The Crisis at Mansfield

This article gives the reader the insight to the federal response to integration. As President Eisenhower pleads for moderation in the segregation “dispute”, he informs the nation that he will not intervene unless a state or local government cannot “maintain order”. Even after being informed of Governor Shivers open defiance of the integration order, he evades the question of action by stating he has no knowledge of what was said or done, but has asked for a full report on the court case involving Mansfield.

This article brings the Mansfield Crisis into focus with other segregation issues around the state as well as locally to Amarillo. While discussing racial problems in Alvarado, a town near Amarillo, the article also keeps the reader updated on the racial problems in Fort Worth, especially with Lloyd G. Austin and the violence surrounding his decision to stay in a previously all-white neighborhood. It also makes it apparent that the same priest, Rev. C. W. Clark, showed up in both Fort Worth and Mansfield to speak to the crowds assembled. The Mansfield mob, less inclined to hear him, caused him to be “rescued” by a Ranger. Also, as the school board lost its final appeal to the Supreme Court, a Mansfield business owner claimed to have a statement from the 12 black students that said they had no intention of attending Mansfield High School for the current year.