The Superintendent and Desegregation
to the
A.A.U.W.
Raleigh, North Carolina
May 21t 1955
Madam President, Guests. and Members of the American Association of
University Women:
There is before the United States Supreme Court at this moment
the most stupendous question of our day and generation. The decision of the
Court and the reaction to that decision will affect public education, societyfs
greatest and most important public service, for wield or woe for generations
to come*
I come with great trepidation to speak to you upon this question.
I look with even greater trepidation to the discharge of.my duty as a school
administrator in the days that lie ahead*
1 come not to impose upon you a solution, rather to ask help for
the schools and school men in a problem that is peculiarly theirs* /^^j^C^ ")
Because you are women, and because you are University women* you
will have an insight into this question, and bring to bear upon it a degree of
sanity that will help the schools to stem the tide* and help school men to solve
the problems with which they are confronted.
On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court fe¥ua¥irecf a decision
saying that segregation if pupils in the public schools solely upon the basis of
race is a violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment
to the Constitution of the United States, and is therefore invalid and unlawful.
Some have expected that with the rendering of such decision the
millennium would arrive, and that all of the problems between the races and all
of the difficulties of the Negro race would be at an end. Others have expected
Benjamin Lee Smith was born February 6, 1893 in, Caldwell County, N.C. He received his A.B. from Duke University in 1916, and his M.A. from Duke in 1937. He served as superintendent of schools in the western North Carolina cities of Forest City, Rutherford-Spindale, and Shelby before assuming the same position in Greensboro, N.C., in 1935. His twenty-three year tenure in Greensboro included the years immediately following the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision ordering desegregation of public schools. In 1959, he participated in the National Civil Rights hearing on school integration. Smith died in 1961. Ben L. Smith High School in Greensboro is named for him.
Subject headings
Segregation in education--United States;Race relations
Topics
School desegregation, 1954-1958
Place
Greensboro (N.C.)
Description
This speech by Greensboro school superintendent, Benjamin L. Smith, was given to the American Association of University Women in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 21, 1955, and presents Smith's position on school desegregation. Smith admits that desegregation will be difficult for the South, briefly describes the history of the South, and explores how African Americans will be responsive to the change. Smith continues by sharing instances of integration, and argues that because the Supreme Court mandated desegregation with Brown v. Board of Education, it needs to be implemented.
Type
text
Original format
speeches
Original dimensions
8.5" x 11"
Original publisher
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Language
en
Contributing institution
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
COPYRIGHT NOT EVALUATED. The copyright status of this item has not been fully evaluated and may vary for different parts of the item. The user is responsible for determining actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
Object ID
Duke_RL.01210.1001
Digital publisher
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5305 -- http://library.uncg.edu/
The Superintendent and Desegregation
to the
A.A.U.W.
Raleigh, North Carolina
May 21t 1955
Madam President, Guests. and Members of the American Association of
University Women:
There is before the United States Supreme Court at this moment
the most stupendous question of our day and generation. The decision of the
Court and the reaction to that decision will affect public education, societyfs
greatest and most important public service, for wield or woe for generations
to come*
I come with great trepidation to speak to you upon this question.
I look with even greater trepidation to the discharge of.my duty as a school
administrator in the days that lie ahead*
1 come not to impose upon you a solution, rather to ask help for
the schools and school men in a problem that is peculiarly theirs* /^^j^C^ ")
Because you are women, and because you are University women* you
will have an insight into this question, and bring to bear upon it a degree of
sanity that will help the schools to stem the tide* and help school men to solve
the problems with which they are confronted.
On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court fe¥ua¥irecf a decision
saying that segregation if pupils in the public schools solely upon the basis of
race is a violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment
to the Constitution of the United States, and is therefore invalid and unlawful.
Some have expected that with the rendering of such decision the
millennium would arrive, and that all of the problems between the races and all
of the difficulties of the Negro race would be at an end. Others have expected
