Monthly Archives: March 2012

Yesterday’s “Civil Rights Memoir #94” was the end of the line for Sara’s writings. She typed up her memories of her life and those trying times of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s in the early 1990s and never updated them. … Continue reading →

“Otis Allen, Leflore County superintendent of education, said, ‘It will be much harder for parents to make the decision to send their children back to the public schools than it was to make the decision to leave it. Once they … Continue reading →

“The teachers were terribly disturbed especially when they learned that names would be drawn to determine who would be assigned to the black schools to make up the required black-white ratio. A number of them resigned and gave up their … Continue reading →

“The first time I put Mary Carol out at the high school after the 1970 court orders were implemented and saw the mixed crowd on the sidewalks, I cried all the way home, knowing that never again would our schools … Continue reading →

“There was a lot of bitterness. Those who chose to stay at GHS resented the others leaving the school. Many of those leaving did so only because their parents could not accept the situation. Some left because their buddies were … Continue reading →

“Pillow Academy, the private school to which most of the white children fled, was established several years before the court orders for wide scale integration. It originally had only grades one through eight with about 150 students enrolled. “I attended … Continue reading →

“Also it was ordered that all persons other than school employees and pupils enrolled at that specific school must first go to the principal’s office to obtain admission to the campus. Otherwise they will be considered trespassers and subject to … Continue reading →

“On January 27, a group of jeering students at the all-Negro Threadgill High School attempted to block the exit of Dr. W.B.Dribben, superintendent of Greenwood Schools, and Assistant Superintendent W.O.Benjamin as they left a meeting called by members of the … Continue reading →

“On January 26 [1970] at the Leflore County Court House, about 500 persons attended a meeting called for the purpose of showing support for the public schools in the face of recent total integration orders. One of the parents who … Continue reading →

“Some white parents said they would try to keep their children in the public schools even if the classes were heavily integrated the next semester, if the students were assigned to a previously all-white school, but that if they were … Continue reading →