For this particular portion of my project I visited one of the four Atlanta schools which were integrated by the Atlanta 9 on August 30,1961 (the name in bold print). These schools were: Brown High (now Brown Middle School) attended by Madelyn Nix and Thomas Welch, Northside High (combined with North Fulton to create the now North Atlanta High) attended by Willie Black, Donita Gaines and Arthur Simmons, Grady High attended by Lawrence Jefferson and Mary James McMullen-Francis, and Murphy High (later Crim High and now Crim Open Campus) attended by Martha Holmes and Rosalyn Watson. I was not comfortable taking photographs on my visit as I went during school hours and there were a large number of students maneuvering about campus, however I can describe it vividly.
Grady High named for Henry W Grady editor of the Atlanta journal and proponent of the Post civil war New South has a large campus with lots of green space. The school is beautiful and very well kept. There is a massive pencil on the schools front lawn, which has been there since 2000, which represents the communication/journalism theme of the school. The student population was very multicultural and they were all intermingled seeming to never give a second thought to their ethnic, racial and cultural differences. While there I had to check-in, in the front office so I used that as an opportunity to speak with a couple of the staff members regarding the historical significance of the school…most of them admittedly had no idea that Grady was one of the first public high schools to open its doors to African American students. There was however a secretary who has been working at the school since the 1980’s who was a Grady High alumnus that was very knowledgeable about the rich history of the school. I was so fortunate to have met her and have the opportunity to ask her a few questions.
Critical questions
1. Why was the process of initial integration so delayed in the Atlanta schools when Brown v Board of Education was 7 years earlier?
2. How long before complete integration of the Atlanta schools?
3. How were the 10 accepted applicants of the 133 who applied selected?
