Inequities Revealed
A key advantage of integration was the principle of equal opportunity endorsed in the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Proponents of integration had long insisted that separate would never be equal. When the Class of 1969 arrived at previously white-only James Blair High School, many students and teachers recognized how unequally resources had been distributed across the segregated schools of Williamsburg-James City County.
Explore these stories from Black teachers and students as they discovered the deep inequities of segregation once integration began.
Film Credit: Media Collections, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
A teacher, Ruth Pope, describes the lack of resources she faced in the segregated schools and the benefits of new opportunities and resources offered by integration.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Willis Potter describes his first day at the previously white-only James Blair High School as one of a handful of students who integrated in the years before mandatory integration. He recalls being astounded by the resources available for sports teams.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
When Rev. Dr. Ronald Ellis arrived at James Blair High School in the fall of 1968, he, too, was astonished by the superior resources available compared to those at the previously all-Black schools - Bruton Heights and Berkeley - during segregation.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Joel Smith describes the different skills taught in shop classes at the all-Black Berkeley High School versus the previously white-only James Blair High School and the different career trajectories they prepared students for.
Film Credit: Media Collections, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Another aspect of integration, for teacher Madeline Gee, was to connect more deeply with white people and change the attitudes of white children as they experienced caring Black teachers.
A Comparative Lens: York High School
James Brown describes the inequities between the Black and white schools during segregation and the inequities between Black and white students within the previously all-white York High School in York County in the years before mandatory integration.
Source: James Brown. August 9, 2023. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Banner image: Collage of photos created by Lanni Brown
Sources: The Beehive, 1968-69, William & Mary Special Collections Research Center