1958
Rather than comply with federal desegregation orders in fall 1958, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus closes all four Little Rock public high schools for the entire 1958-59 school year. 3,665 students — Black and white — lose a year of education. Some white students attend private segregation academies; Black students have virtually no options. The closure, called the 'Lost Year,' demonstrates the lengths to which segregationists would go to deny Black children equal education.
On June 30, 1958, the Supreme Court unanimously rules in NAACP v. Alabama that Alabama cannot compel the NAACP to disclose its membership lists. Alabama had demanded the lists and held the NAACP in contempt for refusing, knowing that disclosure would expose members to economic retaliation and violence. The Court rules that freedom of association is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Despite the ruling, Alabama continues to bar the NAACP through procedural maneuvers until 1964.
Zoom in — months
Key events
- September 12, 1958Governor Faubus Closes Little Rock Schools Rather Than Desegregate
Rather than comply with federal desegregation orders in fall 1958, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus closes all four Little Rock public high schools for the entire 1958-59 school year. 3,665 students — Black and white — lose a year of education. Some white students attend private segregation academies; Black students have virtually no options. The closure, called the 'Lost Year,' demonstrates the lengths to which segregationists would go to deny Black children equal education.
- January 1958The Kissing Case: Two Black Boys Aged 7 and 9 Imprisoned for Kissing White Girl
In Monroe, North Carolina in October 1958, Hanover Thompson (9) and David 'Fuzzy' Simpson (7) are playing a kissing game with white children when Hanover kisses a white girl. Both Black boys are arrested for 'assault on a female,' handcuffed, jailed, and held without bail. A judge sentences them to reform school until age 21. Their mothers are told they have no rights. Robert F. Williams and the Monroe NAACP launch an international campaign. After protests from Europe and threats to U.S. Cold War image, the boys are released after several months.
- June 30, 1958NAACP v. Alabama: Supreme Court Protects Freedom of Association
On June 30, 1958, the Supreme Court unanimously rules in NAACP v. Alabama that Alabama cannot compel the NAACP to disclose its membership lists. Alabama had demanded the lists and held the NAACP in contempt for refusing, knowing that disclosure would expose members to economic retaliation and violence. The Court rules that freedom of association is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Despite the ruling, Alabama continues to bar the NAACP through procedural maneuvers until 1964.
- June 30, 1958NAACP v. Alabama: Supreme Court Protects Freedom of Association
On June 30, 1958, the Supreme Court unanimously rules in NAACP v. Alabama that Alabama cannot compel the NAACP to disclose its membership lists. Alabama had demanded the lists and held the NAACP in contempt for refusing, knowing that disclosure would expose members to economic retaliation and violence. The Court rules that freedom of association is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Despite the ruling, Alabama continues to bar the NAACP through procedural maneuvers until 1964.