ORHSAlumni.com - Oak Ridge High School

[mcoveyou]

I was too young to have a clear memory of this (seven at the time), so it is based on recollections heard from others.

Oak Ridge High School was officially desegregated in Septemeber, 1955. I believe that this was, indeed, the first desegregation of a previously segregated high school anywhere in the south. Robertsville Junior High School was also desegregated at that time; Jefferson and all of the elementary schools (other Scarboro) remained white-only, because of segregated housing patterns. While racial divisions remained apparent when I was at ORHS in the 60's, the desegregation went smoothly; one person who deserves much credit is Thomas Dunigan, who was pincipal at the time (and still in the early 60's).

For the prior four years, African American students in Oak Ridge could attend Scarboro High School, which was staffed by three certified teachers and many volunteers, including scientists from the labs and their spouses. Some subjects were offered which were not available at ORHS at the time. I can't be sure of this, but I believe that Mr. Fred Brown, who taught at ORHS for many years, was one of the three full time teachers at Scarboro High School. Some of the students at Scarboro High School asked if they could continue there until graduation, but the school was discontinued once African American students were able to attend ORHS. Scarboro High School boasted several distinguished alumni.

Scarboro High School was started in 1951 because African American students in Oak Ridge, if they wanted to continue in school after eighth grade, had to travel by bus to Knoxville Austin High School. (Remember that this was before the Pellissippi Parkway or I-40, so it was a grinding ride.)

Mike Coveyou
ORHS '65

[RWallace]

My recollection is that the elementary schools remained segregated until the mid-60s, at which point African-American students who lived in the previously all-white school districts were allowed to attend the local schools instead of going to Scarboro, which still remained open for several more years. I attended Willowbrook from 1960-1963 (kindergarten through grade 2), spent 1963-1964 in Canada, and then attended Linden from 1964-1967. The first time I saw non-white faces at school was during the latter chunk of time, and there were only a few of them. I can only imagine how scared they must have been.

[flylab1]

This was long ago and far away, but to the best of my recollection, Fred Thrift was the first black student at Woodland (at least in my grade, which was 5th, I think). Before he showed up, the teacher gave a brief talk about how we should welcome him and treat him as we treated all our friends who we had known for years. It was as much a matter of his being new as his being black, although we were certainly conscious of the latter.

I don't recall any problems that year.
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Joel (ORHS '73)

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

~Charles Darwin

[El Hill]

My clearest memory of that time is of my father’s remarks, that he didn’t think it right for Woodland (my school, and the geographically closest district to Scarboro) to be integrated if the other Oak Ridge districts remained “lily white”. I don’t know what happened with the other elementary schools and have only a cloudy memory of what happened at Woodland (tho like flylab I don’t recall any crises) but I have often wished I remembered this more clearly, and in particular, the students who came to Woodland, so I could pick them out from my later ORHS memories.

[key2hwy]

Kenny Spratling and Ervin Lee Mitchell were the 2 boys brought to Pine Valley in my grade. I don't remember the 2 girls' names. I was the fastest kid in school until that day; then recess changed forever. Kenny went on to play tailback for ORHS and, well, I didn't. I did play halfback on the first public high school soccer team in the state of Tennessee, though.
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when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro