August 13, 1955

Two representatives of the Little Rock (Pulaski County) chapter of White America attended a segregationist rally in Hoxie (Lawrence County), at which a petition requesting the resignation of all five of the school board members was signed by more than 1,000 people. The board members did not resign. During the summer and autumn of 1955, proponents and opponents of school integration across America were watching what the New York Times called “a battle in a test tube” at Hoxie, a small community in northeastern Arkansas. The New York Times‘s articles turned the isolated rural town into a focal point for the nation. While not the earliest instance of desegregation in the state, Hoxie’s attempt was the first to be met with active resistance.

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