Finding the Lost Year: What Happened When Little Rock Closed Its Public Schools

NOTES

Document Eight On May 5, 1959, after a year of closed public high schools, three members of the six-member LRSD Board fired forty-four public school employees in an illegal session. Thirty-nine whites and five blacks were fired, including principals, teachers, and three secretaries, all of whom were suspected of being in support of racial integration. Document created from Arkansas Gazette, May 10, 1959, Sec A, “Here’s Background Data on 44 Purged from School Jobs by Three Directors.” Purge List (Arkansas Gazette, May 10, 1959) * Denotes a refusal to sign Act 10 † Denotes reassignment CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL J. W. Matthews Principal J. O. Powell* Vice Principal for Boys Elizabeth Huckaby Vice Principal for Girls Juanita Brietz Secretary Alice Ann Coffman Secretary Harriet Dietz Secretary Helen Conrad Mathematics Pauline Dunn Biology Grace Dupree Home Economics Abby Foster Latin Ernest Gephardt* Vocational/Printing Doris Glenn English Irene Harrell Spanish Orlana Hensley Guidance Alma Jeffries Mathematics Nyna Keeton Distributive Education Loreen Lee Latin Shirley McGalin Speech Cassie Moren Physical Education Jennie Perkins History Christine Poindexter Mathematics Frances Rudd Home Economics Shirley Stancil Guidance Margaret Stewart Social Science/Guidance Kathleen Taylor English 196 ■ APPENDIX Donna Wells English Susie West English FOREST HEIGHTS JUNIOR HIGH J. Harvey Walthall Principal Donald Bratton Latin SOUTHWEST JUNIOR HIGH Alice Glover English WEST SIDE JUNIOR HIGH Lois Grimmett Physical Education Eugene Keeton Physical Education Margaret Reiman† Mathematics Harvey F. Milner† Biology CENTENNIAL SCHOOL Imogene Hines Principal FOREST PARK SCHOOL Frances Wood Principal FRANKLIN SCHOOL Opal Middleton Principal PARHAM SCHOOL Sidney Reid Principal WILLIAMS SCHOOL Jo Ann Henry† Mathematics MANN HIGH SCHOOL LeRoy Christophe Principal B. T. Shelton* Bricklaying DUNBAR JUNIOR HIGH Mary Gaines* Home Economics Rowland Smith Social Sciences Zerita Tate* Mathematics APPENDIX ■ 197 Document Nine This advertisement by the Mothers’ League, a segregationist group, for the May 25, 1959, recall vote, solicited support for the recall of the three more moderate members of the Little Rock School District Board and asked for votes against the removal of the more avowed segregationists from the sixmember public school board. The vote narrowly recalled McKinley, Rowland, and Laster, and was a victory for the STOP campaign and the moderates. Courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission. 198 ■ APPENDIX Document Ten The statement signed by 936 former Central High students in support for their purged teachers, distributed with a cover letter from Principal Jess Matthews on June 2, 1959. Courtesy of Jo Ann Henry Royster, mathematics teacher from Central High. DECLARATION We, as former students of Little Rock Central High School, join in protest of what we feel to be the malicious and unjustified reprisal of our teachers: (1) Because, they are directly responsible for having built over a period of years one of the top thirty-eight high schools in America; (2) Because, they have produced more than twenty National Merit Scholars for each of the last two years; (3) Because, they have unselfishly given many years of loyal and devoted service to both their students and the community of Little Rock as teachers and as citizens; (4) Because, regardless of their personal opinions during the integration controversy, to which they are entitled as Americans, they have, without qualification or exception, acted only with their students’ welfare and interest as their primary concern; (5) Because, these teachers have made it possible for us, as their former students, to share a feeling of pride, honor, and privilege to have attended their classes; (6) Because, these teachers, with whom we have been personally associated, have dedicated their lives to molding our character and developing us as future citizens of this, our free and democratic America; We firmly pledge our support to their cause, and give our unqualified endorsement to these teachers, who have exhibited unimpeachable character as teachers and as citizens of Arkansas. With abiding faith in our democratic principles . . . This petition was signed by nine hundred and thirty-six (936) of your former students. APPENDIX ■ 199 Document Eleven Based on the official personnel directories of the Little Rock School District for 1958–59 and 1959–60, the persons listed did not return the second year to the LRSD. The numbers indicate a greater loss by percentage at the two white high schools than at the all-black, Horace Mann High. Personnel Directories were copied from the LRSD in 1995 by Selma Hobby for the author. High School Teachers from the LRSD Who Did...