TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Feb 20, 2026

A federal court on Feb. 12 dismissed a desegregation case that has held Dyersburg City Schools accountable to federal monitoring for nearly 60 years. The United States sued the West Tennessee district in 1966, alleging it violated the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by maintaining a dual school system of separate schools for white students staffed by white personnel and a 12-grade school for Black students staffed by Black personnel, the Tennessee Lookout reports. After the district reneged in 1967 on a plan to integrate students into previously white-only schools, the court approved a new plan and oversaw its implementation. In an order dismissing the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman wrote that the district had “complied in good faith with the desegregation decree since it was entered.” The dismissal followed a joint motion filed in February by the U.S. government and the Dyersburg City Board of Education asking the court to declare the district no longer intentionally segregates students by race.