On May 17, 1954, in the case Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court determined that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." In essence, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that segregated schools were in violation of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees equal protection for all citizens. In other words, "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. During the years following the decision, schools across the South made the formidable transition to reintegrate. The reintegration process was arduous and met with a great deal of resistance from activists and others opposed, especially in the Deep South. This photograph shows an armed member of the National Guard observing students outside Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee at the beginning of the 1956-57 school year. Conflict and resistance to school desegregation was still quite evident in the south, even over a year after the Supreme Court decision.

Investigate the source using the zoom and navigational tools in the Flash player and then answer the questions below.

1			Discuss the Fourteenth Amendment. What does it say and how did it affect the ruling of the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education?
2			Reintegration was not an immediate process and took some adjustment by the students. Put yourself in the shoes of a teenager attending high school in the South in 1956. How would you feel about the changes going on around you?
3			Look closely at this photograph. What is going on? Why do you think it was necessary for the National Guard to be present outside this high school?
4			What impression do you think this photograph gave someone who saw it in 1956 and did not experience integration first hand?