 In 1955, Brown Elementary School was the focus of Dallas's first desegregation-related legal action, as an African-American family sued for the right of their children to attend the segregated whites-only school that was half a block from their home; the suit was dismissed.In succeeding decades, desegregation did occur and was ordered by federal courts in the 1970s.Meanwhile, community resentment grew as local residents learned about Brown's racist rhetoric, as illustrated in these excerpts from Michael Phillips, "" (2006)