It has been 56 years since the Supreme Court struck down segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education. A new book, “Acting White: The Ironic Legacy of Desegregation,” puts forward the notion that desegregation's positive changes have come along with some unintended side effects. Stuart Buck, the book's author, argues that the criticism successful black students often receive from their peers – that they are “acting white” – is largely a consequence of how our schools were desegregated.

To commemorate the NAACP's Centennial, we take you to Franklin County, a rural area of 40,000 people in the southern part of Middle Tennessee. In 1958, two black women — Mrs. Johnnie Fowler, and Mickey Marlow — and one white man — Scott Bates — formed the area's first branch of the NAACP, the "Franklin County Branch." It's one of the few branches nationwide where female activists, and not men, led the town's desegregation efforts. One woman is still alive to tell the story of their struggle: Ms. Sarah Staten.