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August 30th, 1961: Atlanta Public Schools Desegregate
(2009-08-31)
ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - If we were to turn back Atlanta's clock to August 30th, 1961, we'd find our city on edge about its public schools. In 1954, the Supreme Court had ruled against segregated schools in Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka; in 1958, a number of black parents had challenged Atlanta's segregated school system in federal court. And, even though Ernest Vandiver ran for governor vowing to preserve segregation, as Georgia State University historian Cliff Kuhn explains to WABE's Steve Goss, the mood in Atlanta by the late 50s was changing. © Copyright 2009, WABE