The Shadow
 |
LIVING HISTORY — Clifton Forge resident Etrula Morre, left, addresses students at Alleghany High School during a Black History Month Presentation. Students learned about Black history through a “Living History Project” in February. Moore is a retired teacher. (ACPS Photo)
LANDMARK CASE — Mallory Thompson, a social studies teacher at Alleghany High School, outlines a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that led to the segregation of schools in the United States. (ACPS Photo)
Students at Alleghany High School learned that Black history goes beyond February.
“Black history is really American history,” said Marie Fitzpatrick, who serves on the Covington City School Board.
Fitzpatrick was joined by local residents Linda Cook, Etrula Moore, and Elmira Twitty in making a Black history presentation to students in Mallory Thompson’s social studies class at AHS on Wednesday, February 23, 2022. Their presentation was titled “Black History in the Highlands and Beyond.”
Throughout the month of February, students in Alleghany County Public Schools and Covington City Public Schools joined in the nationwide celebration of Black History Month. The month focused on celebrating the achievements of African Americans and recognizing their achievements in U.S. history.
“There are so many Black inventors, musicians, educators, doctors, and scientists that have done things for America. Necessity is the mother of invention, and that is the reason the Black man has invented a lot of things to help him in his work. The Black man invented all kinds of household things that we use all the time today. But it’s not told. We don’t know,” said Moore, who retired as a public school teacher in Alleghany County and Clifton Forge.
Thompson wants her students to know the stories and achievements of African Americans in the Alleghany Highlands. That’s why she came up with the idea of holding a “Living History Project” during Black History Month. As part of the project, speakers were invited to her class to tell their stories and celebrate the lives of African Americans who helped change the course of history.
In addition to Fitzpatrick, Moore, Twitty and Cook, the slate of speakers included Jerome Johnson Jr., Dr. C. Hopkins, Montell Watson, Bosco Williams, and Tamela Preston. Preston, who now resides in Clifton Forge, is a former chair of the Covington City School Board.
“Some attended via Zoom, and all were recorded so we can forever utilize these as a Living History of our area. Former athletes spoke on how sports helped them focus on their studies, former teachers talked about how students inspired them, and others shared their stories from now closed schools. All guests spoke about kindness and overcoming obstacles. These speakers left our students with goals and knowledge that will not be easily forgotten,” Thompson said.
Cook, Moore, Twitty and Fitzpatrick shared their life experiences from the integration of public schools in the 1960s. Integration, also known as desegregation, began to occur after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954. In the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., the high court unanimously ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
Despite the federal ruling, integration was met with immediate opposition from some people, especially in the south.
“There were places that still would not cooperate. In the Highlands, if you wanted to go to a white school, you had to apply,” said Fitzpatrick, who grew up in nearby White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
In Virginia, a policy of “massive resistance” was declared by Senator Harry F. Byrd and it led to the closing of nine schools in four counties in the Commonwealth between 1958 and 1959; schools in Prince Edward County remained closed until 1964. On February 2, 1959, Stratford Junior High School (now H-B Woodlawn High School) in Arlington was the first public school in Virginia to be integrated. Schools in Clifton Forge were integrated in 1965, followed by Covington in 1966.
Prior to 1965, Black students in Clifton Forge attended Jefferson High School, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The athletic teams were known as the “Dragons,” and the school’s archrival was Watson High School in Covington. Watson’s nickname was the “Hornets.”
The football teams played their games on Saturday, while the white teams played on the traditional Friday nights. The annual football game between Jefferson and Watson was known as the “Mountain City Classic.”
“Jefferson won early on but Watson became dominant in the latter years,” Moore said.
Moore shared her vivid memories of Jefferson High School’s last year in 1965.
“We were proud. A lot of the Jefferson High School alumni went on to become what they wanted to be and do good things in the world,” she said.
The school was closely aligned with two nearby churches — First Baptist and Main Street Baptist. The churches and school served as community centers for Black residents.
“The churches and the school were the center of our community. The teachers really instilled a sense of pride is us and they taught us to respect others while inspiring us to do something with our lives. We were very thankful for that,” Moore said.
Cook attended Watson High School through her sophomore year, and then made the transition to Covington High School.
“In 1965, they decided to give Black students a choice, but most remained at Watson,” she said. “In 1966, we had no choice. They closed Watson High School and integrated the schools.”
Twitty chronicled the story of her cousin, Ronnie Holloway, who was the first Black student to apply for admission to Covington High School. She said Holloway made the adjustment to attending an all-white school and he became a star athlete on the football field and the basketball court. In football, he played under the tutelage of Coach “Boodie” Albert, who remains a legend at CHS.
“He was proud, very proud,” Twitty said of her cousin’s experiences at CHS.
Fitzpatrick said the stories they shared with the students were made possible by African-Americans who stood strong during the Civil Rights Movement to help blaze the trail for integration.
She told of the Little Rock Nine, a group of Black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test for the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. the Board Education decision.
On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, the governor called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the Black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. The events in Little Rock brought national attention to the Civil Rights movement.
And there was Ruby Bridges who was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Franz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November, 14, 1960.
“I challenge each of you to stand up for people regardless, said Fitzpatrick, who experienced the transition to segregated schools in Greenbrier County, W.Va. She graduated from Greenbrier East High School.
“I don’t think I had any bad experiences in school, but sometimes people didn’t want to set beside me,” said Fitzpatrick, who went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business from West Virginia University in Morgantown.
Cook said her experiences from the 1960s gave her an ever-growing appreciation for kindness. She urged students to carry out acts of kindness to show other people that they care. Kindness, she said, is sorely needed in today’s world.
Schools in Alleghany County and Covington held numerous programs and activities to highlight Black History Month in February.
