--- title: How to Fool a Bunch of Angry Racists: Lesson 1 description: A photographer discusses how he tricked a mob in 1956 Texas into believing he was handing over his film -- when he was doing no such thing. canonical: https://time.com/3880890/how-to-fool-a-racist-mob-lesson-1/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-08T21:14:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:36.980Z og:title: How to Fool a Bunch of Angry Racists: Lesson 1 og:description: A photographer discusses how he tricked a mob in 1956 Texas into believing he was handing over his film -- when he was doing no such thing. og:url: https://time.com/3880890/how-to-fool-a-racist-mob-lesson-1/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt430dc440bbc6e4e6/69884c6de53abaabf04dd4a3/140909-texarkana-integration-1956-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Integration Struggle, Texarkana, Tex., 1956 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Fool a Bunch of Angry Racists: Lesson 1 twitter:description: A photographer discusses how he tricked a mob in 1956 Texas into believing he was handing over his film -- when he was doing no such thing. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt430dc440bbc6e4e6/69884c6de53abaabf04dd4a3/140909-texarkana-integration-1956-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Fool a Racist Mob: Lesson One by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 8, 2014 9:14 PM UTC  Students Steve Posten, 17, and Jessalyn Gray, 18, wait tensely beside a cab while a crowd of whites taunts them outside Texarkana Junior College, Texarkana, Tex., 1956\. Jessalyn eventually asked police to escort them inside. When the police refused, the students left. Students Steve Posten, 17, and Jessalyn Gray, 18, wait tensely beside a cab while a crowd of whites taunts them outside Texarkana Junior College, Texarkana, Tex., 1956\. Jessalyn eventually asked police to escort them inside. When the police refused, the students left.Joseph Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 8, 2014 9:14 PM UTC In 1956, LIFE photographer Joe Scherschel was in Texas, covering the struggle of two black teenagers trying to integrate Texarkana Junior College. Hundreds of white Texans, of all ages, were on hand to prevent the two young students, Steve Posten and Jessalyn Gray, from entering the school. And if the goons could intimidate Scherschel into handing over his film, so that pictures of their disgraceful behavior wouldn’t be distributed around the globe—well, so much the better. However, as Scherschel pointed out to John Loengard in a 1993 interview, sometimes it’s not that difficult to trick a bunch of racists into believing that you’re giving in to their demands, when in fact you’re doing the opposite of what they want you to do: --- > “” --- Now, don’t get us wrong. We’re not advising everyone to stand up to mobs of racist fools. It would be wonderful if people of good faith always stood up to bullies, fascists and other cretins. But let’s be honest with ourselves: very few among us have the sort of moral or physical courage it takes to pull off that sort of thing. The two students in the photo above certainly did, and so did Joe Scherschel. That said, we certainly do get a kick out of the notion of this LIFE photographer—”the guy from the nigger-loving magazine”—pretending to do exactly what these clowns told him to do, while all the time he planned to take and publish a picture as powerful and as damning as the one featured here. Here’s to you, Joe Scherschel. And Steve Posten. And Jessalyn Gray. And all the others who join the struggle—especially when it means staring down the mob. [\[Buy John Loengard’s book, _LIFE Photographers: What They Saw_\]](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Photographers-What-They-Saw/dp/0821225189) ---  Students Steve Posten, 17, and Jessalyn Gray, 18, wait tensely beside a cab while a crowd of whites taunts them outside Texarkana Junior College, Texarkana, Tex., 1956\. Jessalyn eventually asked police to escort them inside. When the police refused, the students left. 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