On May 10, 1962, Southern School News reported that 246,988 Black students—just 7.6% of the Black public school population—were attending integrated schools across 17 Southern and Border States and the District of Columbia. This report, released eight years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, highlighted the painfully slow pace of desegregation in American education. Despite federal mandates, widespread resistance from segregationist lawmakers and local communities continued to limit Black students’ access to equal educational opportunities. The publication’s data underscored the systemic barriers that persisted well into the 1960s and served as a sobering reminder that legal victories alone were not enough to dismantle institutional racism.