U.S. Military integrates Virginia base schools: 1954
Four students wait for the opening bell of the school year at the new Fort Myer elementary school September 7, 1954 that was opening on the base for the first time on an integrated basis.
From left to right are Judy Dumas, 10; Sheila Dumas, 9; Breda Hines, 8; and Freddy Deitz, 9.
The previous year The Department of Defense had ordered all schools on bases integrated by September 1955. In Northern Virginia, Fort Belvoir and Fort Meyer became the first to operate their own schools after the county school systems refused to operate integrated schools.
Ft. Belvoir school principal William Van S. Jackson was quoted as saying, “It did my heart good. The only thing that made me mad was that the same sort of integration could not go into effect all over at this time.”
Since there were no junior high or high schools on the two bases, those students were bused to nearby segregated schools.
Three Catholic schools also opened in Northern Virginia in September 1954 on an integrated basis. They were St. Thomas More and St. Charles in Arlington and St. Michael’s in Annandale.
The state of Virginia adopted a policy of massive resistance that resulted in closing public schools in some counties and opening state funded private all-white schools instead. In those counties, black schools were not provided for.
After court decisions struck down a series of laws attempting to avoid integration, some Virginia counties began integrating in 1959. Other counties like Prince Edward did not integrate until 1964. Full compliance would stretch another decade.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskWK3q68
Photo by George Haven. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
U.S. Military integrates Virginia base schools: 1954
Four students wait for the opening bell of the school year at the new Fort Myer elementary school September 7, 1954 that was opening on the base for the first time on an integrated basis.
From left to right are Judy Dumas, 10; Sheila Dumas, 9; Breda Hines, 8; and Freddy Deitz, 9.
The previous year The Department of Defense had ordered all schools on bases integrated by September 1955. In Northern Virginia, Fort Belvoir and Fort Meyer became the first to operate their own schools after the county school systems refused to operate integrated schools.
Ft. Belvoir school principal William Van S. Jackson was quoted as saying, “It did my heart good. The only thing that made me mad was that the same sort of integration could not go into effect all over at this time.”
Since there were no junior high or high schools on the two bases, those students were bused to nearby segregated schools.
Three Catholic schools also opened in Northern Virginia in September 1954 on an integrated basis. They were St. Thomas More and St. Charles in Arlington and St. Michael’s in Annandale.
The state of Virginia adopted a policy of massive resistance that resulted in closing public schools in some counties and opening state funded private all-white schools instead. In those counties, black schools were not provided for.
After court decisions struck down a series of laws attempting to avoid integration, some Virginia counties began integrating in 1959. Other counties like Prince Edward did not integrate until 1964. Full compliance would stretch another decade.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskWK3q68
Photo by George Haven. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.