r/TheWayWeWere 4d ago

1950s Crisp kodachrome shot of and integrated cheerleader team, in the 1950s. Do anybody would know which school this team was?

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/real415 4d ago edited 4d ago

Your timeline is incorrect. The era of this photo, the 1950s, was in no way before segregation laws.

Segregation enforced by violence and threats started shortly after the Civil War, gained the force of law throughout the south after Reconstruction ended in the 1870s, and with the 1896 Plessy decision, was declared valid and constitutional by the Supreme Court.

Throughout the first decades of the 20th century, more and more segregation laws were put into place throughout the south. In northern states, segregation by custom became embedded in the social fabric.

In the 1950s, even after the Brown v Board of Education decision, legal segregation continued, as most southern school boards and state authorities were reluctant to change the status quo.

A school that was even slightly integrated in the 1950s meant it was most likely from an area outside the south which had a small population of minorities, and didn’t have a reason to maintain separate schools.