Cindy, i get goosebumps looking at these pictures!!!! They're incredible! sigh The walls talk for sure here!!! i keep hearing the children laughing and giggling...seeing them pass notes in class. i might be wrong, but i think kids are gonna act silly and try to get away with shit in school...no matter the color of their skin is and no matter what their life circumstances. i know these images are sad, but i just keep seeing pictures of cute kids and hearing them giggle!!! i can't help it. maybe i just WANT to think these kids had good times here, despite their situation. I hope they did anyway. mike, it's fine to ask those questions. i think one of the problems with segretating schools is that schools like this probably got very little funding. I'm not positive about it, but i'm thinking they probably didn't have very many books. Or maybe the books they did have were used and papers ripped out and stuff. i'm thinking these kids may not have been educated the same way. they were not given as many opportunities. I'm also wondering about their school itself. Was there enough money to make the needed repairs on it? Were the children cold in the winter. was the roof leaky? The money to make the school a safe and good environment for kids had to come from somewhere. i have a feeling their school was probably always rundown. and it's harder to learn in school when you have rain leakin in and you're freezing or you're roasting. you know stuff like that. I'm sure tax money did not go to help these schools. i understand what you were saying about kids in segregated schools maybe didn't have to deal with hatred and racism problem on a day-to-day basis. i think the reason they wanted desegregation was so all children would have equal opportunities when it came to education. The other part of it is, what's the reason for the segregation? Kids are kids. People are people. Segregation just enforced the idea that black people should be shunned...that they were somehow inferior to white people. Desegregation was a positive step toward saying we're all just human beings...no matter the color of our skin. I just explain this stuff the way i understand it. I may be wrong, but it's my understanding of the situation. that "drinking trough" in the bathroom...our schools had those. aren't they urinals?