9.01.2010

Thursday, September 1, 1960: Bill Mauldin

Working for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bill Mauldin publishes this editorial cartoon about the slow pace of school integration in the United States. (Click here for a larger image.) It was one of several cartoons about race relations drawn by Mauldin, who created the World War II characters "Willie and Joe."

The cartoon appeared six years after Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. And it came two months after the National Education Association continued with its cautious approach to the matter, adopting the following statement at its annual meeting (italics are mine): "The National Education Association believes that integration of all groups in our public schools is an evolving process which concerns every state and territory in our nation. The Association urges that citizens approach the matter of desegregation in the public schools with the spirit of fairness, good will and respect for law which has always been an outstanding characteristic of the American people. It is the conviction of the Association that all problems of desegregation in our schools are capable of solution at the state and local levels by citizens of intelligence, saneness and reasonableness working together in the interests of national unity for the common good of all."

* Bill Mauldin website: @
* "Beyond Willie and Joe" (Library of Congress): @
* More about Brown v. Board of Education: @ and @ and @ (National Historic Site)
* Full text of ruling: @

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