WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) led the entire Tennessee delegation in introducing a resolution celebrating the role of 85 students from the Scarboro neighborhood in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the desegregation of public schools following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

On September 6, 1955, these 85 African American students – known as the “Scarboro 85” – entered all-white classrooms in Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High, becoming the first public schools in the Southeast region to integrate and implement the ruling of the Supreme Court.

“The Scarboro 85 made the monumental first step in integrating schools in Tennessee and the Southeast region. It is an honor to celebrate these 85 Tennesseans along with my colleagues in the Tennessee delegation following the 69^th anniversary of desegregation at Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High School,” said Senator Blackburn.

“The moment the Scarboro 85 desegregated two public schools in Oak Ridge, the first school desegregation anywhere in the Southeast, a new chapter in America’s history began – a chapter where the fundamental truth of America envisioned by our Founders that ‘all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’ was fulfilled. The Scarboro 85 are heroes, and every American should know their story from coast to coast. I am honored to join Senator Blackburn and my Tennessee Congressional colleagues to honor the Scarboro 85 and the brave and noble work they did to make our state and nation a better place for every Tennessean and American,” said Representative Fleischmann.