Desegregation
In public schools and city swimming pools, on the basketball courts and in courts of law, it took men, women and children of all ages to achieve equality. Hear the stories of four brave Black girls in New Orleans, surrounded by federal marshals, who desegregated the first public schools in Louisiana. Learn about four college students who made Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (later renamed University of Louisiana at Lafayette) — one of the first previously all-white, state-supported Colleges in the South — peacefully desegregate.
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University Desegregation
McNeese and Nicholls desegregated in 1955 and 1963, while Northeast Louisiana State College followed in 1964, marking progress in Louisiana's university desegregation.
New Orleans Public Schools
While students desegregating Louisiana schools didn’t face the same violence experienced by those in other southern states, their bravery was inspiring.
St. Augustine High School
Under Father Robert Grant, St. Augustine High School led the way in desegregating high school athletics in Louisiana.
University of Lafayette
The Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, was the first undergraduate institution in the South to peacefully integrate...
Baton Rouge School Board
The fight to desegregate schools was among the most critical parts of the Civil Rights Movement. In Baton Rouge, a landmark legal case not only forwarded school integration but saw the district’s school board integrated as well.
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