Dr. Rufus Clement, president of Atlanta University, and a member of the Atlanta Board of Education, responds to the 1955 Supreme Court order:

The decision gives the people of the South "an opportunity to work constructively together as law abiding citizens motivated by good will, and by faith in the religious principles upon which our great nation is built."

"We should now strive diligently to show that democracy will work and that it has our full support.

"The Negro people will be glad to share the responsibility we of the South now peculiarly face."

Atlanta attorney A.T. Walden comments on the ruling:

"Negroes have not resorted to violence or insurrection to achieve first-class citizenship. But on the other hand, they have belief in the orderly processes of the laws, in the making of which they had practically no part."

"If the South would manifest one-tenth of the discipline and restraint which Negroes have shown in their obedience to the laws of the land the transition from a segregated to an integrated society may be achieved with a minimum of friction and ill will."

"It is their (the youth of America) elders who historically have been the source of friction."

""Negroes stand ready to bear their share of responsibility in this period which will require the wisest and sanest contribution on the part of all citizens who love their America."

source: Atlanta Journal, June 1, 1955