From the Archives: Raleigh, NC (1954)

Shortly after the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, North Carolina governor William B. Umstead established a Special Advisory Committee on Education to explore the ruling and to devise a plan of response to the call for school desegregation. However, Governor Umstead would never know the committee’s findings; he passed away on November 7, 1954. When Lieutenant Governor Luther H. Hodges assumed the office, he encouraged the committee to continue their work. On December 30, 1954, the committee, chaired by Rocky Mount native Thomas J. Pearsall, submitted their report to the governor. The Pearsall Committee unanimously recommended that “the mixing of the races forthwith in the public schools throughout the state cannot be accomplished and should not be attempted.”

* Image courtesy of the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library