No Substitute"
  On September 6, 1956 an article came out titled "The Truth Has No Substitute." The article says that the students were not the instigators they were being used as a tool for promotion. The African American children would be the ones humiliated. The article gives an overview of why Mansfield is the test case of Civil Rights and the integration movement.
• The Mansfield News "125 Men and Women Here Voice Unanimous Sentiments"
  On October 27, 1955 an article titled "125 Men And Women Here Voice Unanimous Sentiments" came out. 125 citizens of Mansfield School District voted unanimously at the Memorial Hall to oppose integration. The people of Mansfield gathered to oppose integration and gave their own opinions of why they should not integrate. There are opinions in the article from both sides, those who opposed and from those who were for integration.
• The Mansfield News Editorial "Keep It Above Reproach"
  On November 10,1955 an Editorial called "Keep It Above Reproach" came out giving an overview of what was going on in Mansfield. This editorial reflected the tension and overall problems in not just Mansfield, but also in society at the time. This article foreshadows what is to come in Mansfield and how it should be handled.
• The Mansfield News "Segregation Appeal Not Filed Thursday"
  On November 10, 1955 an article in the Mansfield News came out titled "Segregation Appeal Not Filed Thursday." In the article the court order came from Joe E. Estes, denying three African Americans in to Mansfield High school. Around fifty men, women, and high school students from Mansfield gathered to hear the suit filed on the grounds that African Americans had to travel unfair distances to get to school.
• La Prensa, September 1, 1956
  An article from the Spanish newspaper dated September 1, 1956 described reactions across the country of the Supreme Court decision to desegregate public schools. The article described the gathering at Mansfield High School and verbal exchanges that took place between the protesters and the sheriff around escorting students to the school. No registration escorts occurred that day and African American students returned to I. M. Terrell High School for the 1956 school year. The article also mentioned the three arrests that occurred during integration at Clinton, Tennessee the same year.
• "Mansfield Board Gives Plan for Integration of Schools," Mansfield News-Mirror, August 19, 1965
  In 1965 the Mansfield school board, in compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, approved a plan to allow all students in the junior and senior high schools to attend regardless of “race, color, or national origin.” It was the first year of integration in the small community and uneventful compared to reactions in 1956 when a federal court ordered the school district to desegregate. In 1965 the school provided bus transportation on an “equal basis” for all students, which differed from previous years when African American students rode a Trailways bus to Fort Worth and then walked to the I.M. Terrell High School.
• Mansfield News 1956 letter from reader
  The letter from a reader is an opinion consistent with the time period when many Texans thought the Supreme Court in ruling on integration overstepped its bounds with regard to states’ rights. In 1956 more Texans opposed integration than at the time of the unanimous court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 (see footnote below). The letter writer also referenced the ‘influence of a communist plot.” Many within the state held a view that the communists influenced both the Supreme Court and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In late 1955 the chairman of the Associated Citizens’ Council of Texas asked Texas Attorney General John Ben Shepperd to investigate the “communist influences” of the NAACP (see footnote below). Bibliography: Robyn Duff Ladino, Desegregating Texas Schools: Eisenhower, Shivers, and the Crisis at Mansfield High (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996), 40, 46, 41
• New York Times coverage of integration crisis in Mansfield
  An article published in the New York Times dated September 1, 1956 outlines details of the integration crisis that occurred in Mansfield Texas. Reactions to desegregation efforts varied throughout America and even within the state. Some school districts in Texas complied with the mandatory court order, while events such as the scene that transpired in Mansfield reflected a rallying cry to maintain segregation. Governor Shivers sent Texas Rangers to the scene with instructions to “arrest anyone, white or colored” in an effort to maintain peace. Although verbal assaults occurred, no individuals were arrested and the segregationists kept African American students from registering for school that year.
• Texas Observer coverage of Mansfield desegregation crisis
  The article detailed events that occurred on the school grounds in Mansfield, Texas in 1956. Opposition gathered to protest a federal court order that mandated immediate school integration. Outlined in the article were several verbalized responses and actions by the angry crowd, reactions by district officials, and Governor Shivers’ view of the situation. Nine years would pass before the school district officially integrated in 1965.
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram September 1, 1956 coverage of MISD desegregation events
  The front page of the Star-Telegram, dated September 1, 1956, chronicled the attempts by the Mansfield Independent School District to seek a delay on the court ordered integration. Pictured to the left page of the article was J. A. Gooch, the attorney for the school district. Also captured were images of Assistant District Attorney Grady Hight and the mob scene as hundreds gathered at the school the day prior to protest the federally mandated decree. Governor Shivers also sent Texas Rangers to aid local officers and maintain control during the school enrollment period.
• "A Breach of Trust" Texas Observer editorial, September 5, 1956
  An editorial protested Governor Allan Shivers’ response and handling of the Mansfield, Texas school integration crisis. Community citizens and outsiders gathered on August 30-31, 1956 in an effort to prevent African American students from registering at the high school. Governor Shivers sent the Texas Rangers to the scene to maintain order, although some believed it was directive to ensure segregation remained intact within the state.
• Ft. Worth Star Telegram 1956-09-06
  Continued coverage of the mob at Mansfield and offers a picture of the effigy hanging above the front doors of the high school.