Answer:
The federal government and southern states had very different approaches to school desegregation in the 1960s. The federal government took a proactive approach, using its power to enforce the law to ensure that schools were desegregated. Southern states, on the other hand, were largely resistant to desegregation, and many used a variety of tactics to try to prevent it.
The federal government's approach to school desegregation was based on the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional. In the years following Brown, the federal government took a number of steps to enforce the decision, including:
- Suing school districts that were not desegregating. The federal government filed lawsuits against school districts that were not in compliance with Brown. These lawsuits often led to court orders requiring districts to desegregate.
- Providing financial assistance to school districts that were desegregating. The federal government provided financial assistance to school districts that were desegregating, to help them cover the costs of integration.
- Sending federal troops to enforce court orders. In some cases, the federal government sent federal troops to enforce court orders to desegregate schools. This happened most notably in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
Southern states, on the other hand, were largely resistant to school desegregation. Many southern states passed laws that made it difficult or impossible to desegregate schools. For example, some states passed laws that required schools to be segregated by race or that allowed parents to send their children to private schools instead of public schools.
In addition to passing laws, some southern states also used violence and intimidation to try to prevent school desegregation. For example, in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, Governor Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from enrolling at Central High School. President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually had to send federal troops to Little Rock to enforce the court order to desegregate the school.
The federal government's approach to school desegregation was ultimately successful, and by the end of the 1960s, most schools in the United States were desegregated. However, the resistance of southern states to desegregation had a lasting impact on race relations in the United States.