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MACON, MO. -- African Americans have lived in Macon since the town was established back in 1856.

During the Civil Rights Era in America, the Jim Crow laws were in effect in Missouri. At the historic Bethel AME Church, members of Macon's black community told me how the Jim Crow laws affected their everyday lives. 

I was born on the corner of Union and Jefferson which is two blocks from the school; where the school is now. I could not attend that school because I was black. So I had to walk across town to Dumas School, " said Shirley Grant.

Dumas school is where black children from Macon County received their primary education. When it's condition completely deteriorated in the fifties, the second Dumas school was built, which is still standing in Macon today. Despite the school lacking up-to-date text books and dependable school buses, former students said the school environment there was more nurturing.

"I really felt that we had a close knit family like situation, " said Monty Grant, a longtime resident of Macon.  "Everybody got along good and had good teachers and all. So, I felt like everything was good."

When they graduated from Dumas, black students were bussed to Lincoln High School, an all-black high school in Moberly until 1955, when Macon's High School desegregated due to a federal mandate issued by the United States Supreme Court. Former students said for the most part, the transition was a smooth one.

But, simple things like field trips to a ballgame in St. Louis were complicated back then when blacks were prohibited from eating inside restaurants. One former student still remembers how they had to ride around for hours, just so everyone could eat.

"The school wouldn't accept for us not to be able to eat with them. They wouldn't let us sit in the back and them sit in the front," said Charles Walker.  "So, they had to drive around and find a place that would let us eat. "

Although the former students said there weren't many issues in school besides the occasional taunting, they still could not eat  in the front of restaurants in downtown Macon, and were banned from the Macon pool.

"The black kids had one night that they could go to the skating rink and we could skate. You couldn't go all the other nights because those were for the white kids," said Rose Harris, a longtime resident of Macon.

"If we wanted to take a stand, our folks wouldn't back us, " said Clarence Walker.  "They didn't want to make any waves. So you were left out there on your own and you were out there to embarrass the family. Again too, you were cautious because whatever you did, the breadwinner's job was on the line."

Decades after Macon's High School desegregated, the Klu Klux Klan threatened to have a march in town.  Many in Macon's black community put their jobs on the line and formed the Concerned Citizens Organization.

After that, the Klan did not have their march in Macon, and the Concerned Citizens Organization pressed on to end segregation in all public places in Macon, which they said cost them their jobs.

Now decades later, many of the students who helped desegregate Macon's High School are now retired and grandparents still living in Macon. They said yes things have changed, but when it comes to race relations, there is still more work to be done in Macon.

"I think it's better but we still have a long ways to go," said Shirley Grant.

"It's a lot better but you still got your people that's prejudice and I feel like we still got a lot of that going on here in Macon right now," said Monty Grant.   "What I would like to see change is God come into their hearts. Because that's the only thing that's going to change what's going on here in Macon."

The people we spoke to in this story said that in 1988, Macon native Ebony [Terry] Sayonkon was only 14 when she inspired the Macon School District to begin celebrating Martin Luther King's Birthday as a holiday. This was two years after it was first observed across the country as a national holiday.

To listen to Shirley Grant's journey of attending segregated schools, click here. 

To listen to Rose Harris talk about how Macon has changed since the Civil Rights Era, click here.