Mansfield Acknowleding Painful Past
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MANSFIELD (CBS11) - In Mansfield Tuesday night, a public acknowledgement of a painful portion of the city's past -- regarding an ugly backlash against integration, that many would rather forget.
Sixty years ago today, black students attempting to integrate Mansfield High School were turned away.
A crowd of angry whites hanged blacks in effigy at the school house doors and from nearby trees. The Mayor and Police Chief called in the Texas Rangers. The community was determined to defy the federal order to desegregate.
Pastor F.S. Moody, Sr. was one of those students, and recalls a meeting with one of the school leaders.
"He said, 'you people… you are not going to enroll in this school'. Seems to me the words were 'it will never happen'."
But, never is a long, long time. Although Moody, then 17, did not attend Mansfield High. Ten years later, the schools peacefully integrated and his younger brother would become of the first graduates.
Today, Pastor Moody and others who shouldered the burden of change were honored at a midday ceremony at the Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Moody, now 77, insists that he wasn't looking to make history. He was just obeying his parents. They were the real heroes, he says.
"I don't know if I could do it with my child—or my grandchildren," said Moody, "because I know what can happen when people don't want you—when hatred is ruling."
But, community leaders say the courage of those six decades ago kept hatred from having the last word. Now, Mansfield schools are a diverse picture of the community.
"My prayer is—those people—if they're living today, their hearts have been changed to see that there was no danger in black folks going to school with whites. No danger."
Still, Pastor Moody acknowledges that laws can only change so much.
"I'm thankful to the Lord for the changing of hearts, even if it was a surface thing. Whatever it was, changes were made… and I'm grateful."
A temporary exhibit is now on display chronicling the integration battle at the Mansfield Historical Museum and Heritage Center in downtown Mansfield.
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