Legacies Today
Students and teachers that integrated the schools in 1968-69 reflect on the reverberations of their experiences today.
Through their difficult experiences at James Blair High School, the Black students of the Class of 1969 developed deep and enduring relationships that have lasted a lifetime, as Joel Smith describes. Classmates remember a cruise they took together 50 years after graduating and honor a class leader, Iris Judkins, as they remember the circumstances of her death.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
While the traumatic experiences of integration bound Black students together, the divisions with their white classmates have also endured. Troy Roots, Cynthia Druitt, and Mary Ashlock recount how they invited their white classmates to participate in the 50th School Reunion that they were planning for 2019, but received little response.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
For Floyd Morning, he and his classmates are survivors. They have been resilient in the face of adversity.
Black students from the Class of 1969, as well as teachers and parents, reflect on what lessons they learned from integration. Their reflections reveal the unfinished business of integration today - many schools and workplaces remain predominantly white spaces that Black people must learn to navigate. True integration in which diverse groups interact on a level playing field remains an aspiration.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Mary Ashlock reflects on how she learned to insert herself as a Black person in predominantly white spaces - a skill that remains necessary today.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Mary Lassiter feels that, while their time at James Blair High School was difficult, she sees the benefits for the generations today. She reflects on how long it took her to be able to stand up to racism in everyday settings.
Source: Phyllis Crudup. August 2, 2023. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Phyllis Crudup sees students today struggling due to the unfinished nature of integration.
Source: Phyllis Crudup. August 2, 2023. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Some benefits have come from integration, according to Phyllis Crudup, but other dynamics have stayed the same or even worsened.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Mary Lassiter discusses conversations today about the first years of integration. She expresses how important it is to have these discussions and to have white people understand Black people's experiences.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Troy Roots, an educator, reflects on how the education system today still separates students.
Students from the Class of 1969 also reflect on the experiences of their children, grandchildren, and other family members who grapple with the pros and cons of attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs) versus historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Mary Lassiter describes how, in the early 1990s, her son was pushed by counselors towards HBCUs, when he might have wanted to attend other schools. She feels that he was still experiencing fragments of what she experienced as a high school student.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Willis Potter reflects on his niece’s experience playing basketball at a predominantly white university in the 1990s. He feels that Black students still face discrimination at predominantly white universities, and parents need to help students determine if they will thrive best at these universities versus historically Black colleges and universities.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Joel Smith discusses fighting against the feeling that Black people don’t have a chance to succeed. He reflects on the example of his daughter who attended a predominantly white university in the 2000s and fought for her chance. He maintains that this, and his experience with integration, is a lesson for children today.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Mary Lassiter describes how her grandchildren, Khafre Brown and Dyami Brown, who attended majority-Black high schools in the 2010s went on to attend the predominantly white University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, which provided them new experiences to learn and become confident. Khafre continued his education at the University of South Florida, and Dyami was drafted to the NFL in 2001. Her nieces and nephew grew up in a predominantly white environment in Wisconsin and benefitted, as did some of her other grandchildren, from attending an HBCU.
Source: Class of 1969 Oral History. March 12, 2022. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Mary Lassiter and Mary Ashlock discuss how racial attitudes today in the 2020s are different.
A Comparative Lens: York High School
James "Chuck" Brown, 1969 graduate of York High School, reflects on the enduring legacies of his experience of integration. He explains how his white classmates from the Class of 1969 at York High School chose not to participate in the reunion organized by the Black students.
Even in his career today, James Brown sees similar attitudes as he saw during integration. He reflects on his experience at York County as a defining moment in his life.
Source: James Brown. August 9, 2023. The Village Initiative Oral History Collection.
Banner image: Collage of photos from the Class of 1969's 50th School Reunion by Lanni Brown
Source: Photos courtesy Troy D. Roots