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Chapter 11 | Conclusion

Conclusion

Thinking historically about integration and civil rights is hard. It is hard because we want the struggle to be over quickly and we want to let out a sigh of relief that the worst of it is behind us. We want to think that nonviolent peaceful protesting won the day. But doing this ignores the lived experiences of many Oklahomans. Progress in race relations and equal treatment has not followed a straight line, and it still does not. Even as schools and universities in Oklahoma integrated, racial discrimination persisted. Even as drugstore lunch counters opened to African Americans, racial discrimination persisted. Black athletes made great strides as members of previously all-white teams, but this did not mean that they experienced equal treatment either on or off the field.

Civil rights activism in Oklahoma led to important changes and new opportunities, but it did not end the anti-Blackness so widespread in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. It did, however, awaken many young people across racial and ethnic lines to the injustice that existed in a segregated society. In the next chapter, we will explore the growth of student activism in Oklahoma, much of which was influenced and inspired by the civil rights activism going on both nationally and locally.

Victor M. Pesqueira, 1961
FIG. 11.19

Victor M. Pesqueira, 1961

Victor M. Pesqueira served as the Mexican diplomat to Oklahoma in the 1960s. At that time, Mexico was the only country to station a consul in Oklahoma. According to Pesqueira, there were around seven hundred families in Oklahoma in the 1960s with ties to their Mexican nationality. During this period, Oklahoma began to see a significant increase in Mexican immigration, which continues today. There has also been an increase in immigration to Oklahoma from a number of other Latin American countries. The Latinx population and its cultural influence continues to grow in the twenty-first century.

Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
FIG. 11.19

Victor M. Pesqueira served as the Mexican diplomat to Oklahoma in the 1960s. At that time, Mexico was the only country to station a consul in Oklahoma. According to Pesqueira, there were around seven hundred families in Oklahoma in the 1960s with ties to their Mexican nationality. During this period, Oklahoma began to see a significant increase in Mexican immigration, which continues today. There has also been an increase in immigration to Oklahoma from a number of other Latin American countries. The Latinx population and its cultural influence continues to grow in the twenty-first century.

Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Short Answer Questions

  1. Why was the 14th Amendment important to the Civil Rights Movement?

  2. What was the impact of Title 70 on schools?

  3. Why was Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher’s legal case important for integration in higher education?

  4. What did the Better Schools Amendment provide?

  5. What strategies did the Group use in Lawton to fight segregation?

Short Response Questions

  1. What does it mean to have “equal protection under the law”? In your response, be sure to include examples from the chapter as examples of equal protection.

  2. Explain why Clara Luper is known as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma. In your response, be sure to include examples of the kinds of events she organized and her achievements.