Primary Source Set

Racial Integration in K-12 Schools

In the mid-20th century, the Supreme Court ruled that schools were no longer able to segregate students by race. This collection uses high school yearbooks, newspaper articles, photographs, video and oral history to illustrate how education changed between the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling and the mid-1970s, when North Carolina finally met the requirements set by that case.

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Time Period

1950s to 1970s

Grade Level

7 – 12

Part of a typed transcript on yellowed paper.

Transcript

Transcript (3:23-6:30) Mary Lewis Deans: When you began attending school... were you in school during the period of integration? Or was it already integrated? Anthony W. Brown: No, I went to segregated schools here in Nash county. My last two years of high school, which would have been the school years '67-'68 and '68-'69... and actually, even before then, actually—I believe my entire three years of high school were during the period of time known as "freedom of choice." You could choose the school that you wanted to attend. I believe that was the way that our local schools were attempting to implement the dictates of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. I always chose to attend the schools that I had already been enrolled in, what were known as the all-Black schools. I had friends who chose to go to Denvenue Elementary and Castalia Elementary before it was phased out, which had traditionally been all-white schools. And Northern Nash, and Southern Nash High... MLD: Was Central Nash an all-Black school? AWB: Nash Central was an all-Black school. We had some white teachers and some white teachers trained the teachers and trained the people in student training. But we didn't have any white students. What would have been my senior year was the first year of mass forced integration. Nash High School ceased to be a high school in the year of '69-'70. I missed it. I went to Northern for one week because I was trying to decide to take the scholarship and leave or go to high school. I went to Northern for one week and I really enjoyed it; it was a challenge. It was a new environment, and I think history will record that integration went very smoothly in Nash county. My friends that stayed there that year, my classmates, had a good year at Northern Nash in '69-'70, but I missed it. MLD: In retrospect, tell me what your opinion is of your decision to stay in the Black schools at the earlier date. AWB: Frankly, I'm glad I did. I'm glad I did. We had a lot of very, very caring teachers, and it was a smaller environment, nurturing environment. I think I was served well by having attended Cedar Grove and Nash Central High. MLD: Now, as a teacher, your mother was a part of this forced integration. AWB: Yes. MLD: Do you have any memories of how that served her? AWB: I really don't because I was gone. She was at Cedar Grove my last year of high school. It was all­Black the first year of forced integration. Of course, I was down in Georgia. I don't recall her complaining about it. Transcript (12:35-16:34) AWB: I think integration has been successful to a certain degree. Unless people change though, I don't care how much the law changes, I don't care what the dictates from Washington D.C. or Raleigh are. Unless an individual, in his heart or her heart, decides that I am going to deal with John Doe or Jane Doe as an individual, I don't care what John or Jane looks like, then integration is not going to work for that person or any situation that that person is intimately connected. My fear and my disappointment, more disappointment than fear, with integration is that Black children do not seem to be getting the quality education they once got. Now we thought in the '60s that integration was the key. We thought that if we could take the kid from Nash Central and put him in Northern Nash, where they had more microscopes and better chemistry labs and more teachers and more equipment, that he's gonna be a better student. But the part of the equation that I feel like was not factored in was just like I told you—the caring, nurturing teacher. My mother, who you've spoken with, is a teacher. She grew up right here in the Cedar Rock community. Went to a school that's long since been torn down across the road. She had a deep, deep abiding love and understanding for the rural Black kids—and the rural white kids, I'm sure—that came into her classroom. MLD: Tony, it's not just the kids. Kathryn Tyson will tell you that as a young woman who walked into the classroom for the first time. Kathryn was a young, white, adult teacher, and she doesn't know what she would have done without your mother. Your mother did not just teach children. AWB: I agree. But some of that seems to have been lost. MLD: And she didn't just teach Black children. AWB: No she didn't. No she didn't. However, first of all it's my mother, and she's a rare jewel. But secondly, I think when you start talking about differences in culture, differences in background, and sometimes just flat-out prejudice, the kids are not receiving that nurturing now, I dare say. MLD: I think. a lot of Black. and white kids aren't receiving a lot of nurturing at home either. AWB: No question about that. But we're talking about integration in the school system. I dare say that the vast majority of Nash county kids, rural Nash county kids, got a better education, learned more, and came out of the elementary school that didn't have the best equipment, didn't have the best resources back then, that they do have now. That's a disappointment and also a fear for the future. You asked me about fears. I fear kids, period, are missing the boat. We are sitting here on the steps of Cedar Rock Baptist Church, and I feel that this is one true answer, remedy, to a lot of society's ills. The church—the Christian church. I think that can cure the incurable racist, the incurable sexist, the incurable thief.

Anthony W. Brown Oral History Interview

This is an oral history interview with Anthony “Tony” Brown, who describes his experiences as a student attending all-Black schools and his memories of integration. He also describes his mother’s experiences as a teacher in segregated schools.

Suggested times: 3:23-6:30 and 12:35-16:34

Contributed to DigitalNC by Braswell Memorial Library (Rocky Mount, N.C.)

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Castalia, N.C. (Nash County)

Racial Integration in K-12 Schools

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Background

In the early and mid-20th century, students in North Carolina attended schools based on their race. Despite segregationists’ “separate but equal” mantra, schools for white children were often better-resourced, with more money for buildings and school supplies. While schools for Black children usually received less money for textbooks, staff salaries, and facilities, they were still vibrant and close-knit communities. Students identifying as other races, including Native American students, were sometimes educated at Black schools and sometimes able to create schools for themselves, including the High Plains School in Person County. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that schools were no longer able to segregate students by race. However, it took North Carolina 17 years before our state’s schools met the conditions of the Brown v. Board ruling.

Between 1954-1972, lawmakers and community groups debated the best ways to racially integrate schools. Many white families opposed integration and protested by staying home from school or moving to newly-formed private schools. Meanwhile, many Black families worried about leaving the schools they knew, many of which were dissolved as part of integration. One of the largest debates about integration was about busing, a method where students would be bussed across their districts to create schools with racially-balanced student bodies. This method led to the Supreme Court case Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971), which confirmed busing as an appropriate strategy and served as the basis for cases around the country.

While the legacy of school integration is complex, this period affected the educational paths of many North Carolinians. One way to more fully understand how students’ lives were changed is to look at examples from yearbooks, photographs, and newspaper articles from this time. In particular, Black community newspapers and yearbooks from Black high schools offer several viewpoints about transitioning to majority-white schools.

Discussion Questions

  1. When did N.C. public schools become racially integrated? Was it in 1954 after Brown v. Board of Education? Was it in 1972, when the state finally met the requirements of the Brown v. Board ruling? Was it sometime in between or after?

  2. Take a look at Gohisca [1971] from Goldsboro High School and Charger [1971] from Wayne Country Day School. What differences do you see? How do the attitudes of students differ? What do these differences tell you about the motivations of private schools during this time period?

  3. Consider the two articles from The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.) and the two yearbook excerpts from The Panther [1968] and The Pricean [1969]. What are some of the contrasting feelings coming from community members, school staff, and students? Why do you think each of these authors has these feelings?

  4. In his interview, Tony Brown says that he was glad he stayed at his majority Black school, saying, “We had a lot of very, very caring teachers and it was a smaller environment, nurturing environment.” Given the reactions of some white students and families toward integration, what do you think about Brown’s stance?

  5. School integration in the South sometimes began with one or a few Black students moving to an all-white school (like in the case of Gwendolyn Bailey). Take a moment to imagine yourself in their position. Would you go through with it? Why or why not?

  6. Take a look at The Hilltopper [1963]. This is a yearbook from the first year that Native American students had to attend Bethel Hill High School (previously an all-white school). What surprises you about this yearbook? What do you think this school year was like for students?

  7. If you were a N.C. lawmaker in 1954, what plans would you propose to integrate schools? Would you move all students into the white schools for their resources? Would you use buses to transport students and make the schools racially representative? Would you allow families to choose which schools they wanted to attend?

This primary source set was compiled by Sophie Hollis.

Updated January 2025