CHANDLER, AZ — When it comes to dismantling segregation in our schools, there are several key moments many of us think of: The Little Rock Nine, Ruby Bridges, and Brown vs. Board of Education.
"I remember being ignored," Arbuckle says."I think it was as strange for them as it was for us...The four of us in a sea of white children. You didn't know we were there...I was just trying to exist. I was just trying to get through each day peacefully." "We'd go to a drug store, get an ice cream cone, or a soft drink and they would serve you and send you out the door. You couldn't eat it or drink it in there. You'd go to a restaurant and you'd go around the back door, they'd give you a hamburger out the back door. We were fine with that - because we didn't know anything else. That's the way life was."
Later that same school year, four more black students would come to Chandler High School. Arbuckle and Robert Turner would become the first black students to graduate from Chandler High School in 1951.Chandler High School integrated in 1949, even though school segregation wasn't outlawed in Arizona until 1953. The following year, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education, would pave the way for schools across America to end segregation.
Diversity = Adversity
A great follow up to this story would be a feature on Coy Payne who was a principal in the Chandler school district and the 1st black mayor in the state.
Must be February...it's the only time you cast us in a positive..March 1st u go back to normal mantra that all black people are dangerous to YT people...
Someone out there is related to these beautiful ppl and got to hear their stories face to face
Oh Lord it must be BlackHistoryMonth
This is news? Wow. Keep the divide going.
Well it's about time !
ENOUGH!!!! ... I can't take another celebrating BLACK month shoved down my throat🙄. This history and more is already known and taught. If today's children know nothing of this it's THEIR FAULT. It was TAUGHT in yesterday's classrooms, contrary to what you have us believe🙄