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MORE THAN A BUS RIDE: DESEGREGATING CHAMPAIGN SCHOOLS
RADIO TRANSCRIPT
Announcer Jay Pearce:
The following is a special production of the Youth Media Workshop, a
collaboration between WILL radio and Innovative Ed Consulting
Music
Dr. Will Patterson:
In 1954, the United States Supreme Court voted unanimously to desegregate
public schools based on evidence that separate schools for Negro and White
children were not equal. The Supreme Court also stated that separation of
children by race “generates a feeling of inferiority” among Negro children
that “may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be
undone.”
Mr. Alvin Griggs
There was a civil rights movement going on in the south and a lot of people
watched that on TV and - in the northern areas and wanted to improve the
quality of life for everyone in their community.
Dr. Will Patterson:
More than 10 years later, during the height of the civil rights movement, at
a time when civil disobedience, presidential assassination, and murders of
civil rights leaders were making headlines, the Unit 4 school district in
Champaign, Illinois decided to end de facto segregation of its public
schools.
Mr. Harold Baker
The findings and recommendations were that we should racially balance the
school, that separate was not equal – and the way we tried to do it – we
knew we had to bring the white community along.
Dr. Will Patterson:
A 1967 Teacher’s Study of Integration by the Champaign Education Association
affirmed the findings of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case: racially
isolated schools were harmful to Negro children. The Champaign School Board
decided to desegregate its elementary schools in the fall of 1968.
Mr. Rupert Evans
The effect of that first desegregation plan was to cause almost all of the
burden of desegregation to be placed on the black students because they were
bussed.
Mr. Julian Rappaport
They didn’t think, other than Washington School, that integration meant that
the white community kids should be bussed to the African American
neighborhood schools.
Mrs. Ruby Hunt
I had no problem with them being bussed. I wanted my children to have the
same opportunities as any other child had.
Mr. Dereke Clements
When we were first integrated into the school systems with white students,
the white teachers had extremely low expectations of black students.
Mr. John Lee Johnson
We assumed that the root of the problem had to do with the buildings, it had
to do with the curriculum, it had to do with the teaching core, and in fact
it had nothing to do with that. It had to do with the poverty that the kids
lived in.
Mr. Dave Downey
I don’t know that that’s ever been absolutely proven to this day that simply
the act of integration enhances the educational quality.
Mrs. Crystal Womble
I think a lot of people had a lot of mixed feelings. “Is it good? Was it
worth it? Would we have been better off without segregation as far as
education goes?” And a lot of people have really strong feelings that no,
we’re not.
Dr. Will Patterson:
Now, almost 40 years later, fifteen girls and young women of African descent
from Franklin Middle School and Central High School were selected to
investigate what happened in 1968 when Negro children were mandated to get
on a bus so they might receive a better education than what was offered at
their neighborhood school.
The Youth Media Workshop, a collaboration between WILL and Innovative Ed.
Consulting, proudly present “More Than a Bus Ride: Desegregating Champaign
Schools” I’m Dr. Will Patterson.
And I’m Tiera Campbell of Central High School.
And I’m Veronica Martin of Central High School. We’re two of the students
who investigated the desegregation of our local public schools. We’ll be
your narrators for “More Than a Bus Ride.”
Announcer Jay Pearce:
More Than a Bus Ride: Desegregating Champaign Schools was made possible, in
part, by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National
Endowment for the Humanities, the Illinois General Assembly, the Unit 4
School District, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Busey Bank, Meijer, and
First Federal Savings Bank of Champaign-Urbana.
Music transition
Washington School Segment
Tiera:
Neighborhood schools were the norm in Champaign before desegregation in
1968. Housing discrimination locked blacks out of many city neighborhoods.
As a result, neighborhood elementary schools were mostly segregated by race
and class.
Veronica:
One such neighborhood school was Booker T. Washington School, named after
the man who rose from slavery and founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama,
one of the leading schools for black education in the United States. Dereke
Clements, who now lives in Atlanta, remembers his days at Washington School.
Mr. Dereke Clements
Washington School was an all black school. You had black teachers, you had
black cooks, you had the black principal it was just a segregated school.
You didn’t think of segregation – “Oh I’m going to this segregated school,”
– it was just – it was a fact of life that this was one of the black schools
and everybody went there. It was wonderful because you didn’t have the
dissention there, you didn’t have the racial prejudice because it was
segregated.
Tiera:
Mr. Clements’ younger sister, Crystal Clements, now Crystal Womble, attended
Washington School, too.
Mrs. Crystal Womble
The teachers knew you as well as knowing your family. So if there was a
situation or concern on the teacher’s part for any reason whatsoever it was
nothing to see that teacher. For me it seemed like there was a belief in the
fact that you could learn, no matter who you were or what your
background…and then the fact also that there was a lot of follow-up between
the teachers and the parents.
Tiera:
Maudie Edwards started teaching at Washington School in 1959.
Mrs. Maudie Edwards
It was all black when I first started – it was a neighborhood school. The
kids would come in from the neighborhood.
Tiera:
What was Washington School like back then?
Mrs. Maudie Edwards
Well, like I said it was all black. We had a black principal – who was a
wonderful person – Mrs. Wesley. And we had – to me it was great because I
had come from a smaller school – a smaller school district that did not have
as much as they had there. And I just thought that, “Ooh I got all of this
material and I can just do wonders with it.” The classes were large – much
larger than I expected.
Tiera:
Can you describe the students, teaching staff, and administration?
Mrs. Maudie Edwards
The students…well the students – I guess they weren’t much different from
the students that I’ve taught. I think we had more involvement with par – I
know that we did - more involvement with the parents. We had lots of good
parents that would come and help with things that we would want to do. In
fact, I also liked to take my kids on field trips and I can remember never
having any trouble to get parents to go along with me. 26:32
Tiera:
Dereke Clements remembers his mother’s involvement in his and his siblings’
education.
Mr. Dereke Clements
Mama read each and every day so seeing your mother read each and every day
you emulate that as a child and so you pick up that pattern . A lot of the
parents got on our case about doing well in school during that early period
it was education that was at the forefront of the African American family
consciousness. I’m a journalist and a writer and I thank my mother for that
because I used to always see her read and write each and every day.
Veronica:
Washington School was to be transformed in 1968. The Equal Education
Opportunities Committee or EEOC recommended that Washington School be
dismantled as a neighborhood school and made into a magnet school. The
School Board adopted the recommendation.
Tiera:
There were 18 elementary schools in Champaign at the time, and Booker T.
Washington School became a magnet school co-operated by the Unit 4 School
District and the University of Illinois. As a magnet school, it earned a
reputation as being the “best” elementary school in the district.
Harold Baker, chairman of the EEOC, whose son attended Washington School
after it became a magnet school, explains.
Mr. Harold Baker
We knew we had to bring the white community along. So we put forward the
plan of turning Washington School into a magnet school. We were going to
have all sorts of attractive things there. We were going to have small class
size, we were going to have teaching assistants, we were going to have
computer assisted math teaching and a racially balanced school. And white
people were to volunteer to have their kids go and we held out this
educational magnet to them.
Veronica:
Dave Downey was another member of the Equal Education Opportunities
Committee that created the desegregation plan.
Mr. Dave Downey
One of the ways that we thought that we would encourage white parents to
want to have their kids bussed was to form a magnet school – which we did.
Washington school became a magnet school and it just happened that my son
was the first – was among the first students to go there. We lived right
next to West View School but he got on a bus at West View and went to
Washington, as did my two daughters when they became of age to go to school.
But it was - as usual and not surprisingly there was an outcry in the
community and from the black leadership that it was an unfair burden on the
black kids to have to be the ones primarily moved and yet the decision was
made that the education quality would be better and it was worth the effort
to get it done.
And actually we had some complaints because there were a number of black
parents who would have liked for their kids to have gone to Washington
School but because of the percentage issues could not get them admitted.
Tiera:
Julian Rappaport, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois,
enrolled his children in Washington School, too.
Mr. Julian Rappaport
We came to Champaign in 1968. From the time we arrived here we had heard
about Washington School. Booker T. Washington -- had become a magnet school.
Before we started my youngest daughter in 1971 we visited the school and we
were immediately struck by the social environment – especially the principal
at that time – a woman named Mrs. Wesley, who was African American
principal, very warm, she obviously – her eyes light up when she saw kids.
As we walked in the hall…I always remember her – little kids running down
the hall to her and her picking them up and hugging them and it just seemed
like such a nice place to go to school.
Tiera
How did you feel about your children being taught by African American
teachers?
Mr. Julian Rappaport
Well, here’s one of the ironies of the experience. There weren’t very many
African American teachers, which looking back on it seems surprising.
Although they had African American peers, the staff did not – at that time
at least – have many African American members.
Mr. Dave Downey
One of the drawbacks and one of the unexpected or unintended results often
that happened in terms of trying to integrate the faculty of the schools is
some of the best black teachers who had been in predominantly black schools
were then moved to predominantly white schools.
Veronica:
Maudie Edwards taught at Washington before and just after it became a magnet
school.
Mrs. Maudie Edwards
I really enjoyed when we got the lab school from the University of Illinois
because …. the government had given the money to … we could do whatever we
wanted to. We could plan – we could go on trips. I could remember we went –
they sent two of the teachers all the way to Boston once to a conference and
we – we just had so much material and so many books and then we’d - we had
two professors from the university that came in to help us too. That was one
thing that I really enjoyed.
Veronica:
Mrs. Odelia Wesley was the principal at Washington School when it was a
neighborhood school and after it became a magnet school. Here she is talking
about Washington School in this excerpt from a 1969 TV documentary.
Mrs. Wesley
I object to it being said it’s one of the poorer schools in the district
because this has never been a feeling of mine and I think we can say it’s
one of the better schools in the district now. It certainly is our plan that
we have of integration which is a motivational factor for some of our
children. It stimulates them to want to do more. And to do more I think it
can be attributed to the help that we have. I think it can be attributed to
the different kinds of materials that we have. And it gives us a chance to
work with different materials and techniques and so forth and try to find
those that are most effective in working with children. And it is the
purpose of our school that when we find these materials and techniques that
they will be placed in other schools, too, not just Washington School. This
is a testing ground for all schools in the district.
Tiera:
John Lee Johnson, a community activist, has been an advocate for the Black
community for more than 40 years.
Mr. John Lee Johnson
Magnet schools were allowed under the Supreme Court ruling as a means of
attracting the white community into the black community. Now remember that
the emphasis of the whole deseg case by the NAACP was not asking white
people to bring their children to the black community, it was asking the
court to allow black children to go to white schools…ok. And the reason for
that emphasis, probably was on the fact that black schools did not meet the
same quality as white schools and they probably felt that because of that it
would be much better for black kids, wherever they were in the American
public school systems, to leave their buildings and to go into white
schools.
Tiera:
Parent Julian Rappaport, whose daughters attended Washington School, agrees.
Mr. Julian Rappaport
Washington School was an attempt to attract white families and it seemed
like a good idea to us for our kids to get to know African American kids as
well as white kids. And also Booker T. Washington – the way they went about
making it a magnet school was that they had developed programs in
association with the university, they had a big grant from the National
Science Foundation to improve science and math, they were teaching foreign
languages they – it was a pretty active school and it got very good
publicity among the university community.
Veronica:
Max Beberman, a professor of math education at the University of Illinois
and a leader in the “new math” movement, believed that the presence of white
children in a classroom would increase the performance of black children.
Here is Professor Beberman from a 1969 documentary.
Professor Max Beberman
Assuming that it was the case that in the past, graduates of the Washington
School scored lower compared to other elementary schools in Unit 4 on
various achievement tests, I think that situation will change because we
have changed the mix of student body in each of the elementary schools.
Mr. John Lee Johnson
The assumption by the school board and other people who lived around
Washington were inferior to the white kids that were being bussed from the
south to the schools and the promise that the Board of Education had made to
those parents that, “We are providing you with an exceptional education that
you can’t get anywhere else in the district but at Washington school, and to
assure you of that exceptional accelerated curriculum we are only going to
bring in children of color who can match your children’s learning speed and
that there would be nothing that would slow your children down in learning.”
Tiera:
Mrs. Hester Nelson Suggs was the first principal of Washington School after
Mrs. Wesley. We asked her about some of the concerns expressed about
Washington School when it was an all-black school.
Mrs. Suggs
They had lower test scores but I’m not sure that the test scores were really
indicative of what kids could do or they were indicative of what was tested
at that particular time. I know teachers that taught kids how to read – that
the kids said that they couldn’t read prior to that particular time. They
had some problems but I think the problems were a result of the whole kind
of neighborhood rather than the school casting expulsions on the school
itself. They had good students and they had poor students.
Abrecia:
How did bussing impact people’s view about Washington?
Mrs. Suggs
I think they thought that Washington school had all select students, which
really wasn’t right because we had to – even at Washington School – save a
certain number of students out from the area. They did that to get other
students to come in to Washington school to get non-minority students to bus
in to Washington school so they could have at least one integrated school.
Veronica:
Many of the black children from the Washington School neighborhood were now
bussed to schools in south Champaign. Vernon Barkstall, then president of
the Urban League and a member of the Education Opportunities Committee that
created the desegregation plan, strongly objected to the way in which
Washington was set-up as a magnet school. In a statement of concern written
December 6, 1967, Mr. Barkstall wrote:
“Voluntarism should be a two-way street, but any way you slice it as many as
74% to 93% of the Negroes now attending Washington School will have no
choice as to whether or not they attend the “best” elementary school in the
district. The “model school” concept for Washington School is merely a
pacifier to the white community and has no moral basis in fact, either real
or implied.”
Veronica:
In another statement of concern written on December 13, 1967, Mr. Barkstall
wrote:
“A lion’s share of the volunteers will no doubt come from racially liberal
homes; thus the cross section of the community for which we strive cannot be
assured….In this racially balanced school the number of Negroes able to
attend is entirely dependent upon the number of whites willing to volunteer.
The option of volunteering or not, on the part of whites, weakens the valid
argument that racial isolation is detrimental to all of our youngsters and
the valuable opportunity to effectuate some positive change in attitudes in
the area of human relations.”
Veronica:
Parent Julian Rappaport agrees with the criticism.
Mr. Julian Rappaport
So Washington School was declared not a neighborhood school. So anybody who
wanted to go there, including neighborhood kids, would have to apply to go
there. It’s not clear to me how many neighborhood kids or neighborhood
families understood this and not very many neighborhood families would sign
their kids up to go to Washington School. I think, not realizing that they
had to sign up to go there, and plus Champaign was already bussing large
numbers of African American kids to other schools so they thought that they
would just get bussed to whatever school they were assigned. So people like
Mrs. Wesley and other staff members would actually have to go out into the
neighborhood and recruit kids to sign up to come to Washington School.
Tiera:
Community activist, John Lee Johnson.
Mr. John Lee Johnson
There’s nothing bad with chartered or other specific schools, as long as
those schools do not lock out children who reside within those
neighborhoods. One of the reasons that we included Washington School in our
racial complaint that was filed in ’97 against the Champaign schools is
because it locked out the children who lived close to the school and they
were not allowed to attend that school.
But, if we would have been a little bit more intelligent we may have been
able to get better schools in northeast Champaign with more white kids
attending those schools instead of having a situation where structurally all
of our kids were uprooted and sent to schools in southwest Champaign.
(music)
Kenwood Elementary School Segment
Tiera: -
Black children from Northeast Champaign were bused to elementary schools in
south Champaign. Kenwood Elementary School was one such school. In 1968, it
was about 98% white. Nearly all of the black children who attended Kenwood
were bussed in.
Rose Gammill, principal of Kenwood at the time, talked about the changes in
this excerpt from a 1969 documentary.
Principal Gammill:
Well I feel busing is a good thing for the school and for all of the
children, the children that live here and for the children that are bussed
in. And perhaps some of these children have never known black children
before and they’re being, sitting in close contact with them and playing
with them and finding out they’re all children just as they are. I think
there is a big advantage for the children that are being bussed in. They are
not, they have a low opinion of themselves and the most important thing for
a child to learn is a good self concept. And most of these children do not
have a good self concept. Of course we have children here who do not have a
good self concept, too.
In order for children to learn and do well in school they must think they
are able to do that and the teacher’s expectation is very important. If the
teacher doesn’t expect much from children she won’t get much.
Tiera
One of the concerns raised about busing black children from segregated
schools was the expectations of white teachers. Again, Max Beberman,
University of Illinois professor.
Professor Max Beberman
I think it is a common problem to find teachers who expect lower achievement
from black children than they are actually capable of.
There have been some interesting experiments conducted on the West Coast
where investigators told teachers in advance that certain ones of their
children would become academic bloomers and in point of fact there was no
evidence to substantiate this, but those children who the teachers thought
to be academic bloomers, did in fact, bloom academically. There is a lot to
be said about the expectations of teachers with respect to the achievement
of students.
Tiera:
Here again is principal Gammill of Kenwood Elementary School in 1969.
Principal Gammill
It’s hard for a middle class teacher to understand all children . Her life
is quite different from a child who comes from a home who doesn’t have food,
clothing and the parents aren’t there. But Champaign has done a good job in
trying to educate their teachers. We’ve had workshops this summer, workshops
last summer trying to get teachers ready.
Tiera:
Some of the workshops principal Gammil refers to were called: “Little Black
Sambo Revisited.”
Veronica:
“Down Home: The Southern Way of Life in the Ghetto.”
Tiera:
And, “Educating the Negro Child: Progress or Poison.”
According to a report from the Unit 4 School District, about one-fourth, or
250 teachers and administrators attended the workshops.
Mrs. Suggs, principal at Washington School, remembers some of the workshops.
Mrs. Suggs
We had a group of teachers that met together and they gave us seminars and
some of the kinds of things – gave us both positive information and
information that was correct and information that was probably a little bit
tainted the way that - as perceptions. But it was to work on teachers’
perceptions because their perception was that they were going to get all
these inferior kids coming into the school and it wasn’t necessarily true.
(music transition)
Desegregation Segment
Veronica:
Black children in Champaign’s mostly segregated northeast end were bussed to
racially balance the elementary schools. Harold Baker was chairman of the
committee that created the desegregation plan.
Mr. Harold Baker
We didn’t want tokenism, we didn’t want two or three to come. We wanted to
balance it in accordance with the – or in conformity with the makeup of the
community.
Tiera:
John Lee Johnson was one of a small group of black people in Champaign who
opposed bussing to racially balance Champaign’s schools. He opposed the way
in which school districts across the country created their desegregation
plans.
Mr. John Lee Johnson
What the white communities did in our community – and they did in most
places in the country – that they tore down the schools in the black
community – they closed them, and then therefore forced the black community
to attend their schools. Those schools that they had that were old - as our
schools were old – they simply tore them down and built new schools. But
they built these new schools in their neighborhoods or on agricultural
sites, which ultimately they built neighborhoods around.
Black people thought then it was a good deal because your kids were going to
be able to sit down in the same room with white children and they thought it
was a very – it was not a hard price to pay, that white kids were allowed to
walk to their schools and blacks would have to be bussed to theirs. No one
talked about homework time, no one talked about activities before school,
activities after school – those kids of discussions did not go into it.
(music transition)
Lottie Switzer Segment
Veronica:
Dereke Clements no longer attended his neighborhood Washington Elementary
School. He was bussed to Lottie Switzer Elementary School as part of the
desegregation plan.
Mr. Dereke Clements
It was a mixed bag of nuts with the teachers because as a youngster when we
were first integrated into the school systems with white students, the white
teachers had extremely low expectations of black students.
I had French at first and this teacher – Mr. Pool – he didn’t want to teach
black kids at all. I mean he was just – you could just tell it you know,
because with other students in the class he took the time, he’s speaking all
nice and everything and he’s giving explanations and stuff, and then when it
comes to one of us black students asking questions it was cut and dry and
quick and this and that. I got out of that class and I said, “Listen, I
can’t deal with this.” I went to Spanish.
Tiera
Before Dereke Clements was bussed to Lottie Switzer School, he was tested by
students from the University of Illinois.
Mr. Dereke Clements
Well I remember when we were tested that wasn’t that happy of a moment
because as a youngster you’re told that you’re going to be taken and you’re
going to be put over into the white schools and it was an uneasy feeling
because it’s like, “Yeah…so I gotta leave all my friends over here…and I
have to go to the white school with white kids and they don’t like me and I
see what goes on TV and I see what they’re doing to the people in Selma and
the riots and I see what – how they’re treating people on the bus with the
water hoses and the dogs sickin’ em on them and a lot of this stuff’s
happening down south,” but the feeling that you get is like, “Well I’m going
to be bussed to this strange school with white kids – are they going to –
you know, are we going to get along?”
My mother never explained the testing to us, she just explained that we were
being tested at school for a reason and that if we tested high, if we got
good scores then we would get to go to the really nice white schools. And
when we got over to the white school – especially Switzer – it was a whole
new world. I mean it had a little bit of everything – the books were brand
new books, you had pens and pencils whenever you needed them, you had plenty
of paper…you know, when in the black schools you’d be scrounging for stuff,
your books are old and tattered you know.
Charnise
Well when you went to Switzer School, what was it like be bussed?
Mr. Dereke Clements
To be bussed it was a weird feeling because you had all the – you had the
black kids and we were the ones who were I guess you call some of the chosen
ones – you know, who were chosen to go to this white school and um so we
felt very special. So you felt special but then again it was an eerie kind
of feeling because once we got there and things began to settle in it was a
feeling as though, “Wow, it’s not like being at the other school. The
teachers really don’t care for us that much and they talk to us – some of us
real different and then some of us they talk to really harsh,” and that was
not a good feeling.
Charnise: How did your social life change as a result of the change in
schools?
Mr. Dereke Clements
My social life changed tremendously because now being bussed to an all white
school I made new white friends now and your white friends who you’re now
meeting – a lot of them you find out they are certainly not as intelligent
as you are but you’re led to believe that all white kids are wonderful and
bright and superstars and they have these brilliant minds because you’re
watching television, you see this “Leave It to Beaver” you see the white
families you know and they’re this fantastic family with the smart little
kids and everything and then you get into school and into reality and you
find out they just…got some really backward white folks.
Veronica
Ruby Hunt is a parent whose three children were bussed when Champaign’s
elementary schools were “racially balanced” in 1968. Mrs. Hunt grew up in
Tennessee and attended all-black schools. Bussing was part of her childhood.
Mrs. Hunt
We was bussed – we was bussed all the way past the white schools to a all
black high school in McKenzie, Tennessee. I was bussed like about almost 20
miles each way.
If you had a determination to go to school that’s what you had to do. You
had to get on the bus – it wasn’t even daylight – and then go to the little
town, transfer to another bus, and then go to school and when you got back
you got on the bus and then you didn’t get off again until night. So it was
sun up to sun down if you wanted to go to school and that’s what we had to
do. As a young person I was determined that I was going to school. So that’s
what I had to do so that’s what I did.
Tiera
Mrs. Hunt believed that the benefits of busing for her children outweighed
the costs.
Mrs. Hunt
I had no problem with them being bussed. The reason I had no problem with
them being bussed – I wanted my children to have the same opportunities as
any other child had. My child didn’t really have to sit in the same
classroom with the white child but I wanted them to have the same material,
the same books - not have outdated, worn out books, the same books. I had no
problems with the teachers at Washington School – they was very good
teachers – very good teachers but they was at a handicap because they didn’t
have the materials that they needed to work with. I was the kind of mom that
was at the school at the time so when they did integrate I was over at the
school every day at lunchtime – every day.
Brooke
How did white teachers treat your children?
Mrs. Ruby Hunt
Well I think most of them treated my children pretty good because they knew
that I was going to be at the schools, they knew that I was going to know
what was happening, what was going on…so if you want your children treated
fair you have to get involved. That’s the key. You have to get involved and
I stayed involved. 21:45
Mrs. Maudie Edwards
I taught everything. I taught reading, writing, spelling, math, even
singing. I taught everything.
Veronica:
Maudie Edwards taught at Washington School when it was a neighborhood school
and shortly after it became a magnet school.
Tiera:
Mrs. Edwards was eventually transferred from Washington School to Robeson
Elementary School in south Champaign. Robeson was approximately 98% white at
the time.
Were there any black teachers still at Washington School when you
transferred to Robson?
Mrs. Edwards
Yes there was. You know, they split us up – they left – I think they might
have left three teachers there – black. And then they brought – well it
could have been more than that. They brought some of the white teachers over
or hired new teachers.
Veronica:
According to school district documents, during the first year of the
desegregation plan, all continuing elementary school teachers were first
assigned or re-assigned to schools other than Washington School so that
there would be nonwhite teachers at each elementary school wherever
possible. Teachers with, quote, “skills in working with pupils with variant
backgrounds should also be judiciously distributed.”
Tiera:
After teachers received their assignments, they could ask to be re-assigned
to Washington School. There were 10 factors to be considered for selection
to teach at Washington. Mrs. Edwards ended up at Robson School.
Mrs. Edwards
Was the population at Robson school different from Washington School?
Yes it was. It was mostly white because it was a lot of walk-ins and there
were no black people living out there at that time. I can remember a kid –
one little boy that was bussed from Washington - he was so lost out there
and I felt so sorry for him because he wanted to cry and about time for the
bus to leave you could not teach him anything. Well, right after lunch he
would stand at the window and watch for the bus because he was afraid that
he might be left out there in that area that he knew nothing about. He’d
stand on the playground and he’d just look around. I’d watch him out there –
he was just so lonesome to be so far away from home. It really did bother
him. Most of the kids – I don’t – I didn’t see any that was really upset
about leaving their parents – I mean being that far away from home.
Tiera
Were there ever times that you just wanted to quit your teaching career
because of a white parent and their comments?
Mrs. Edwards
No, no. No I always had good answers for my white parents. I remember one
parent, they came – she had moved into the area – she’d moved I don’t know
from where, and the principal had given me her son and she of course didn’t
know I was black. She was so upset that I was a black – she just turned –
her color changed. She didn’t know what to say and she really didn’t want
him in there but there was nothing – the principal was with her, I was
there, and she was - really didn’t – she had no idea how this child was
going to react to me. And of course the child was afraid. The child sat
there and she looked at me like she thought I was an animal or something.
She followed – her eyes followed me around because they had not lived in the
area long and they probably had not – maybe the child hadn’t ever been that
close to a black person.
Music transition
Tiera:
Blacks could not live where they wanted to in Champaign. According to a
report issued in 1967 by the school district, integration in housing began
around 1957 with the help of the Council for Community Integration. The
Council worked on integrating all-white neighborhoods and worked with
individual black families to find them housing.
After Blacks picketed real estate agencies for their practices in 1963 and
1964. Barr and Squires became the first white real estate agency to state
that they would “show houses to Negroes.”
Tiera:
Alvin Griggs moved from the South to Champaign in 1963 where he taught for
29 years.
Mr. Griggs
The changing of the housing situation, which allowed blacks to purchase
homes all over the community, had the biggest effect on me and when that
happened, blacks started moving all over the community. And they moved out
in the Centennial area and other areas in the community and that made a
difference in the schools. You didn’t have to worry about bussing. They
lived in the community.
music transition
Centennial Segment
Veronica:
There was only one public high school in Champaign, Champaign Senior High
School, later known as Central High School. Then, in 1967, a second high
school, Centennial High School was built in the southwest part of Champaign.
Tiera:
Lila Jeanne Eichelberger was one of the first teachers at Centennial High
School.
Mrs. Eichelberger
We moved into an incomplete building, we had no cafeteria, we had no
gymnasium, our offices were makeshift offices and classrooms and there was
only a gravel road from Jefferson up to Centennial. There were no streets to
it. We were right out in the middle of a cornfield.
Tiera
Mr. Griggs was a physical education teacher, a coach and later an
administrator at Centennial High School.
Mr. Griggs
The kids from the north end were bussed to Centennial High School. And many
of the people in the white community thought it was going to be the white
school in Champaign for the elite and that Central was going to be – Central
High School now – was going to be the city school for the kids in the city.
Well that didn’t turn out like that.
Yakera: How did the school prepare African Americans for bussing?
Mr. Al Davis
They didn’t. <laughs>
Tiera:
Al Davis was a counselor at Centennial High School when it first opened and
later became a principal.
Mr. Davis
My sense was that there were some people – I wouldn’t say all – but there
were some people who kind of expected that to be a high school just for
those people in southwest Champaign. I don’t think they ever – some people
ever thought that that was going to be an integrated school. There was
really no preparation, or at least none that I know of, made in terms of
preparing the students for being bussed to Centennial.
Crystal (Clements) Womble
I think some of the challenges once you got there was just to um…kind of
prove that you had a right to be there. You know, you were there to learn,
you should be afforded the same opportunities that everybody else.
Veronica:
Crystal Clements was bussed to Centennial from Northeast Champaign.
Mrs. Womble
And I think some of the challenges – you know kids…they were wondering,
“Well who were we and what were we doing there?” and we were wondering the
same thing… Mr. Griggs was there. He was one of the dean of students so you
know, I knew him and he knew my family from B.T. Washington days. So you
still had some people that were in a sense kind of looking out for you,
making sure you were where you was supposed to be, were doing the right
thing, if you had concerns you could always come to those key people and
then I think there were other teachers and counselors who maybe consciously
or subconsciously weren’t quite sure how they were going to handle having
black kids in the school and what that meant overall.
Yakera
Why do you think there weren’t that many African Americans in the higher
classes?
Mr. Davis
Um, well I think a variety of reasons.
Tiera:
Al Davis, former counselor and principal at Centennial.
Mr. Davis
You have to remember that segregation that existed in the Champaign schools
prior to 1967 was a time when African Americans were participating in
segregated schools. And segregation carries a pretty heavy price and it
affects aspirations, what people want to do, what they feel they can do, and
so all of the things that - both in terms of not only taking courses but
more importantly feeling that going to college, taking advanced level
courses was a thing to do - that simply didn’t exist in Champaign at that
time and as a result students came to Centennial and they were not prepared
in terms of having taken the courses that would have prepared them for a
college bound track and they had not been encouraged and motivated to take
those kinds of courses and to pursue careers that would require a college
education.
Tiera:
Being bussed to Centennial High School made it difficult to attend after
school activities.
Ms. Jackie Smith
We had to get the bus and go home. A lot of parents were poor and they
didn’t have a second car or they didn’t have – both parents were working and
the mother couldn’t come and you know pick up the child or we couldn’t stay
after to get tutoring or so forth because we had to take that bus to get
home.
Tiera:
Jackie Smith attended Centennial for two years. She was the only black
cheerleader on the squad and was also on the Student Council.
Ms. Smith
Because of the way that I was raised, my mother taught me to accept every
situation that was dealt to you – whether it was bad or good - to deal with
it as a challenge. Which meant she was also challenged because I was a
cheerleader and I was in Student Council – I was president of the Student
Council – and it was just my nature to be active in school so therefore I
just participated in things that – we didn’t even have money to buy me
sweaters for the cheerleading and stuff but my mother and father would work
extra because they knew that they had taught me not to let racism be a
barrier
Veronica:
Coach Griggs remembers the challenges faced by students who were bussed and
wanted to be in after-school activities.
Mr. Griggs
First we asked for late busses and they started running late busses around
5:00. Then after the late busses we put in – when they started the MTDs –
MTD – we asked for tokens and then we would give the students tokens and
they would use the bus token. And then we did something that was illegal –
would you believe that? We got some old cars and we left them behind the
building with the keys in them so when they finished their practice they
would get in their cars and drive them home and drive them back the next
morning. And the coaches would take them back. And the coaches would take
some of the students home – I did. A lot of the coaches would drive students
home.
(music transition)
Tiera:
Lila Jeanne Eichelberger taught vocational education for more than 20 years
at Centennial and made visits to her students’ homes.
Yakera
What was Champaign like in 1968? What was the climate like and what were the
challenges and struggles?
Mrs. Eichelberger
Things were rather tense. I visited all of the homes of my students and
sometimes they would tell me – now you can’t go here or you can’t go there,
as long as you’re with us it’s ok. When a white woman went into the African
American community they always would – I think some of the people wondered
why they were there.
Veronica:
Blacks were already agitating locally for change when Centennial opened.
There were boycotts of stores such as JC Penneys for refusing to hire blacks
as store clerks. There were pickets of downtown department stores for
refusing to allow blacks to sit at the lunch counter although they could buy
from the store. Some of Mrs. Eichelberger’s black students joined the
protests.
Mrs. Eichelberger
Well they just came in and said, “Guess what we did yesterday.” And I said,
“Well, what did you do yesterday?” And so they said, “We sat at the lunch
counter at Grant’s.” And I said, “Well what happened?” And they said,
“Nothing!” I said, “Good!”
Tiera:
Dereke Clements attended Centennial High School and graduated in 1975.
Mr. Clements:
Integration had already taken place. The racial make-up was predominantly
white and the white kids that lived in that area – their mothers and fathers
owned land. A lot of their mothers and fathers were farmers because they
drove tractors and they would talk about the farm life and we knew about the
farm life but our parents didn’t own big huge acres of land. Some of their
mothers and fathers would be business people – they may work downtown, they
may work for the city, or they may work for the University of Illinois and
then you had the black kids who were bused into Centennial. Centennial was
this brand new, beautiful, differently built school and stuff. But the
feeling there was that, “You black kids, you don’t live here. We live here –
you’re on the other side of town. You guys just come here.” So there was a
very high degree of racial unrest there. 54:14
I got along very well with the students and the teachers there because we –
and I think it was – I’d love for it to go down in history – at Centennial
we had a small group of African Americans – boys and girls – and we had like
a friendship with another group of white boys and girls and it was true – it
was really true friendship. We hung with some of the white kids, as friends,
and they hung with us. We got a lot of flack from some of the other students
and stuff like that but we would participate in activities outside of the
school life with some of our white friends and they would participate in
activities with us as well.
We’d have a great time and that happened to be one of the happiest moments
of my life because we had white friends and we would go out and have a great
time. And we weren’t thinking about, “Oh yeah well you know – you’re white,
you’re black,” it wasn’t about that. It was just about living your life to
the fullest as a youngster.
Tiera:
Despite some interracial friendships, there were riots at Centennial in the
1970s. The people we interviewed, former teachers, students and the
assistant principal share their memories of what happened during one of the
riots.
Mr. Clements
When we pulled up to Centennial on the bus there was a group of around – I’d
say maybe around 25 white kids and they were waiting to whoop our butts.
They had bats, they had sticks, they had little chains, one or two of them I
remember seeing they had brass knuckles and whatever else they had – they
had weapons and they were waiting for us with the weapons in their hands –
waiting for the black kids to get off the bus cause they was gonna whoop
our…a-s-s.
Mr. Griggs
I was coaching and was told that some kids were coming to school – white
kids were coming to school with ax handles and they did. And I think the
administration called for police to come out and give us a back up but the
police decided to go take the Savoy route and they didn’t show up!
Mr. Davis
I was an assistant principal and I received a call. There were some white
students with – whatever – bats or boards or clubs…some kind of quote
“weapons,” and they were standing around their cars or standing around their
trucks and so that they were visible. And so when that occurred I
immediately called the police to report that and that only took a moment and
then I went downstairs and I – to the south end of the building and noticed
that there were no police cars there and so I put in a second call to the
police and then I went outside.
Ms. Smith
We saw all of these grown men with hard hats on and we were confused…we were
like “What is that about?” You know they were fathers, they were
construction workers, they were – they weren’t just kids but there were
students mixed with them.
Mrs. Eichelberger
A group of white males met the bus of African American students and weren’t
going to let them come in. And the African Americans were more clever at
handling situations like that and so they took over.
Mr. Clements
The white boys came and they forced the doors open. The black kids, we got
off the bus because we felt we were more vulnerable being on the bus cause
then they might have thrown rocks or bricks at the windows and stuff like
that. … we got off the bus only into the waiting arms of white kids who were
swinging at us with bats and fists and stuff like that.
A lot of the kids who got – who were getting off of the bus were swung at
and hit and grabbed, pushed down, maybe kicked – and it was like down south.
You know, it was like, “Hey, everybody gonna get a little tag on these
niggas,” excuse my language because that’s what they called us.
Mr. Griggs
So when the black kids found out what was going on they did take some of the
ax handles and they went in the building and…very upset. Now they did have a
few kids that were injured with those ax handles. One seriously injured.
Mrs. Eichelberger
Well it was a frightening experience to see people coming down the hall and
throwing garbage cans through glass plate windows and things like that. I
never felt in any danger.
Ms. Smith
It was just such chaos and they had locked the doors. The teachers who were
in the classroom with the white children and some black children had locked
the doors to keep people out. They were trying to be safe. So on my way to
my classroom one of the teachers was into a fight and he got his glasses
knocked off of his eyes and I picked up his glasses and he was hurt. And I
got expelled from school – not expelled sorry – kicked out from – out of
school for being outside when they had closed the doors. It was just such
penalties to being black at that particular time and being bussed that it
just carried such negativism to it that it was just – it was a hurtful
experience.
Mr. Clements
There was a distinct difference in the discipline that was given to white
students and to black students. A lot of the black students were expelled
from school, some of the white students were expelled for just a few days,
some of them were not and it was like day and night.
I don’t remember what the situation was – I think something had happened the
day before with one of the young black girls. I think she got into a fight
or had – was arguing or something – something had happened with a white girl
– with a black girl and one of the white – I think one of the white girls or
something like that.
Mr. Davis
It was the feeling that - among white students - that African American
students were not being disciplined. That they were getting away with doing
things and nothing was happening. And so they were going to take matters
into their own hands and try to resolve whatever the problem was.
Ms. Smith
I think the straw that broke the camels back was when one of the African
American boys had gone with a white girl. And that ensued an argument and a
fight and hatred. 7:37
Mr. Clements
It was not a good – it wasn’t a good feeling. It was a very bad feeling to
have to be forced to fight and – but we did fight and we kicked some ass –
I’m sorry to say…but it was not good. A lot of people got hurt.
Mr. Griggs
And they closed the school down for several days and had community meetings
– and I attended all of those community meetings. They were mostly white and
I sat in on those meetings. And there was some very negative comments and
some things that – oh, I guess I didn’t feel very comfortable with but I was
able to sit through those meetings.
Tiera:
After the riots, the principal was fired and Al Davis became the new
principal. He hired Mr. Griggs to be assistant principal and tried to build
new relationships and trust with local African American communities.
Mr. Davis
I started going to meetings in homes – I would have coffee in homes – in
African American homes. I’d find a parent and say why don’t you invite some
of your neighbors, some of your friends who have children at Centennial and
I’ll come out, meet with them, talk with them.
(Music transition)
Dr. Will Patterson:
It’s been nearly 40 years since Champaign ended de facto segregation of its
public
Schools. How is that decision perceived today?
Mr. Dave Downey
I don’t know that that’s ever been absolutely proven to this day that simply
the act of integration enhances the educational quality. I think it enhances
the socialization quality but I’m not so sure that the same amount of money
and energy spent in the neighborhood school might have accomplished the same
thing.
Mrs. Womble
I think the key is that everybody needs to have equal access and I think
that’s what we miss a lot of times. You know, it’s not so much where you go
to school at but the fact that you get the quality education that you’re
entitled to get.
Dr. Will Patterson:
Herb Stevens and John Lee Johnson, along with four African-American parents
with children in the Unit 4 School District, sued the district in 1997 over
the achievement gap between African-American students and white students.
John Lee Johnson:
Mr. John Lee Johnson
We quite simply did not understand then and we don’t understand now the
impacts of a desegregated educational system. There appears to be such an
inherent difference between black kids and white kids that teachers simply
can’t figure out this difference and can’t teach that difference equally.
It wasn’t ever a question of inferiority. It could have been in white
people’s minds – some white people – but that was not a question. There were
learning years difference between the two races. Whites scored more better
in math, languages, other areas of curriculum than blacks did. But that had,
in essence, really nothing to do with the segregated schools. That had more
to do with the poverty of black kids. The reason for that is, is that now
that we have deseg schools and black schools are attending newer facilities
with better curriculums, that gap – that learning gap still exists – 30, 40
years later that learning gap still exists. But we didn’t know that then. We
didn’t know that. We assumed that the root of the problem had all to do with
the buildings, it had all to do with the curriculum, it had all to do with
the teaching core, and in fact it had nothing to do with that. It had to do
with the poverty that the kids lived in.
Because there’s a real difference in preparation. Is that white families
spend far more time in preparing their children for school than black
families. So as a result of that difference in preparations, when white kids
get there, they can be one, two, or even three mean years ahead of their
black counterpart. And so if you’re teaching a class to the midlevel of that
class, and the midlevel is the kids are three years advanced to the kids who
are not, then that means the kids who are less than that are always going to
be behind because you can’t teach to them. You’re teaching to those kids who
are able to learn at that rate. And black families have not figured that
out.
Today there are different issues, you know. There are different issues.
We’re not talking about structurally tearing down buildings and all of that
there, we’re talking about achievement, achieving, learning gaps. We talked
about it then. We talked about it then. But the gap then – we thought –
would be closed by the desegregation of the schools. We assumed that just by
getting these kids into these buildings in south Champaign, that it was
miraculously going to improve their learning skills.
Danielle:
After you sued the Unit 4 school district what kind of changes occurred?
Mr. Johnson:
Very little. There were changes that occurred. We got the court to overlook
the school district, which it is now, we have a monitor who serves the court
in auditing what the schools are doing or not doing and reporting that to
the court, we have a policy implementation committee that’s made up of
citizens, school officials, and a university professor of education who
helps in interpreting and setting policies and guidelines for the schools
towards the consent decree. But I – you know – I’m looking at it as – how
many kids are actually improving in their learning? How many kids are not
being dumped into special education? How many kids are not being put into
alternate education? How many kids are being sent to upper level courses?
Those numbers are not changing. We’re into 2½ years and those numbers have
not changed.
Tiera:
So the desegregation process that begun in 1968 is still going on. The
achievement gap between African American students and white students is as
wide, if not wider. Putting African-American children on a bus and driving
them to the other side of town did not accomplish all that people had hoped.
Veronica:
Our public schools still need something More Than A Bus Ride.
I’m Veronica Martin of Central High School.
Tiera:
And I’m Tiera Campbell of Central High School. We hope that this program has
challenged you to make connections between what’s happening in our schools
today and what happened then.
Music for credits
Veronica:
“More Than a Bus Ride: Desegregating Champaign Schools” is a production of
The Youth Media Workshop, a collaboration between WILL and Innovative Ed.
More information, including full interviews, transcripts and desegregation
documents may be found on our website as well as information about us, the
students who created this program. Go to will.uiuc.edu, that’s will.uiuc.edu.
Tiera:
This program was created by Yakera Barbee, LaPorsha Bailey, Jamie and
Jasmine Brown, Tiera Campbell, Gabrielle Ceaser, Abrecia Cotton, Asia Gross,
Brooke Harris, Veronica Martin, Lawanda Miller, Jacinda Rogers, Danielle
Russell, Shanika Taylor and Charnise Whittaker.
We researched the desegregation process, conducted the interviews and edited
stories with guidance from WILL.
Veronica:
“More Than a Bus Ride” was co-directed and co-produced by Kimberlie Kranich
of WILL and Dr. Will Patterson of Innovative Ed. Technical instructor and
finishing editor Dave Dickey. Franklin Middle School teachers Shameem Rakha
and Sheri Murphy. Website support by Jack Brighton.
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