Douglas Conner Papers

Douglas Conner Papers digital collection contains selected materials from its corresponding physical collection. the digital collection contains contains documentation of the desegregation of Starkville public schools from 1965-1970. For more information, contact the Special Collections faculty and staff at this link.

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Rededication to the dream

Photograph of marchers holding up a large sign that says, "Rededication to the Dream."
To all thoughtful citizens of Oktibbeha County

Statement from the Oktibbeha County NAACP regarding their opposition to the building of a private segregated school for white students. It lists supporters of the school and urges ''selective buying and protest demonstrations.''
Keep your black teachers and schools

Text for sign urging boycott of downtown businesses. ''Starkville, keep your black teachers & schools or you'll have a black Christmas.''
Legal suit against school segregation

Copy of the school integration suit brought before the district court of northeast Mississippi.
Letter from Henderson High School Alumni Association

Letter from the Henderson High School Alumni Association, supporting the school and listing reasons why they oppose integration (the ''one high school idea'').
No Black dollars, no Black workers

Text for sign urging boycott of Starkville businesses that support segregation.
Plan A for consolidating Starkville public schools

First option submitted by the plaintiffs for the integration of public schools in Starkville, Mississippi. Includes handwritten draft.
Plan B for consolidating Starkville public schools

Second option submitted by the plaintiffs for the integration of public schools in Starkville, Mississippi. Includes typed draft with corrections.
Starkville desegregation plan

Plan submitted for the integration of Starkville city and Oktibbeha County schools. Includes handwritten draft.
Plan submitted by Oktibbeha County School District, et als

John R. Ware

Integration plan submitted by the Oktibbeha County School District to the district court of northeast Mississippi.
Memorandum opinion from the Northern Mississippi district court

Orma R. Smith

Memorandum opinion on Starkville school integration, written by Judge Orma R. Smith of the district court of northeast Mississippi.
Minutes of the biracial committee meeting

Minutes of a biracial committee that reviewed ''the background, the educational purposes, and the current status of the methods, techniques, and procedures used in the placement and assignment of pupils'' in Starkville schools.
Plan submitted by plaintiffs in the Oktibbeha County School District suit

Statement of the plaintiffs in the Oktibbeha County School District suit, regarding incomplete integration, unequal pay based on race, and zoning issues.
School board policies regarding employment, retention, reassignment and transfer of professional staff members

Starkville Public Schools bulletin with guidelines on hiring and transfer of teachers and other professional staff, 1968.
Why there is unrest in the Black community

Handwritten draft of an article or letter about an unsatisfactory plan proposed by the white school board.
Information and data relevant to court order requiring the desegregation of the Starkville Public Schools

B. Hal Buchanan

Information about the process of integrating Starkville's public schools in the late 1960s, compiled by Separate School District superintendent B. Hal Buchanan.
District court order for the integration of Starkville Public Schools

Orma R. Smith

Order from the district court of northeast Mississippi for the end of a segregated (dual) school system and the establishment of an integrated system. Written by Judge Orma R. Smith, 1970.
A resolution of the Board of Trustees of the Starkville Municipal Separate School District proposing a plan to accomplish a unitary school system

Plan developed by the Starkville Municipal Separate School District to integrate the schools for the 1970-1971 school year.
Handwritten draft of school desegregation position of the Oktibbeha County NAACP

Handwritten draft of the Oktibbeha County NAACP's position statements on ending the segregated school system.
School desegregation meeting

Handwritten minutes of a meeting of the plaintiffs in the Oktibbeha County school desegregation case. Issues discussed were the bus system, the status of black teachers in white schools, and problems being faced.
School desegregation position of the Oktibbeha County Branch - NAACP

Position of the Oktibbeha County NAACP on ending the dual school system, using structures already available, and proposing two options for how the schools could be combined (Plans A and B).
Survey of attitudes

Public survey of Starkville citizens' attitudes about school integration.
Interrogatories to defendants of the Starkville Municipal Separate School District

Kent Spriggs

Questions for the defendants in the school integration suit brought before the district court of northeast Mississippi, filed by Kent Spriggs on behalf of the plaintiffs.
Memo on Starkville School District bond issue and school desegregation

B. Hal Buchanan

Memo to parents of children in Starkville School District regarding the bond issue and information about school desegregation.