March! The Fight for Civil Rights in a Land of Fear

In 1929, the white citizens of Nacogdoches, Texas drove their African-American neighbors into a ghetto at the edge of town. The aftereffects of this event haunted the community for more than four decades. As the civil rights movement swept the country, Nacogdoches remained largely untouched. The first major challenge to segregation in Nacogdoches came in 1968 when students from Stephen F. Austin State University began marching for desegregation. In May of 1970, the student campaign culminated with the appearance of an armed white mob prepared to shoot student demonstrators. In the days and years after the May riot an alliance of students, African-Americans and organized labor succeeded in a campaign of litigation bringing the leaders of Nacogdoches to task in Federal Court.