Never Give Up

Sarah Keys’s lawyers obtained a second ICC hearing and then cited additional legal precedents, including the Supreme Court school desegregation ruling, which said that segregation itself “stigmatizes” those segregated. Her lawyers noted that this violates the ICC’s fairness requirement. Also helpful: support from the US attorney general. On November 25, 1955, Sarah learned she had won. This victory, along with a companion ICC train ruling, was celebrated in national newspapers. Although Sarah was happy, the shock of her arrest still made her feel guarded in what she said or did. Sadly, her ICC decision wasn’t enforced in the South for many years, as also happened with the Supreme Court school desegregation decision. When Sarah’s hometown’s public schools finally desegregated in 1968, her Catholic school closed, no longer needed. The chapter ends by noting that it would take “attention-getting” strategies to make the ICC enforce the Sarah Keys decision.