Argument Against Segregation Essay
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, southerners struggled with the inevitable confrontation of segregation. Living in the Jim Crow era, blacks grappled to gain the rights denied to them through Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), “which gave legal sanction to “separate but equal”.” On the other hand, white southerners wrestled to maintain the white supremacy that the Plessy case allowed them to exercise. One of the largest areas of tension for the maintenance of segregation existed in education. After Plessy, many blacks and civil rights activists fought to achieve truly equal but separate education for all blacks. Blacks were usually granted schools in poverous areas with minimal resources, as opposed to whites who were granted clean and prosperous
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This would allow many white southerners to increase the prevalence of white supremacy at every chance they could. Initially, in order to resist integration during Ward’s case, UGA administrators added more requirements to the application; for instance getting vouchers of moral character from UGA alumni, which proved to not only be difficult for black students but for white eventually. After accomplishing these requirements Holmes and Hunter were still given roundabout treatment by UGA administrators in order to possibly bypass their original interest in applying. After delaying the application review process for Holmes and Hunter, the administrators of UGA rejected the applicants with Chancellor Caldwell claiming that it was the only “possible decision under state law.” This claim proved true as Georgia state law included a mandate to keep public institutions segregated unless they wanted to run the risk of having funds cut off. The first line of defense for UGA administrators to deter Holmes and Hunter was to offer them funds to attend an out of state university. Holmes and Hunter stood their ground as UGA was one of the only GA institutions with ample educational opportunities that Holmes and Hunter were searching for in their academic pursuits of Medicine and Journalism respectively. Many segregationist also claimed that the rejection of blacks into UGA was in the best interest of all people involved as Georgia was simply not ready to
This would allow many white southerners to increase the prevalence of white supremacy at every chance they could. Initially, in order to resist integration during Ward’s case, UGA administrators added more requirements to the application; for instance getting vouchers of moral character from UGA alumni, which proved to not only be difficult for black students but for white eventually. After accomplishing these requirements Holmes and Hunter were still given roundabout treatment by UGA administrators in order to possibly bypass their original interest in applying. After delaying the application review process for Holmes and Hunter, the administrators of UGA rejected the applicants with Chancellor Caldwell claiming that it was the only “possible decision under state law.” This claim proved true as Georgia state law included a mandate to keep public institutions segregated unless they wanted to run the risk of having funds cut off. The first line of defense for UGA administrators to deter Holmes and Hunter was to offer them funds to attend an out of state university. Holmes and Hunter stood their ground as UGA was one of the only GA institutions with ample educational opportunities that Holmes and Hunter were searching for in their academic pursuits of Medicine and Journalism respectively. Many segregationist also claimed that the rejection of blacks into UGA was in the best interest of all people involved as Georgia was simply not ready to