Historical society ceremony to mark integration attempt

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

The Mansfield Historical Society will mark the 70th anniversary of Mansfield ISD’s first attempt to integrate at 6 p.m. Sunday with a ceremony at Geyer Commons, 605 E. Broad St.

The event will include a proclamation from the city, readings by Mansfield ISD students, performances by a community choir and the Timberview High School Choir, a presentation by the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation, presentation by Texas Rangers law enforcement officers and the historical society’s plan for a permanent landmark at the site.

The event is free and open to the public.

On Aug. 30, 1956, three teen-age Black students were planning to enroll in the high school, but a large crowd gathered in protest in front of the school, and the students did not register. The high school, which is now the Mansfield ISD administration building, is adjacent to Geyer Commons.

The site has a long history, said Mansfield Historical Society President Tom Leach.

“It was originally purchased by (Mansfield co-founder) Julian Feild, became the first men’s and women’s college in the state of Texas (Mansfield Male & Female College), Cumberland Presbyterian Church, then the Mansfield ISD when Feild gave it to them,” Leach said. “The school district sold it to the city in 2024.

“For over 100 years, from 1870-2024, it was a part of the Mansfield school system,” he said.

“This is one site in Mansfield that identified who we are as people,” Leach said. “We have chosen to ignore it because of 1956. This is one date in time, but not the entire story.”

The three-day protest started Aug. 30, 1956, after a federal court ordered the school district to integrate. Then-Gov. Allan Shivers defied the order and sent in the Texas Rangers to keep the peace and prevent the students from registering for school. The story made international news, and the district did not integrate until 1965 when threatened with losing federal funding.

“1956 was a dark day,” Leach said.

The ceremony on Sunday evening will honor “where we are, what we have achieved, how we have evolved and celebrate the clergy that brought the community back together,” he said.