____The change against segregated schools did not come without a fight. _Southern activists and politicians resisted the move and did much to stop integration from invading their states. _In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was forced to send National Guard troops to Little Rock High School to protect the first entering black students. _The battle was long and hard, but progress finally came. _To this day efforts continue across the country to realize the dream of the NAACP and the families in the orginal Brown case. The monument decision of the Supreme Court at 12:52 p.m. on May 17, 1954, altered the economic, political and social structure of this nation. _Brown v. Board of Education helped change America forever.

Fire hoses batter young black students against a wall in Birmingham, Alabama. It was here that many of the first real gains were made in civil rights.

We Shall Overcome (979 KB .wav)