Remember The Titans

Dr. Darius Swann, professor of theology, was upset. He wanted his son James to attend the nearby predominately white school, not the predominately black school located miles away. After all, the United States Supreme Court had ruled America's "separate but equal" treatment of African-Americans was unconstitutional.

More than a decade had passed since 1955, when Justice Felix Frankfurter (shown in this National Archives photo with Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR, Jr.) struggled to find the right words in Brown v Board of Education II: Integrate schools "with all deliberate speed".

By 1971 (the turbulent year of anti-war protests, the "Pentagon Papers," and more American deaths in Vietnam), public schools had not integrated "with all deliberate speed."  That, however, was about to change.

The case Dr. Swann had filed, to protect his son's rights against a North Carolina Board of Education, would redefine Justice Frankfurter's words. And ... the result of the case would add more turmoil to a country already swirling in political unrest.

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.