GOV. EASLEY MARKS 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL INTEGRATION IN N.C.

RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley today honored seven surviving former students and a school administrator who helped open the doors for all North Carolinians to attend the same schools 50 years ago.  The honorees attended a reception at the Executive Mansion commemorating the 50th anniversary of the integration of public schools in North Carolina.

“It took determination and courage for these individuals to do what was right during a turbulent time in history and in the face of tremendous adversity,” said Easley.  “What could have been just another hot September school day was so much more for these children.  They had a date with destiny and today we honor their bravery.”

Josephine Boyd Bradley, Brenda Florence, Jimmy Florence, Dorothy Counts Scoggins, Girvaud Roberts Justice, Delois Huntley and Gwendolyn Bailey Coleman were among the first to integrate the Greensboro, Charlotte and Winston-Salem school systems in the 1957-58 school year.  Craig Phillips, who was superintendent of the Winston Salem schools at that time, worked with Benjamin Smith in Greensboro and Elmer Garinger in Charlotte on the plans to integrate those three school systems.  Phillips later served as superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction from 1969-1989.  Smith and Garinger are both deceased.

Easley presented each of the former students and Phillips with an Old North State Award and a proclamation recognizing the 50th anniversary of school integration.  The proclamation notes that “the path to social justice is ofttimes difficult and in constant need of individuals determined to advance its cause.”

In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional and ordered all schools to proceed to integrate “with all deliberate speed.”  At that time, segregation had a stronghold in North Carolina and throughout the South.  While the issue was debated for the next three years, no North Carolina public school integrated until Phillips, Smith and Garinger developed plans for their schools.  On September 4, 1957, the students broke the color barrier and attended schools in Greensboro, Charlotte and Winston-Salem.  All North Carolina’s public schools were not fully integrated until 1970.