Women Activists in the Fight for Georgia School Desegregation, 1958-1961

On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Georgia General Assembly enacted a series of massive anti-desegregation laws to stand in opposition to the federal mandate for desegregation. In further support of the anti-desegregation movement, Governor Ernest Vandiver was elected with an overwhelming majority after promising to close every school if even
one Negro
entered a white classroom. While the fight for segregated schools was certainly strong, a small group of women in Atlanta’s white community played a radical role in bringing peaceful desegregation to the Georgia school system.This book tells the story of HOPE (Help Our Public Education), beginning with the origins of the grassroots organization in a small neighborhood coffee chat. Through their mail and meeting campaigns across the state, the women of HOPE changed the school crisis from politics-as-usual to public controversy, fighting dramatically to keep schools open and comply with the court order for desegregation. Based on factual material found in library special collections, books, newspapers, transcripts, symposiums, and several interviews, this book honors and tells the story of a small group of courageous, hardworking women credited with creating a public climate in which peaceful desegregation was possible.