[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 126 (Thursday, October 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S10694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         COMMEMORATING THE INTEGRATION OF HOXIE SCHOOL DISTRICT

 Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, it has been 50 years since the 
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1954 landmark decision of Brown v. 
Board of Education that separate was not equal when it came to our 
children's education. That ruling changed the way that Americans are 
educated and opened up countless opportunities for all children, both 
black and white, to learn about and from one another.
  Hoxie, AR, is a small town in the northeast corner of my state, with 
a population of just about 3,000 people. Prior to 1954, like many other 
schools in Arkansas and across the South, the Hoxie School District was 
segregated. To get an education, black children had to travel thirty 
minutes by bus to the neighboring town of Jonesboro where they attended 
Booker T. Washington School with other black students from around the 
region.
  Following Brown, the Hoxie School Board unanimously voted to become 
one of the first schools in the South to begin integration. In the fall 
of 1955, Hoxie School Board members, faculty, students, and citizens 
stood together with 21 black children who enrolled and became the first 
black students to attend the Hoxie School system. This courageous step, 
in the face of opposition from around the state and across the Nation, 
helped open doors for future generations of students in Arkansas.
  I recently had the honor of attending a reunion for the Hoxie Twenty-
One, as they have come to be known in Arkansas. It was a wonderful 
event in which the community gathered to commemorate the integration of 
Hoxie School District. We paid tribute to the Hoxie Twenty-One and 
their families, as well as to the school officials and community 
leaders who paved the way for integration at Hoxie. The courage and 
resolve that the citizens of Hoxie showed in 1955 is an example of 
those who are willing to embrace the spirit of equality and to do what 
is right for every child in the community.
  Today, Arkansas' children go to school in a different environment 
than that confronted by the Hoxie Twenty-One back in 1955. We certainly 
have more work to do to ensure that all of our children receive the 
best possible education, but I am pleased with the progress we have 
made over the last 50 years. It is my hope that America can continue to 
build on the foundation that Hoxie School District helped to create to 
ensure that all of our nation's children, no matter their race, are 
provided with the best educational opportunities available.

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